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Sample records for phylogenetically diverse genomes

  1. Nucleotide diversity and phylogenetic relationships among ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    NIRAJ SINGH

    for phylogenetic analysis of Gladiolus and related taxa using combined datasets from chloroplast genome. The psbA–trnH ... phylogenetic relationships among cultivars could be useful for hybridization programmes for further improvement of the crop. [Singh N. ... breeding in nature, and exhibited diverse pollination mech-.

  2. Estimating phylogenetic trees from genome-scale data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Liang; Xi, Zhenxiang; Wu, Shaoyuan; Davis, Charles C; Edwards, Scott V

    2015-12-01

    The heterogeneity of signals in the genomes of diverse organisms poses challenges for traditional phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic methods known as "species tree" methods have been proposed to directly address one important source of gene tree heterogeneity, namely the incomplete lineage sorting that occurs when evolving lineages radiate rapidly, resulting in a diversity of gene trees from a single underlying species tree. Here we review theory and empirical examples that help clarify conflicts between species tree and concatenation methods, and misconceptions in the literature about the performance of species tree methods. Considering concatenation as a special case of the multispecies coalescent model helps explain differences in the behavior of the two methods on phylogenomic data sets. Recent work suggests that species tree methods are more robust than concatenation approaches to some of the classic challenges of phylogenetic analysis, including rapidly evolving sites in DNA sequences and long-branch attraction. We show that approaches, such as binning, designed to augment the signal in species tree analyses can distort the distribution of gene trees and are inconsistent. Computationally efficient species tree methods incorporating biological realism are a key to phylogenetic analysis of whole-genome data. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

  3. Comparative Genomics Reveals High Genomic Diversity in the Genus Photobacterium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machado, Henrique; Gram, Lone

    2017-01-01

    Vibrionaceae is a large marine bacterial family, which can constitute up to 50% of the prokaryotic population in marine waters. Photobacterium is the second largest genus in the family and we used comparative genomics on 35 strains representing 16 of the 28 species described so far, to understand the genomic diversity present in the Photobacterium genus. Such understanding is important for ecophysiology studies of the genus. We used whole genome sequences to evaluate phylogenetic relationships using several analyses (16S rRNA, MLSA, fur , amino-acid usage, ANI), which allowed us to identify two misidentified strains. Genome analyses also revealed occurrence of higher and lower GC content clades, correlating with phylogenetic clusters. Pan- and core-genome analysis revealed the conservation of 25% of the genome throughout the genus, with a large and open pan-genome. The major source of genomic diversity could be traced to the smaller chromosome and plasmids. Several of the physiological traits studied in the genus did not correlate with phylogenetic data. Since horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is often suggested as a source of genetic diversity and a potential driver of genomic evolution in bacterial species, we looked into evidence of such in Photobacterium genomes. Genomic islands were the source of genomic differences between strains of the same species. Also, we found transposase genes and CRISPR arrays that suggest multiple encounters with foreign DNA. Presence of genomic exchange traits was widespread and abundant in the genus, suggesting a role in genomic evolution. The high genetic variability and indications of genetic exchange make it difficult to elucidate genome evolutionary paths and raise the awareness of the roles of foreign DNA in the genomic evolution of environmental organisms.

  4. Phylogenetic diversity and biodiversity indices on phylogenetic networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wicke, Kristina; Fischer, Mareike

    2018-04-01

    In biodiversity conservation it is often necessary to prioritize the species to conserve. Existing approaches to prioritization, e.g. the Fair Proportion Index and the Shapley Value, are based on phylogenetic trees and rank species according to their contribution to overall phylogenetic diversity. However, in many cases evolution is not treelike and thus, phylogenetic networks have been developed as a generalization of phylogenetic trees, allowing for the representation of non-treelike evolutionary events, such as hybridization. Here, we extend the concepts of phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic diversity indices from phylogenetic trees to phylogenetic networks. On the one hand, we consider the treelike content of a phylogenetic network, e.g. the (multi)set of phylogenetic trees displayed by a network and the so-called lowest stable ancestor tree associated with it. On the other hand, we derive the phylogenetic diversity of subsets of taxa and biodiversity indices directly from the internal structure of the network. We consider both approaches that are independent of so-called inheritance probabilities as well as approaches that explicitly incorporate these probabilities. Furthermore, we introduce our software package NetDiversity, which is implemented in Perl and allows for the calculation of all generalized measures of phylogenetic diversity and generalized phylogenetic diversity indices established in this note that are independent of inheritance probabilities. We apply our methods to a phylogenetic network representing the evolutionary relationships among swordtails and platyfishes (Xiphophorus: Poeciliidae), a group of species characterized by widespread hybridization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Global biogeography of Prochlorococcus genome diversity in the surface ocean.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kent, Alyssa G; Dupont, Chris L; Yooseph, Shibu; Martiny, Adam C

    2016-08-01

    Prochlorococcus, the smallest known photosynthetic bacterium, is abundant in the ocean's surface layer despite large variation in environmental conditions. There are several genetically divergent lineages within Prochlorococcus and superimposed on this phylogenetic diversity is extensive gene gain and loss. The environmental role in shaping the global ocean distribution of genome diversity in Prochlorococcus is largely unknown, particularly in a framework that considers the vertical and lateral mechanisms of evolution. Here we show that Prochlorococcus field populations from a global circumnavigation harbor extensive genome diversity across the surface ocean, but this diversity is not randomly distributed. We observed a significant correspondence between phylogenetic and gene content diversity, including regional differences in both phylogenetic composition and gene content that were related to environmental factors. Several gene families were strongly associated with specific regions and environmental factors, including the identification of a set of genes related to lower nutrient and temperature regions. Metagenomic assemblies of natural Prochlorococcus genomes reinforced this association by providing linkage of genes across genomic backbones. Overall, our results show that the phylogeography in Prochlorococcus taxonomy is echoed in its genome content. Thus environmental variation shapes the functional capabilities and associated ecosystem role of the globally abundant Prochlorococcus.

  6. Genomic Diversity and Evolution of the Lyssaviruses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delmas, Olivier; Holmes, Edward C.; Talbi, Chiraz; Larrous, Florence; Dacheux, Laurent; Bouchier, Christiane; Bourhy, Hervé

    2008-01-01

    Lyssaviruses are RNA viruses with single-strand, negative-sense genomes responsible for rabies-like diseases in mammals. To date, genomic and evolutionary studies have most often utilized partial genome sequences, particularly of the nucleoprotein and glycoprotein genes, with little consideration of genome-scale evolution. Herein, we report the first genomic and evolutionary analysis using complete genome sequences of all recognised lyssavirus genotypes, including 14 new complete genomes of field isolates from 6 genotypes and one genotype that is completely sequenced for the first time. In doing so we significantly increase the extent of genome sequence data available for these important viruses. Our analysis of these genome sequence data reveals that all lyssaviruses have the same genomic organization. A phylogenetic analysis reveals strong geographical structuring, with the greatest genetic diversity in Africa, and an independent origin for the two known genotypes that infect European bats. We also suggest that multiple genotypes may exist within the diversity of viruses currently classified as ‘Lagos Bat’. In sum, we show that rigorous phylogenetic techniques based on full length genome sequence provide the best discriminatory power for genotype classification within the lyssaviruses. PMID:18446239

  7. Genomic diversity and evolution of the lyssaviruses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olivier Delmas

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Lyssaviruses are RNA viruses with single-strand, negative-sense genomes responsible for rabies-like diseases in mammals. To date, genomic and evolutionary studies have most often utilized partial genome sequences, particularly of the nucleoprotein and glycoprotein genes, with little consideration of genome-scale evolution. Herein, we report the first genomic and evolutionary analysis using complete genome sequences of all recognised lyssavirus genotypes, including 14 new complete genomes of field isolates from 6 genotypes and one genotype that is completely sequenced for the first time. In doing so we significantly increase the extent of genome sequence data available for these important viruses. Our analysis of these genome sequence data reveals that all lyssaviruses have the same genomic organization. A phylogenetic analysis reveals strong geographical structuring, with the greatest genetic diversity in Africa, and an independent origin for the two known genotypes that infect European bats. We also suggest that multiple genotypes may exist within the diversity of viruses currently classified as 'Lagos Bat'. In sum, we show that rigorous phylogenetic techniques based on full length genome sequence provide the best discriminatory power for genotype classification within the lyssaviruses.

  8. Comparative Genomics Reveals High Genomic Diversity in the Genus Photobacterium

    OpenAIRE

    Henrique Machado; Henrique Machado; Lone Gram

    2017-01-01

    Vibrionaceae is a large marine bacterial family, which can constitute up to 50% of the prokaryotic population in marine waters. Photobacterium is the second largest genus in the family and we used comparative genomics on 35 strains representing 16 of the 28 species described so far, to understand the genomic diversity present in the Photobacterium genus. Such understanding is important for ecophysiology studies of the genus. We used whole genome sequences to evaluate phylogenetic relationship...

  9. Functional & phylogenetic diversity of copepod communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benedetti, F.; Ayata, S. D.; Blanco-Bercial, L.; Cornils, A.; Guilhaumon, F.

    2016-02-01

    The diversity of natural communities is classically estimated through species identification (taxonomic diversity) but can also be estimated from the ecological functions performed by the species (functional diversity), or from the phylogenetic relationships among them (phylogenetic diversity). Estimating functional diversity requires the definition of specific functional traits, i.e., phenotypic characteristics that impact fitness and are relevant to ecosystem functioning. Estimating phylogenetic diversity requires the description of phylogenetic relationships, for instance by using molecular tools. In the present study, we focused on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of copepod surface communities in the Mediterranean Sea. First, we implemented a specific trait database for the most commonly-sampled and abundant copepod species of the Mediterranean Sea. Our database includes 191 species, described by seven traits encompassing diverse ecological functions: minimal and maximal body length, trophic group, feeding type, spawning strategy, diel vertical migration and vertical habitat. Clustering analysis in the functional trait space revealed that Mediterranean copepods can be gathered into groups that have different ecological roles. Second, we reconstructed a phylogenetic tree using the available sequences of 18S rRNA. Our tree included 154 of the analyzed Mediterranean copepod species. We used these two datasets to describe the functional and phylogenetic diversity of copepod surface communities in the Mediterranean Sea. The replacement component (turn-over) and the species richness difference component (nestedness) of the beta diversity indices were identified. Finally, by comparing various and complementary aspects of plankton diversity (taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity) we were able to gain a better understanding of the relationships among the zooplankton community, biodiversity, ecosystem function, and environmental forcing.

  10. Global patterns of amphibian phylogenetic diversity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fritz, Susanne; Rahbek, Carsten

    2012-01-01

    Aim  Phylogenetic diversity can provide insight into how evolutionary processes may have shaped contemporary patterns of species richness. Here, we aim to test for the influence of phylogenetic history on global patterns of amphibian species richness, and to identify areas where macroevolutionary...... processes such as diversification and dispersal have left strong signatures on contemporary species richness. Location  Global; equal-area grid cells of approximately 10,000 km2. Methods  We generated an amphibian global supertree (6111 species) and repeated analyses with the largest available molecular...... phylogeny (2792 species). We combined each tree with global species distributions to map four indices of phylogenetic diversity. To investigate congruence between global spatial patterns of amphibian species richness and phylogenetic diversity, we selected Faith’s phylogenetic diversity (PD) index...

  11. Genome Size Diversity in Lilium (Liliaceae Is Correlated with Karyotype and Environmental Traits

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yun-peng Du

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Genome size (GS diversity is of fundamental biological importance. The occurrence of giant genomes in angiosperms is restricted to just a few lineages in the analyzed genome size of plant species so far. It is still an open question whether GS diversity is shaped by neutral or natural selection. The genus Lilium, with giant genomes, is phylogenetically and horticulturally important and is distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. GS diversity in Lilium and the underlying evolutionary mechanisms are poorly understood. We performed a comprehensive study involving phylogenetically independent analysis on 71 species to explore the diversity and evolution of GS and its correlation with karyological and environmental traits within Lilium (including Nomocharis. The strong phylogenetic signal detected for GS in the genus provides evidence consistent with that the repetitive DNA may be the primary contributors to the GS diversity, while the significant positive relationships detected between GS and the haploid chromosome length (HCL provide insights into patterns of genome evolution. The relationships between GS and karyotypes indicate that ancestral karyotypes of Lilium are likely to have exhibited small genomes, low diversity in centromeric index (CVCI values and relatively high relative variation in chromosome length (CVCL values. Significant relationships identified between GS and annual temperature and between GS and annual precipitation suggest that adaptation to habitat strongly influences GS diversity. We conclude that GS in Lilium is shaped by both neutral (genetic drift and adaptive evolution. These findings will have important consequences for understanding the evolution of giant plant genomes, and exploring the role of repetitive DNA fraction and chromosome changes in a plant group with large genomes and conservation of chromosome number.

  12. Sifting through genomes with iterative-sequence clustering produces a large, phylogenetically diverse protein-family resource.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharpton, Thomas J; Jospin, Guillaume; Wu, Dongying; Langille, Morgan G I; Pollard, Katherine S; Eisen, Jonathan A

    2012-10-13

    New computational resources are needed to manage the increasing volume of biological data from genome sequencing projects. One fundamental challenge is the ability to maintain a complete and current catalog of protein diversity. We developed a new approach for the identification of protein families that focuses on the rapid discovery of homologous protein sequences. We implemented fully automated and high-throughput procedures to de novo cluster proteins into families based upon global alignment similarity. Our approach employs an iterative clustering strategy in which homologs of known families are sifted out of the search for new families. The resulting reduction in computational complexity enables us to rapidly identify novel protein families found in new genomes and to perform efficient, automated updates that keep pace with genome sequencing. We refer to protein families identified through this approach as "Sifting Families," or SFams. Our analysis of ~10.5 million protein sequences from 2,928 genomes identified 436,360 SFams, many of which are not represented in other protein family databases. We validated the quality of SFam clustering through statistical as well as network topology-based analyses. We describe the rapid identification of SFams and demonstrate how they can be used to annotate genomes and metagenomes. The SFam database catalogs protein-family quality metrics, multiple sequence alignments, hidden Markov models, and phylogenetic trees. Our source code and database are publicly available and will be subject to frequent updates (http://edhar.genomecenter.ucdavis.edu/sifting_families/).

  13. Phylogenetic diversity and genotypical complexity of H9N2 influenza A viruses revealed by genomic sequence analysis.

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    Guoying Dong

    Full Text Available H9N2 influenza A viruses have become established worldwide in terrestrial poultry and wild birds, and are occasionally transmitted to mammals including humans and pigs. To comprehensively elucidate the genetic and evolutionary characteristics of H9N2 influenza viruses, we performed a large-scale sequence analysis of 571 viral genomes from the NCBI Influenza Virus Resource Database, representing the spectrum of H9N2 influenza viruses isolated from 1966 to 2009. Our study provides a panoramic framework for better understanding the genesis and evolution of H9N2 influenza viruses, and for describing the history of H9N2 viruses circulating in diverse hosts. Panorama phylogenetic analysis of the eight viral gene segments revealed the complexity and diversity of H9N2 influenza viruses. The 571 H9N2 viral genomes were classified into 74 separate lineages, which had marked host and geographical differences in phylogeny. Panorama genotypical analysis also revealed that H9N2 viruses include at least 98 genotypes, which were further divided according to their HA lineages into seven series (A-G. Phylogenetic analysis of the internal genes showed that H9N2 viruses are closely related to H3, H4, H5, H7, H10, and H14 subtype influenza viruses. Our results indicate that H9N2 viruses have undergone extensive reassortments to generate multiple reassortants and genotypes, suggesting that the continued circulation of multiple genotypical H9N2 viruses throughout the world in diverse hosts has the potential to cause future influenza outbreaks in poultry and epidemics in humans. We propose a nomenclature system for identifying and unifying all lineages and genotypes of H9N2 influenza viruses in order to facilitate international communication on the evolution, ecology and epidemiology of H9N2 influenza viruses.

  14. Genome-level comparisons provide insight into the phylogeny and metabolic diversity of species within the genus Lactococcus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Jie; Song, Yuqin; Ren, Yan; Qing, Yanting; Liu, Wenjun; Sun, Zhihong

    2017-11-03

    The genomic diversity of different species within the genus Lactococcus and the relationships between genomic differentiation and environmental factors remain unclear. In this study, type isolates of ten Lactococcus species/subspecies were sequenced to assess their genomic characteristics, metabolic diversity, and phylogenetic relationships. The total genome sizes varied between 1.99 (Lactococcus plantarum) and 2.46 megabases (Mb; L. lactis subsp. lactis), and the G + C content ranged from 34.81 (L. lactis subsp. hordniae) to 39.67% (L. raffinolactis) with an average value of 37.02%. Analysis of genome dynamics indicated that the genus Lactococcus has an open pan-genome, while the core genome size decreased with sequential addition at the genus and species group levels. A phylogenetic dendrogram based on the concatenated amino acid sequences of 643 core genes was largely consistent with the phylogenetic tree obtained by 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, but it provided a more robust phylogenetic resolution than the 16S rRNA gene-based analysis. Comparative genomics indicated that species in the genus Lactococcus had high degrees of diversity in genome size, gene content, and carbohydrate metabolism. This may be important for the specific adaptations that allow different Lactococcus species to survive in different environments. These results provide a quantitative basis for understanding the genomic and metabolic diversity within the genus Lactococcus, laying the foundation for future studies on taxonomy and functional genomics.

  15. Sifting through genomes with iterative-sequence clustering produces a large, phylogenetically diverse protein-family resource

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sharpton Thomas J

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background New computational resources are needed to manage the increasing volume of biological data from genome sequencing projects. One fundamental challenge is the ability to maintain a complete and current catalog of protein diversity. We developed a new approach for the identification of protein families that focuses on the rapid discovery of homologous protein sequences. Results We implemented fully automated and high-throughput procedures to de novo cluster proteins into families based upon global alignment similarity. Our approach employs an iterative clustering strategy in which homologs of known families are sifted out of the search for new families. The resulting reduction in computational complexity enables us to rapidly identify novel protein families found in new genomes and to perform efficient, automated updates that keep pace with genome sequencing. We refer to protein families identified through this approach as “Sifting Families,” or SFams. Our analysis of ~10.5 million protein sequences from 2,928 genomes identified 436,360 SFams, many of which are not represented in other protein family databases. We validated the quality of SFam clustering through statistical as well as network topology–based analyses. Conclusions We describe the rapid identification of SFams and demonstrate how they can be used to annotate genomes and metagenomes. The SFam database catalogs protein-family quality metrics, multiple sequence alignments, hidden Markov models, and phylogenetic trees. Our source code and database are publicly available and will be subject to frequent updates (http://edhar.genomecenter.ucdavis.edu/sifting_families/.

  16. Comparative Genomics Reveals High Genomic Diversity in the Genus Photobacterium

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Machado, Henrique; Gram, Lone

    2017-01-01

    was widespread and abundant in the genus, suggesting a role in genomic evolution. The high genetic variability and indications of genetic exchange make it difficult to elucidate genome evolutionary paths and raise the awareness of the roles of foreign DNA in the genomic evolution of environmental organisms.......Vibrionaceae is a large marine bacterial family, which can constitute up to 50% of the prokaryotic population in marine waters. Photobacterium is the second largest genus in the family and we used comparative genomics on 35 strains representing 16 of the 28 species described so far, to understand...... the genomic diversity present in the Photobacterium genus. Such understanding is important for ecophysiology studies of the genus. We used whole genome sequences to evaluate phylogenetic relationships using several analyses (16S rRNA, MLSA, fur, amino-acid usage, ANI), which allowed us to identify two...

  17. Phylogenetically diverse macrophyte community promotes species diversity of mobile epi-benthic invertebrates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamoto, Kenta; Hayakawa, Jun; Kawamura, Tomohiko; Kodama, Masafumi; Yamada, Hideaki; Kitagawa, Takashi; Watanabe, Yoshiro

    2018-07-01

    Various aspects of plant diversity such as species diversity and phylogenetic diversity enhance the species diversity of associated animals in terrestrial systems. In marine systems, however, the effects of macrophyte diversity on the species diversity of associated animals have received little attention. Here, we sampled in a subtropical seagrass-seaweed mixed bed to elucidate the effect of the macrophyte phylogenetic diversity based on the taxonomic relatedness as well as the macrophyte species diversity on species diversity of mobile epi-benthic invertebrates. Using regression analyses for each macrophyte parameter as well as multiple regression analyses, we found that the macrophyte phylogenetic diversity (taxonomic diversity index: Delta) positively influenced the invertebrate species richness and diversity index (H‧). Although the macrophyte species richness and H‧ also positively influenced the invertebrate species richness, the best fit model for invertebrate species richness did not include them, suggesting that the macrophyte species diversity indirectly influenced invertebrate species diversity. Possible explanations of the effects of macrophyte Delta on the invertebrate species diversity were the niche complementarity effect and the selection effect. This is the first study which demonstrates that macrophyte phylogenetic diversity has a strong effect on the species diversity of mobile epi-benthic invertebrates.

  18. Diversity of Pseudomonas Genomes, Including Populus-Associated Isolates, as Revealed by Comparative Genome Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jun, Se-Ran; Wassenaar, Trudy M; Nookaew, Intawat; Hauser, Loren; Wanchai, Visanu; Land, Miriam; Timm, Collin M; Lu, Tse-Yuan S; Schadt, Christopher W; Doktycz, Mitchel J; Pelletier, Dale A; Ussery, David W

    2016-01-01

    The Pseudomonas genus contains a metabolically versatile group of organisms that are known to occupy numerous ecological niches, including the rhizosphere and endosphere of many plants. Their diversity influences the phylogenetic diversity and heterogeneity of these communities. On the basis of average amino acid identity, comparative genome analysis of >1,000 Pseudomonas genomes, including 21 Pseudomonas strains isolated from the roots of native Populus deltoides (eastern cottonwood) trees resulted in consistent and robust genomic clusters with phylogenetic homogeneity. All Pseudomonas aeruginosa genomes clustered together, and these were clearly distinct from other Pseudomonas species groups on the basis of pangenome and core genome analyses. In contrast, the genomes of Pseudomonas fluorescens were organized into 20 distinct genomic clusters, representing enormous diversity and heterogeneity. Most of our 21 Populus-associated isolates formed three distinct subgroups within the major P. fluorescens group, supported by pathway profile analysis, while two isolates were more closely related to Pseudomonas chlororaphis and Pseudomonas putida. Genes specific to Populus-associated subgroups were identified. Genes specific to subgroup 1 include several sensory systems that act in two-component signal transduction, a TonB-dependent receptor, and a phosphorelay sensor. Genes specific to subgroup 2 contain hypothetical genes, and genes specific to subgroup 3 were annotated with hydrolase activity. This study justifies the need to sequence multiple isolates, especially from P. fluorescens, which displays the most genetic variation, in order to study functional capabilities from a pangenomic perspective. This information will prove useful when choosing Pseudomonas strains for use to promote growth and increase disease resistance in plants. Copyright © 2015 Jun et al.

  19. Maximizing the phylogenetic diversity of seed banks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffiths, Kate E; Balding, Sharon T; Dickie, John B; Lewis, Gwilym P; Pearce, Tim R; Grenyer, Richard

    2015-04-01

    Ex situ conservation efforts such as those of zoos, botanical gardens, and seed banks will form a vital complement to in situ conservation actions over the coming decades. It is therefore necessary to pay the same attention to the biological diversity represented in ex situ conservation facilities as is often paid to protected-area networks. Building the phylogenetic diversity of ex situ collections will strengthen our capacity to respond to biodiversity loss. Since 2000, the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership has banked seed from 14% of the world's plant species. We assessed the taxonomic, geographic, and phylogenetic diversity of the Millennium Seed Bank collection of legumes (Leguminosae). We compared the collection with all known legume genera, their known geographic range (at country and regional levels), and a genus-level phylogeny of the legume family constructed for this study. Over half the phylogenetic diversity of legumes at the genus level was represented in the Millennium Seed Bank. However, pragmatic prioritization of species of economic importance and endangerment has led to the banking of a less-than-optimal phylogenetic diversity and prioritization of range-restricted species risks an underdispersed collection. The current state of the phylogenetic diversity of legumes in the Millennium Seed Bank could be substantially improved through the strategic banking of relatively few additional taxa. Our method draws on tools that are widely applied to in situ conservation planning, and it can be used to evaluate and improve the phylogenetic diversity of ex situ collections. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  20. Unraveling Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomic diversity and evolution in Lisbon, Portugal, a highly drug resistant setting

    KAUST Repository

    Perdigã o, Joã o; Silva, Hugo; Machado, Diana; Macedo, Rita; Maltez, Fernando; Silva, Carla; Jordao, Luisa; Couto, Isabel; Mallard, Kim; Coll, Francesc; Hill-Cawthorne, Grant A.; McNerney, Ruth; Pain, Arnab; Clark, Taane G; Viveiros, Miguel; Portugal, Isabel

    2014-01-01

    Globally, this study contributes with novel genome-wide phylogenetic data and has led to the identification of new genomic variants that support the notion of a growing genomic diversity facing both setting and host adaptation.

  1. Utilization of complete chloroplast genomes for phylogenetic studies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ramlee, Shairul Izan Binti

    2016-01-01

    Chloroplast DNA sequence polymorphisms are a primary source of data in many plant phylogenetic studies. The chloroplast genome is relatively conserved in its evolution making it an ideal molecule to retain phylogenetic signals. The chloroplast genome is also largely, but not completely, free from

  2. Phylogenetic distribution of large-scale genome patchiness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hackenberg Michael

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The phylogenetic distribution of large-scale genome structure (i.e. mosaic compositional patchiness has been explored mainly by analytical ultracentrifugation of bulk DNA. However, with the availability of large, good-quality chromosome sequences, and the recently developed computational methods to directly analyze patchiness on the genome sequence, an evolutionary comparative analysis can be carried out at the sequence level. Results The local variations in the scaling exponent of the Detrended Fluctuation Analysis are used here to analyze large-scale genome structure and directly uncover the characteristic scales present in genome sequences. Furthermore, through shuffling experiments of selected genome regions, computationally-identified, isochore-like regions were identified as the biological source for the uncovered large-scale genome structure. The phylogenetic distribution of short- and large-scale patchiness was determined in the best-sequenced genome assemblies from eleven eukaryotic genomes: mammals (Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, and Canis familiaris, birds (Gallus gallus, fishes (Danio rerio, invertebrates (Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans, plants (Arabidopsis thaliana and yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found large-scale patchiness of genome structure, associated with in silico determined, isochore-like regions, throughout this wide phylogenetic range. Conclusion Large-scale genome structure is detected by directly analyzing DNA sequences in a wide range of eukaryotic chromosome sequences, from human to yeast. In all these genomes, large-scale patchiness can be associated with the isochore-like regions, as directly detected in silico at the sequence level.

  3. Consequences of genomic diversity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coscolla, Mireia; Gagneux, Sebastien

    2014-01-01

    The causative agent of human tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), comprises seven phylogenetically distinct lineages associated with different geographical regions. Here we review the latest findings on the nature and amount of genomic diversity within and between MTBC lineages. We then review recent evidence for the effect of this genomic diversity on mycobacterial phenotypes measured experimentally and in clinical settings. We conclude that overall, the most geographically widespread Lineage 2 (includes Beijing) and Lineage 4 (also known as Euro-American) are more virulent than other lineages that are more geographically restricted. This increased virulence is associated with delayed or reduced pro-inflammatory host immune responses, greater severity of disease, and enhanced transmission. Future work should focus on the interaction between MTBC and human genetic diversity, as well as on the environmental factors that modulate these interactions. PMID:25453224

  4. Phylogenetic conservatism of thermal traits explains dispersal limitation and genomic differentiation of Streptomyces sister-taxa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choudoir, Mallory J; Buckley, Daniel H

    2018-06-07

    The latitudinal diversity gradient is a pattern of biogeography observed broadly in plants and animals but largely undocumented in terrestrial microbial systems. Although patterns of microbial biogeography across broad taxonomic scales have been described in a range of contexts, the mechanisms that generate biogeographic patterns between closely related taxa remain incompletely characterized. Adaptive processes are a major driver of microbial biogeography, but there is less understanding of how microbial biogeography and diversification are shaped by dispersal limitation and drift. We recently described a latitudinal diversity gradient of species richness and intraspecific genetic diversity in Streptomyces by using a geographically explicit culture collection. Within this geographically explicit culture collection, we have identified Streptomyces sister-taxa whose geographic distribution is delimited by latitude. These sister-taxa differ in geographic distribution, genomic diversity, and ecological traits despite having nearly identical SSU rRNA gene sequences. Comparative genomic analysis reveals genomic differentiation of these sister-taxa consistent with restricted gene flow across latitude. Furthermore, we show phylogenetic conservatism of thermal traits between the sister-taxa suggesting that thermal trait adaptation limits dispersal and gene flow across climate regimes as defined by latitude. Such phylogenetic conservatism of thermal traits is commonly associated with latitudinal diversity gradients for plants and animals. These data provide further support for the hypothesis that the Streptomyces latitudinal diversity gradient was formed as a result of historical demographic processes defined by dispersal limitation and driven by paleoclimate dynamics.

  5. Identification of three new isolates of Tomato spotted wilt virus from different hosts in China: molecular diversity, phylogenetic and recombination analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhenjia; Wang, Deya; Yu, Chengming; Wang, Zenghui; Dong, Jiahong; Shi, Kerong; Yuan, Xuefeng

    2016-01-14

    Destructive diseases caused by Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) have been reported associated with many important plants worldwide. Recently, TSWV was reported to infect different hosts in China. It is of value to clone TSWV isolates from different hosts and examine diversity and evolution among different TSWV isolates in China as well as worldwide. RT-PCR was used to clone the full-length genome (L, M and S segments) of three new isolates of TSWV that infected different hosts (tobacco, red pepper and green pepper) in China. Identity of nucleotide and amino acid sequences among TSWV isolates were analyzed by DNAMAN. MEGA 5.0 was used to construct phylogenetic trees. RDP4 was used to detect recombination events during evolution of these isolates. Whole-genome sequences of three new TSWV isolates in China were determined. Together with other available isolates, 29 RNA L, 62 RNA M and 66 RNA S of TSWV isolates were analyzed for molecular diversity, phylogenetic and recombination events. This analysis revealed that the entire TSWV genome, especially the M and S RNAs, had major variations in genomic size that mainly involve the A-U rich intergenic region (IGR). Phylogenetic analyses on TSWV isolates worldwide revealed evidence for frequent reassortments in the evolution of tripartite negative-sense RNA genome. Significant numbers of recombination events with apparent 5' regional preference were detected among TSWV isolates worldwide. Moreover, TSWV isolates with similar recombination events usually had closer relationships in phylogenetic trees. All five Chinese TSWV isolates including three TSWV isolates of this study and previously reported two isolates can be divided into two groups with different origins based on molecular diversity and phylogenetic analysis. During their evolution, both reassortment and recombination played roles. These results suggest that recombination could be an important mechanism in the evolution of multipartite RNA viruses, even negative

  6. Genomic diversity of Escherichia isolates from diverse habitats.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seungdae Oh

    Full Text Available Our understanding of the Escherichia genus is heavily biased toward pathogenic or commensal isolates from human or animal hosts. Recent studies have recovered Escherichia isolates that persist, and even grow, outside these hosts. Although the environmental isolates are typically phylogenetically distinct, they are highly related to and phenotypically indistinguishable from their human counterparts, including for the coliform test. To gain insights into the genomic diversity of Escherichia isolates from diverse habitats, including freshwater, soil, animal, and human sources, we carried out comparative DNA-DNA hybridizations using a multi-genome E. coli DNA microarray. The microarray was validated based on hybridizations with selected strains whose genome sequences were available and used to assess the frequency of microarray false positive and negative signals. Our results showed that human fecal isolates share two sets of genes (n>90 that are rarely found among environmental isolates, including genes presumably important for evading host immune mechanisms (e.g., a multi-drug transporter for acids and antimicrobials and adhering to epithelial cells (e.g., hemolysin E and fimbrial-like adhesin protein. These results imply that environmental isolates are characterized by decreased ability to colonize host cells relative to human isolates. Our study also provides gene markers that can distinguish human isolates from those of warm-blooded animal and environmental origins, and thus can be used to more reliably assess fecal contamination in natural ecosystems.

  7. Ghost-tree: creating hybrid-gene phylogenetic trees for diversity analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fouquier, Jennifer; Rideout, Jai Ram; Bolyen, Evan; Chase, John; Shiffer, Arron; McDonald, Daniel; Knight, Rob; Caporaso, J Gregory; Kelley, Scott T

    2016-02-24

    Fungi play critical roles in many ecosystems, cause serious diseases in plants and animals, and pose significant threats to human health and structural integrity problems in built environments. While most fungal diversity remains unknown, the development of PCR primers for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) combined with next-generation sequencing has substantially improved our ability to profile fungal microbial diversity. Although the high sequence variability in the ITS region facilitates more accurate species identification, it also makes multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis unreliable across evolutionarily distant fungi because the sequences are hard to align accurately. To address this issue, we created ghost-tree, a bioinformatics tool that integrates sequence data from two genetic markers into a single phylogenetic tree that can be used for diversity analyses. Our approach starts with a "foundation" phylogeny based on one genetic marker whose sequences can be aligned across organisms spanning divergent taxonomic groups (e.g., fungal families). Then, "extension" phylogenies are built for more closely related organisms (e.g., fungal species or strains) using a second more rapidly evolving genetic marker. These smaller phylogenies are then grafted onto the foundation tree by mapping taxonomic names such that each corresponding foundation-tree tip would branch into its new "extension tree" child. We applied ghost-tree to graft fungal extension phylogenies derived from ITS sequences onto a foundation phylogeny derived from fungal 18S sequences. Our analysis of simulated and real fungal ITS data sets found that phylogenetic distances between fungal communities computed using ghost-tree phylogenies explained significantly more variance than non-phylogenetic distances. The phylogenetic metrics also improved our ability to distinguish small differences (effect sizes) between microbial communities, though results were similar to non-phylogenetic

  8. The Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA): Developing Community Resources to Study Diverse Invertebrate Genomes

    KAUST Repository

    Bracken-Grissom, Heather

    2013-12-12

    Over 95% of all metazoan (animal) species comprise the invertebrates, but very few genomes from these organisms have been sequenced. We have, therefore, formed a Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance (GIGA). Our intent is to build a collaborative network of diverse scientists to tackle major challenges (e.g., species selection, sample collection and storage, sequence assembly, annotation, analytical tools) associated with genome/transcriptome sequencing across a large taxonomic spectrum. We aim to promote standards that will facilitate comparative approaches to invertebrate genomics and collaborations across the international scientific community. Candidate study taxa include species from Porifera, Ctenophora, Cnidaria, Placozoa, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Annelida, Bryozoa, and Platyhelminthes, among others. GIGA will target 7000 noninsect/nonnematode species, with an emphasis on marine taxa because of the unrivaled phyletic diversity in the oceans. Priorities for selecting invertebrates for sequencing will include, but are not restricted to, their phylogenetic placement; relevance to organismal, ecological, and conservation research; and their importance to fisheries and human health. We highlight benefits of sequencing both whole genomes (DNA) and transcriptomes and also suggest policies for genomic-level data access and sharing based on transparency and inclusiveness. The GIGA Web site () has been launched to facilitate this collaborative venture.

  9. A Distance Measure for Genome Phylogenetic Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Minh Duc; Allison, Lloyd; Dix, Trevor

    Phylogenetic analyses of species based on single genes or parts of the genomes are often inconsistent because of factors such as variable rates of evolution and horizontal gene transfer. The availability of more and more sequenced genomes allows phylogeny construction from complete genomes that is less sensitive to such inconsistency. For such long sequences, construction methods like maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood are often not possible due to their intensive computational requirement. Another class of tree construction methods, namely distance-based methods, require a measure of distances between any two genomes. Some measures such as evolutionary edit distance of gene order and gene content are computational expensive or do not perform well when the gene content of the organisms are similar. This study presents an information theoretic measure of genetic distances between genomes based on the biological compression algorithm expert model. We demonstrate that our distance measure can be applied to reconstruct the consensus phylogenetic tree of a number of Plasmodium parasites from their genomes, the statistical bias of which would mislead conventional analysis methods. Our approach is also used to successfully construct a plausible evolutionary tree for the γ-Proteobacteria group whose genomes are known to contain many horizontally transferred genes.

  10. Phylogenetic and physiological diversity of microorganisms isolated from a deep greenland glacier ice core

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miteva, V. I.; Sheridan, P. P.; Brenchley, J. E.

    2004-01-01

    We studied a sample from the GISP 2 (Greenland Ice Sheet Project) ice core to determine the diversity and survival of microorganisms trapped in the ice at least 120,000 years ago. Previously, we examined the phylogenetic relationships among 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences in a clone library obtained by PCR amplification from genomic DNA extracted from anaerobic enrichments. Here we report the isolation of nearly 800 aerobic organisms that were grouped by morphology and amplified rDNA restriction analysis patterns to select isolates for further study. The phylogenetic analyses of 56 representative rDNA sequences showed that the isolates belonged to four major phylogenetic groups: the high-G+C gram-positives, low-G+C gram-positives, Proteobacteria, and the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides group. The most abundant and diverse isolates were within the high-G+C gram-positive cluster that had not been represented in the clone library. The Jukes-Cantor evolutionary distance matrix results suggested that at least 7 isolates represent new species within characterized genera and that 49 are different strains of known species. The isolates were further categorized based on the isolation conditions, temperature range for growth, enzyme activity, antibiotic resistance, presence of plasmids, and strain-specific genomic variations. A significant observation with implications for the development of novel and more effective cultivation methods was that preliminary incubation in anaerobic and aerobic liquid prior to plating on agar media greatly increased the recovery of CFU from the ice core sample.

  11. A phylogenetic perspective on species diversity, β-diversity and biogeography for the microbial world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barberán, Albert; Casamayor, Emilio O

    2014-12-01

    There is an increasing interest to combine phylogenetic data with distributional and ecological records to assess how natural communities arrange under an evolutionary perspective. In the microbial world, there is also a need to go beyond the problematic species definition to deeply explore ecological patterns using genetic data. We explored links between evolution/phylogeny and community ecology using bacterial 16S rRNA gene information from a high-altitude lakes district data set. We described phylogenetic community composition, spatial distribution, and β-diversity and biogeographical patterns applying evolutionary relatedness without relying on any particular operational taxonomic unit definition. High-altitude lakes districts usually contain a large mosaic of highly diverse small water bodies and conform a fine biogeographical model of spatially close but environmentally heterogeneous ecosystems. We sampled 18 lakes in the Pyrenees with a selection criteria focused on capturing the maximum environmental variation within the smallest geographical area. The results showed highly diverse communities nonrandomly distributed with phylogenetic β-diversity patterns mainly shaped by the environment and not by the spatial distance. Community similarity based on both bacterial taxonomic composition and phylogenetic β-diversity shared similar patterns and was primarily structured by similar environmental drivers. We observed a positive relationship between lake area and phylogenetic diversity with a slope consistent with highly dispersive planktonic organisms. The phylogenetic approach incorporated patterns of common ancestry into bacterial community analysis and emerged as a very convenient analytical tool for direct inter- and intrabiome biodiversity comparisons and sorting out microbial habitats with potential application in conservation studies. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Continental scale patterns and predictors of fern richness and phylogenetic diversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nathalie eNagalingum

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Because ferns have a wide range of habitat preferences and are widely distributed, they are an ideal group for understanding how diversity is distributed. Here we examine fern diversity on a broad-scale using standard and corrected richness measures as well as phylogenetic indices; in addition we determine the environmental predictors of each diversity metric. Using the combined records of Australian herbaria, a dataset of over 60,000 records was obtained for 89 genera to infer richness. A phylogenetic tree of all the genera was constructed and combined with the herbarium records to obtain phylogenetic diversity patterns. A hotspot of both taxic and phylogenetic diversity occurs in the Wet Tropics of northeastern Australia. Although considerable diversity is distributed along the eastern coast, some important regions of diversity are identified only after sample-standardization of richness and through the phylogenetic metric. Of all of the metrics, annual precipitation was identified as the most explanatory variable, in part, in agreement with global and regional fern studies. Precipitation was combined with a different variable for each different metric. For corrected richness, precipitation is combined with temperature seasonality, while correlation of phylogenetic diversity to precipitation plus radiation indicates support for the species-energy hypothesis. Significantly high and significantly low phylogenetic diversity were found in geographically separate areas. These areas are correlated with different climatic conditions such as seasonality in precipitation. The use of phylogenetic metrics identifies additional areas of significant diversity, some of which have not been revealed using traditional taxonomic analyses, suggesting that different ecological and evolutionary processes have operated over the continent. Our study demonstrates that it is possible and vital to incorporate evolutionary metrics when inferring biodiversity hotspots

  13. Turnover of plant lineages shapes herbivore phylogenetic beta diversity along ecological gradients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellissier, Loïc; Ndiribe, Charlotte; Dubuis, Anne; Pradervand, Jean-Nicolas; Salamin, Nicolas; Guisan, Antoine; Rasmann, Sergio

    2013-05-01

    Understanding drivers of biodiversity patterns is of prime importance in this era of severe environmental crisis. More diverse plant communities have been postulated to represent a larger functional trait-space, more likely to sustain a diverse assembly of herbivore species. Here, we expand this hypothesis to integrate environmental, functional and phylogenetic variation of plant communities as factors explaining the diversity of lepidopteran assemblages along elevation gradients in the Swiss Western Alps. According to expectations, we found that the association between butterflies and their host plants is highly phylogenetically structured. Multiple regression analyses showed the combined effect of climate, functional traits and phylogenetic diversity in structuring butterfly communities. Furthermore, we provide the first evidence that plant phylogenetic beta diversity is the major driver explaining butterfly phylogenetic beta diversity. Along ecological gradients, the bottom up control of herbivore diversity is thus driven by phylogenetically structured turnover of plant traits as well as environmental variables. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

  14. Genomic diversity of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Lisbon Portugal: Towards tuberculosis genomic epidemiology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Perdigão

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Multidrug- (MDR and extensively drug-resistant (XDR tuberculosis (TB present a challenge to disease control and elimination goals. Lisbon, Portugal, has a high TB incidencerate and unusual and successful XDR-TB strains that have been found in circulation foralmost two decades. For the last 20 years, a continued circulation of two phylogenetic clades, Lisboa3 and Q1, which are highly associated with MDR and XDR, have been observed. In recent years, these strains have been well characterized regarding the molecular basis of drug resistance and have been inclusively subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS. Researchers have been studying the genomic diversity of strains circulating in Lisbon and its genomic determinants through cutting-edge next generation sequencing. An enormous amount of whole genome sequence data are now available for the most prevalent and clinically relevant strains circulating in Lisbon. It is the persistence, prevalence and rapid evolution towards drug resistance that has prompted researchers to investigate the properties of these strains at the genomic level and in the future at a global transcriptomic level. Seventy Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB isolates, mostly recovered in Lisbon, were genotyped by 24-loci Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit – Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR and the genomes sequenced using a next generation sequencing platform – Illumina HiSeq 2000. The genotyping data revealed three major clusters associated with MDR-TB (Lisboa3-A, Lisboa3-B and Q1, two of which are associated with XDR-TB (Lisboa3-B and Q1, whilst the genomic data contributed to elucidating the phylogenetic positioning of circulating MDR-TB strains, showing a high predominance of a single SNP cluster group 5. Furthermore, a genome-wide phylogeny analysis from these strains, together with 19 publicly available genomes of MTB clinical isolates, revealed two major clades responsible for MDR/XDR-TB in the region

  15. Genomic diversity of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Lisbon Portugal: Towards tuberculosis genomic epidemiology

    KAUST Repository

    Perdigã o, Joã o; Silva, Hugo; Machado, Diana; Macedo, Rita; Maltez, Fernando; Silva, Carla; Jordao, Luisa; Couto, Isabel; Mallard, Kim; Coll, Francesc; Hill-Cawthorne, Grant A.; McNerney, Ruth; Pain, Arnab; Clark, Taane G.; Viveiros, Miguel; Portugal, Isabel

    2015-01-01

    Multidrug- (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) present a challenge to disease control and elimination goals. Lisbon, Portugal, has a high TB incidence rate and unusual and successful XDR-TB strains that have been found in circulation for almost two decades. For the last 20. years, a continued circulation of two phylogenetic clades, Lisboa3 and Q1, which are highly associated with MDR and XDR, have been observed. In recent years, these strains have been well characterized regarding the molecular basis of drug resistance and have been inclusively subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS). Researchers have been studying the genomic diversity of strains circulating in Lisbon and its genomic determinants through cutting-edge next generation sequencing. An enormous amount of whole genome sequence data are now available for the most prevalent and clinically relevant strains circulating in Lisbon.It is the persistence, prevalence and rapid evolution towards drug resistance that has prompted researchers to investigate the properties of these strains at the genomic level and in the future at a global transcriptomic level. Seventy Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates, mostly recovered in Lisbon, were genotyped by 24-. loci Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit - Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) and the genomes sequenced using a next generation sequencing platform - Illumina HiSeq 2000.The genotyping data revealed three major clusters associated with MDR-TB (Lisboa3-A, Lisboa3-B and Q1), two of which are associated with XDR-TB (Lisboa3-B and Q1), whilst the genomic data contributed to elucidating the phylogenetic positioning of circulating MDR-TB strains, showing a high predominance of a single SNP cluster group 5. Furthermore, a genome-wide phylogeny analysis from these strains, together with 19 publicly available genomes of MTB clinical isolates, revealed two major clades responsible for MDR/XDR-TB in the region: Lisboa3 and Q

  16. Genomic diversity of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Lisbon Portugal: Towards tuberculosis genomic epidemiology

    KAUST Repository

    Perdigão, João

    2015-03-01

    Multidrug- (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) present a challenge to disease control and elimination goals. Lisbon, Portugal, has a high TB incidence rate and unusual and successful XDR-TB strains that have been found in circulation for almost two decades. For the last 20. years, a continued circulation of two phylogenetic clades, Lisboa3 and Q1, which are highly associated with MDR and XDR, have been observed. In recent years, these strains have been well characterized regarding the molecular basis of drug resistance and have been inclusively subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS). Researchers have been studying the genomic diversity of strains circulating in Lisbon and its genomic determinants through cutting-edge next generation sequencing. An enormous amount of whole genome sequence data are now available for the most prevalent and clinically relevant strains circulating in Lisbon.It is the persistence, prevalence and rapid evolution towards drug resistance that has prompted researchers to investigate the properties of these strains at the genomic level and in the future at a global transcriptomic level. Seventy Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates, mostly recovered in Lisbon, were genotyped by 24-. loci Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit - Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) and the genomes sequenced using a next generation sequencing platform - Illumina HiSeq 2000.The genotyping data revealed three major clusters associated with MDR-TB (Lisboa3-A, Lisboa3-B and Q1), two of which are associated with XDR-TB (Lisboa3-B and Q1), whilst the genomic data contributed to elucidating the phylogenetic positioning of circulating MDR-TB strains, showing a high predominance of a single SNP cluster group 5. Furthermore, a genome-wide phylogeny analysis from these strains, together with 19 publicly available genomes of MTB clinical isolates, revealed two major clades responsible for MDR/XDR-TB in the region: Lisboa3 and Q

  17. Hal: an automated pipeline for phylogenetic analyses of genomic data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robbertse, Barbara; Yoder, Ryan J; Boyd, Alex; Reeves, John; Spatafora, Joseph W

    2011-02-07

    The rapid increase in genomic and genome-scale data is resulting in unprecedented levels of discrete sequence data available for phylogenetic analyses. Major analytical impasses exist, however, prior to analyzing these data with existing phylogenetic software. Obstacles include the management of large data sets without standardized naming conventions, identification and filtering of orthologous clusters of proteins or genes, and the assembly of alignments of orthologous sequence data into individual and concatenated super alignments. Here we report the production of an automated pipeline, Hal that produces multiple alignments and trees from genomic data. These alignments can be produced by a choice of four alignment programs and analyzed by a variety of phylogenetic programs. In short, the Hal pipeline connects the programs BLASTP, MCL, user specified alignment programs, GBlocks, ProtTest and user specified phylogenetic programs to produce species trees. The script is available at sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bio-hal/). The results from an example analysis of Kingdom Fungi are briefly discussed.

  18. Genetic diversity and structure of elite cotton germplasm (Gossypium hirsutum L.) using genome-wide SNP data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ai, XianTao; Liang, YaJun; Wang, JunDuo; Zheng, JuYun; Gong, ZhaoLong; Guo, JiangPing; Li, XueYuan; Qu, YanYing

    2017-10-01

    Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is the most important natural textile fiber crop, and Gossypium hirsutum L. is responsible for 90% of the annual cotton crop in the world. Information on cotton genetic diversity and population structure is essential for new breeding lines. In this study, we analyzed population structure and genetic diversity of 288 elite Gossypium hirsutum cultivar accessions collected from around the world, and especially from China, using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) markers. The average polymorphsim information content (PIC) was 0.25, indicating a relatively low degree of genetic diversity. Population structure analysis revealed extensive admixture and identified three subgroups. Phylogenetic analysis supported the subgroups identified by STRUCTURE. The results from both population structure and phylogenetic analysis were, for the most part, in agreement with pedigree information. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a larger amount of variation was due to diversity within the groups. Establishment of genetic diversity and population structure from this study could be useful for genetic and genomic analysis and systematic utilization of the standing genetic variation in upland cotton.

  19. Comparative Analysis of 35 Basidiomycete Genomes Reveals Diversity and Uniqueness of the Phylum

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Riley, Robert; Salamov, Asaf; Otillar, Robert; Fagnan, Kirsten; Boussau, Bastien; Brown, Daren; Henrissat, Bernard; Levasseur, Anthony; Held, Benjamin; Nagy, Laszlo; Floudas, Dimitris; Morin, Emmanuelle; Manning, Gerard; Baker, Scott; Martin, Francis; Blanchette, Robert; Hibbett, David; Grigoriev, Igor V.

    2013-03-11

    Fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota (basidiomycetes), make up some 37percent of the described fungi, and are important in forestry, agriculture, medicine, and bioenergy. This diverse phylum includes symbionts, pathogens, and saprobes including wood decaying fungi. To better understand the diversity of this phylum we compared the genomes of 35 basidiomycete fungi including 6 newly sequenced genomes. The genomes of basidiomycetes span extremes of genome size, gene number, and repeat content. A phylogenetic tree of Basidiomycota was generated using the Phyldog software, which uses all available protein sequence data to simultaneously infer gene and species trees. Analysis of core genes reveals that some 48percent of basidiomycete proteins are unique to the phylum with nearly half of those (22percent) comprising proteins found in only one organism. Phylogenetic patterns of plant biomass-degrading genes suggest a continuum rather than a sharp dichotomy between the white rot and brown rot modes of wood decay among the members of Agaricomycotina subphylum. There is a correlation of the profile of certain gene families to nutritional mode in Agaricomycotina. Based on phylogenetically-informed PCA analysis of such profiles, we predict that that Botryobasidium botryosum and Jaapia argillacea have properties similar to white rot species, although neither has liginolytic class II fungal peroxidases. Furthermore, we find that both fungi exhibit wood decay with white rot-like characteristics in growth assays. Analysis of the rate of discovery of proteins with no or few homologs suggests the high value of continued sequencing of basidiomycete fungi.

  20. Nucleotide diversity and phylogenetic relationships among ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2017-03-03

    Mar 3, 2017 ... 2Department of Botany, D. S. B. Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital 263 001, India ... Rana T. S. 2017 Nucleotide diversity and phylogenetic relationships ... Anderson and Park 1989). ..... Edgewood Press, Edgewood, USA.

  1. The impact of genomics on research in diversity and evolution of archaea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mardanov, A V; Ravin, N V

    2012-08-01

    Since the definition of archaea as a separate domain of life along with bacteria and eukaryotes, they have become one of the most interesting objects of modern microbiology, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Sequencing and analysis of archaeal genomes were especially important for studies on archaea because of a limited availability of genetic tools for the majority of these microorganisms and problems associated with their cultivation. Fifteen years since the publication of the first genome of an archaeon, more than one hundred complete genome sequences of representatives of different phylogenetic groups have been determined. Analysis of these genomes has expanded our knowledge of biology of archaea, their diversity and evolution, and allowed identification and characterization of new deep phylogenetic lineages of archaea. The development of genome technologies has allowed sequencing the genomes of uncultivated archaea directly from enrichment cultures, metagenomic samples, and even from single cells. Insights have been gained into the evolution of key biochemical processes in archaea, such as cell division and DNA replication, the role of horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of archaea, and new relationships between archaea and eukaryotes have been revealed.

  2. Arthropod phylogenetics in light of three novel millipede (myriapoda: diplopoda mitochondrial genomes with comments on the appropriateness of mitochondrial genome sequence data for inferring deep level relationships.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael S Brewer

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Arthropods are the most diverse group of eukaryotic organisms, but their phylogenetic relationships are poorly understood. Herein, we describe three mitochondrial genomes representing orders of millipedes for which complete genomes had not been characterized. Newly sequenced genomes are combined with existing data to characterize the protein coding regions of myriapods and to attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships within the Myriapoda and Arthropoda. RESULTS: The newly sequenced genomes are similar to previously characterized millipede sequences in terms of synteny and length. Unique translocations occurred within the newly sequenced taxa, including one half of the Appalachioria falcifera genome, which is inverted with respect to other millipede genomes. Across myriapods, amino acid conservation levels are highly dependent on the gene region. Additionally, individual loci varied in the level of amino acid conservation. Overall, most gene regions showed low levels of conservation at many sites. Attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships suffered from questionable relationships and low support values. Analyses of phylogenetic informativeness show the lack of signal deep in the trees (i.e., genes evolve too quickly. As a result, the myriapod tree resembles previously published results but lacks convincing support, and, within the arthropod tree, well established groups were recovered as polyphyletic. CONCLUSIONS: The novel genome sequences described herein provide useful genomic information concerning millipede groups that had not been investigated. Taken together with existing sequences, the variety of compositions and evolution of myriapod mitochondrial genomes are shown to be more complex than previously thought. Unfortunately, the use of mitochondrial protein-coding regions in deep arthropod phylogenetics appears problematic, a result consistent with previously published studies. Lack of phylogenetic

  3. Arthropod phylogenetics in light of three novel millipede (myriapoda: diplopoda) mitochondrial genomes with comments on the appropriateness of mitochondrial genome sequence data for inferring deep level relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brewer, Michael S; Swafford, Lynn; Spruill, Chad L; Bond, Jason E

    2013-01-01

    Arthropods are the most diverse group of eukaryotic organisms, but their phylogenetic relationships are poorly understood. Herein, we describe three mitochondrial genomes representing orders of millipedes for which complete genomes had not been characterized. Newly sequenced genomes are combined with existing data to characterize the protein coding regions of myriapods and to attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships within the Myriapoda and Arthropoda. The newly sequenced genomes are similar to previously characterized millipede sequences in terms of synteny and length. Unique translocations occurred within the newly sequenced taxa, including one half of the Appalachioria falcifera genome, which is inverted with respect to other millipede genomes. Across myriapods, amino acid conservation levels are highly dependent on the gene region. Additionally, individual loci varied in the level of amino acid conservation. Overall, most gene regions showed low levels of conservation at many sites. Attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships suffered from questionable relationships and low support values. Analyses of phylogenetic informativeness show the lack of signal deep in the trees (i.e., genes evolve too quickly). As a result, the myriapod tree resembles previously published results but lacks convincing support, and, within the arthropod tree, well established groups were recovered as polyphyletic. The novel genome sequences described herein provide useful genomic information concerning millipede groups that had not been investigated. Taken together with existing sequences, the variety of compositions and evolution of myriapod mitochondrial genomes are shown to be more complex than previously thought. Unfortunately, the use of mitochondrial protein-coding regions in deep arthropod phylogenetics appears problematic, a result consistent with previously published studies. Lack of phylogenetic signal renders the resulting tree topologies as suspect

  4. Genomic repeat abundances contain phylogenetic signal

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Dodsworth, S.; Chase, M.W.; Kelly, L.J.; Leitch, I.J.; Macas, Jiří; Novák, Petr; Piednoël, M.; Weiß-Schneeweiss, H.; Leitch, A.R.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 64, č. 1 (2015), s. 112-126 ISSN 1063-5157 R&D Projects: GA ČR GBP501/12/G090 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Repetitive DNA * continuous characters * genomics * next-generation sequencing * phylogenetics Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 8.225, year: 2015

  5. Phylogenetics and differentiation of Salmonella Newport lineages by whole genome sequencing.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guojie Cao

    Full Text Available Salmonella Newport has ranked in the top three Salmonella serotypes associated with foodborne outbreaks from 1995 to 2011 in the United States. In the current study, we selected 26 S. Newport strains isolated from diverse sources and geographic locations and then conducted 454 shotgun pyrosequencing procedures to obtain 16-24 × coverage of high quality draft genomes for each strain. Comparative genomic analysis of 28 S. Newport strains (including 2 reference genomes and 15 outgroup genomes identified more than 140,000 informative SNPs. A resulting phylogenetic tree consisted of four sublineages and indicated that S. Newport had a clear geographic structure. Strains from Asia were divergent from those from the Americas. Our findings demonstrated that analysis using whole genome sequencing data resulted in a more accurate picture of phylogeny compared to that using single genes or small sets of genes. We selected loci around the mutS gene of S. Newport to differentiate distinct lineages, including those between invH and mutS genes at the 3' end of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 (SPI-1, ste fimbrial operon, and Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR associated-proteins (cas. These genes in the outgroup genomes held high similarity with either S. Newport Lineage II or III at the same loci. S. Newport Lineages II and III have different evolutionary histories in this region and our data demonstrated genetic flow and homologous recombination events around mutS. The findings suggested that S. Newport Lineages II and III diverged early in the serotype evolution and have evolved largely independently. Moreover, we identified genes that could delineate sublineages within the phylogenetic tree and that could be used as potential biomarkers for trace-back investigations during outbreaks. Thus, whole genome sequencing data enabled us to better understand the genetic background of pathogenicity and evolutionary history of S

  6. Genomic diversity within the haloalkaliphilic genus Thioalkalivibrio.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, Anne-Catherine; Meier-Kolthoff, Jan P; Overmars, Lex; Richter, Michael; Woyke, Tanja; Sorokin, Dimitry Y; Muyzer, Gerard

    2017-01-01

    Thioalkalivibrio is a genus of obligate chemolithoautotrophic haloalkaliphilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Their habitat are soda lakes which are dual extreme environments with a pH range from 9.5 to 11 and salt concentrations up to saturation. More than 100 strains of this genus have been isolated from various soda lakes all over the world, but only ten species have been effectively described yet. Therefore, the assignment of the remaining strains to either existing or novel species is important and will further elucidate their genomic diversity as well as give a better general understanding of this genus. Recently, the genomes of 76 Thioalkalivibrio strains were sequenced. On these, we applied different methods including (i) 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, (ii) Multilocus Sequence Analysis (MLSA) based on eight housekeeping genes, (iii) Average Nucleotide Identity based on BLAST (ANIb) and MUMmer (ANIm), (iv) Tetranucleotide frequency correlation coefficients (TETRA), (v) digital DNA:DNA hybridization (dDDH) as well as (vi) nucleotide- and amino acid-based Genome BLAST Distance Phylogeny (GBDP) analyses. We detected a high genomic diversity by revealing 15 new "genomic" species and 16 new "genomic" subspecies in addition to the ten already described species. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses showed that the genus is not monophyletic, because four strains were clearly separated from the other Thioalkalivibrio by type strains from other genera. Therefore, it is recommended to classify the latter group as a novel genus. The biogeographic distribution of Thioalkalivibrio suggested that the different "genomic" species can be classified as candidate disjunct or candidate endemic species. This study is a detailed genome-based classification and identification of members within the genus Thioalkalivibrio. However, future phenotypical and chemotaxonomical studies will be needed for a full species description of this genus.

  7. Data for constructing insect genome content matrices for phylogenetic analysis and functional annotation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeffrey Rosenfeld

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Twenty one fully sequenced and well annotated insect genomes were used to construct genome content matrices for phylogenetic analysis and functional annotation of insect genomes. To examine the role of e-value cutoff in ortholog determination we used scaled e-value cutoffs and a single linkage clustering approach.. The present communication includes (1 a list of the genomes used to construct the genome content phylogenetic matrices, (2 a nexus file with the data matrices used in phylogenetic analysis, (3 a nexus file with the Newick trees generated by phylogenetic analysis, (4 an excel file listing the Core (CORE genes and Unique (UNI genes found in five insect groups, and (5 a figure showing a plot of consistency index (CI versus percent of unannotated genes that are apomorphies in the data set for gene losses and gains and bar plots of gains and losses for four consistency index (CI cutoffs.

  8. Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship in different genotypes of cotton for future breeding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jehan

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Background: To make the plants well adapted and more resistant to diseases and other environmental stresses there is always a need to improve the quality of plant’s genome i.e. to increase its genetic diversity. Methods: In the present study six variety and six lines of cotton were investigated for their genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship. For this purpose 35 different RAPD primers obtained from the Gene Link Technologies, USA were used. Results: Among 35 RAPD primers, 13 primers produced reproducible PCR bands while the rest failed to show any amplification product. Our results indicated that the total count of the reproducible bands was 670 and polymorphic loci were counted to be 442 which constitute 66% of total loci. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two major groups each consists of 7 and 5 genotypes respectively. Genotypes Lp1 and Tp4 were placed at maximum genetic distance and in separate groups and could be utilized for future cotton breeding. Conclusions: RAPD analysis is a cheaper and time saving technique for the determination of genetic diversity of different cotton genotypes. Cotton genotype Lp1 and Tp4 could be the best candidates for future breeding programs as both genotypes are genetically distant from each other.

  9. Phylogenetic Diversity of Vibrio cholerae Associated with Endemic Cholera in Mexico from 1991 to 2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Seon Young; Rashed, Shah M; Hasan, Nur A; Alam, Munirul; Islam, Tarequl; Sadique, Abdus; Johura, Fatema-Tuz; Eppinger, Mark; Ravel, Jacques; Huq, Anwar; Cravioto, Alejandro; Colwell, Rita R

    2016-03-15

    An outbreak of cholera occurred in 1991 in Mexico, where it had not been reported for more than a century and is now endemic. Vibrio cholerae O1 prototype El Tor and classical strains coexist with altered El Tor strains (1991 to 1997). Nontoxigenic (CTX(-)) V. cholerae El Tor dominated toxigenic (CTX(+)) strains (2001 to 2003), but V. cholerae CTX(+) variant El Tor was isolated during 2004 to 2008, outcompeting CTX(-) V. cholerae. Genomes of six Mexican V. cholerae O1 strains isolated during 1991 to 2008 were sequenced and compared with both contemporary and archived strains of V. cholerae. Three were CTX(+) El Tor, two were CTX(-) El Tor, and the remaining strain was a CTX(+) classical isolate. Whole-genome sequence analysis showed the six isolates belonged to five distinct phylogenetic clades. One CTX(-) isolate is ancestral to the 6th and 7th pandemic CTX(+) V. cholerae isolates. The other CTX(-) isolate joined with CTX(-) non-O1/O139 isolates from Haiti and seroconverted O1 isolates from Brazil and Amazonia. One CTX(+) isolate was phylogenetically placed with the sixth pandemic classical clade and the V. cholerae O395 classical reference strain. Two CTX(+) El Tor isolates possessing intact Vibrio seventh pandemic island II (VSP-II) are related to hybrid El Tor isolates from Mozambique and Bangladesh. The third CTX(+) El Tor isolate contained West African-South American (WASA) recombination in VSP-II and showed relatedness to isolates from Peru and Brazil. Except for one isolate, all Mexican isolates lack SXT/R391 integrative conjugative elements (ICEs) and sensitivity to selected antibiotics, with one isolate resistant to streptomycin. No isolates were related to contemporary isolates from Asia, Africa, or Haiti, indicating phylogenetic diversity. Sequencing of genomes of V. cholerae is critical if genetic changes occurring over time in the circulating population of an area of endemicity are to be understood. Although cholera outbreaks occurred rarely

  10. Phenotypic diversity and phylogenetic relationship between the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Phenotypic diversity and phylogenetic relationship between the Bakosi/Baweri and other pig breeds ( Sus scrofa Domesticus ) in the humid forest with monomodal rainfall agro-ecological zone of Cameroon.

  11. Low diversity, activity, and density of transposable elements in five avian genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Bo; Wang, Saisai; Wang, Yali; Shen, Dan; Xue, Songlei; Chen, Cai; Cui, Hengmi; Song, Chengyi

    2017-07-01

    In this study, we conducted the activity, diversity, and density analysis of transposable elements (TEs) across five avian genomes (budgerigar, chicken, turkey, medium ground finch, and zebra finch) to explore the potential reason of small genome sizes of birds. We found that these avian genomes exhibited low density of TEs by about 10% of genome coverages and low diversity of TEs with the TE landscapes dominated by CR1 and ERV elements, and contrasting proliferation dynamics both between TE types and between species were observed across the five avian genomes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that CR1 clade was more diverse in the family structure compared with R2 clade in birds; avian ERVs were classified into four clades (alpha, beta, gamma, and ERV-L) and belonged to three classes of ERV with an uneven distributed in these lineages. The activities of DNA and SINE TEs were very low in the evolution history of avian genomes; most LINEs and LTRs were ancient copies with a substantial decrease of activity in recent, with only LTRs and LINEs in chicken and zebra finch exhibiting weak activity in very recent, and very few TEs were intact; however, the recent activity may be underestimated due to the sequencing/assembly technologies in some species. Overall, this study demonstrates low diversity, activity, and density of TEs in the five avian species; highlights the differences of TEs in these lineages; and suggests that the current and recent activity of TEs in avian genomes is very limited, which may be one of the reasons of small genome sizes in birds.

  12. Phylogenetic and Functional Diversity of Fleshy-Fruited Plants Are Positively Associated with Seedling Diversity in a Tropical Montane Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcia C. Muñoz

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Mutualistic interactions between plants and animals can affect both plant and animal communities, and potentially leave imprints on plant demography. Yet, no study has simultaneously tested how trait variation in plant resources shapes the diversity of animal consumers, and how these interactions influence seedling recruitment. Here, we analyzed whether (i phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity of fruiting plants were correlated with the corresponding diversity of frugivorous birds, and (ii whether phylogenetic diversity and functional identity of plant and bird communities influenced the corresponding diversity and identity of seedling communities. We recorded mutualistic interactions between fleshy-fruited plants and frugivorous birds and seedling communities in 10 plots along an elevational gradient in the Colombian Andes. We built a phylogeny for plants/seedlings and birds and measured relevant morphological plant and bird traits that influence plant-bird interactions and seedling recruitment. We found that phylogenetic diversity and functional diversity of frugivorous birds were positively associated with the corresponding diversities of fruiting plants, consistent with a bottom-up effect of plants on birds. Moreover, the phylogenetic diversity of seedlings was related to the phylogenetic diversity of plants, but was unrelated to the phylogenetic diversity of frugivorous birds, suggesting that top-down effects of animals on seedlings were weak. Mean seed mass of seedling communities was positively associated with the mean fruit mass of plants, but was not associated with the mean avian body mass in the frugivore communities. Our study shows that variation in the traits of fleshy-fruited plants was associated with the diversity of frugivorous birds and affected the future trajectory of seedling recruitment, whereas the morphological traits of animal seed dispersers were unrelated to the phylogenetic and functional structure of

  13. Acidobacteria form a coherent but highly diverse group within the bacterial domain: evidence from environmental genomics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Quaiser, Achim; Ochsenreiter, Torsten; Lanz, Christa

    2003-01-01

    fragments differed between 2.3% and 19.9% and were placed into two different subgroups of Acidobacteria (groups III and V). Although partial co-linearity was found between genomic fragments, the gene content around the rRNA operons was generally not conserved. Phylogenetic reconstructions with orthologues......Acidobacteria have been established as a novel phylum of Bacteria that is consistently detected in many different habitats around the globe by 16S rDNA-based molecular surveys. The phylogenetic diversity, ubiquity and abundance of this group, particularly in soil habitats, suggest an important...... palustris and Bradyrhizobium japonicum, including a conserved two-component system. Phylogenetic analysis of the putative response regulator confirmed that this similarity between Rhizobiales and Acidobacteria might be due to a horizontal gene transfer. In total, our data give first insight into the genome...

  14. Phylogenetic congruence of lichenised fungi and algae is affected by spatial scale and taxonomic diversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannah L. Buckley

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The role of species’ interactions in structuring biological communities remains unclear. Mutualistic symbioses, involving close positive interactions between two distinct organismal lineages, provide an excellent means to explore the roles of both evolutionary and ecological processes in determining how positive interactions affect community structure. In this study, we investigate patterns of co-diversification between fungi and algae for a range of New Zealand lichens at the community, genus, and species levels and explore explanations for possible patterns related to spatial scale and pattern, taxonomic diversity of the lichens considered, and the level sampling replication. We assembled six independent datasets to compare patterns in phylogenetic congruence with varied spatial extent of sampling, taxonomic diversity and level of specimen replication. For each dataset, we used the DNA sequences from the ITS regions of both the fungal and algal genomes from lichen specimens to produce genetic distance matrices. Phylogenetic congruence between fungi and algae was quantified using distance-based redundancy analysis and we used geographic distance matrices in Moran’s eigenvector mapping and variance partitioning to evaluate the effects of spatial variation on the quantification of phylogenetic congruence. Phylogenetic congruence was highly significant for all datasets and a large proportion of variance in both algal and fungal genetic distances was explained by partner genetic variation. Spatial variables, primarily at large and intermediate scales, were also important for explaining genetic diversity patterns in all datasets. Interestingly, spatial structuring was stronger for fungal than algal genetic variation. As the spatial extent of the samples increased, so too did the proportion of explained variation that was shared between the spatial variables and the partners’ genetic variation. Different lichen taxa showed some variation in

  15. Phylogenetic congruence of lichenised fungi and algae is affected by spatial scale and taxonomic diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Hannah L; Rafat, Arash; Ridden, Johnathon D; Cruickshank, Robert H; Ridgway, Hayley J; Paterson, Adrian M

    2014-01-01

    The role of species' interactions in structuring biological communities remains unclear. Mutualistic symbioses, involving close positive interactions between two distinct organismal lineages, provide an excellent means to explore the roles of both evolutionary and ecological processes in determining how positive interactions affect community structure. In this study, we investigate patterns of co-diversification between fungi and algae for a range of New Zealand lichens at the community, genus, and species levels and explore explanations for possible patterns related to spatial scale and pattern, taxonomic diversity of the lichens considered, and the level sampling replication. We assembled six independent datasets to compare patterns in phylogenetic congruence with varied spatial extent of sampling, taxonomic diversity and level of specimen replication. For each dataset, we used the DNA sequences from the ITS regions of both the fungal and algal genomes from lichen specimens to produce genetic distance matrices. Phylogenetic congruence between fungi and algae was quantified using distance-based redundancy analysis and we used geographic distance matrices in Moran's eigenvector mapping and variance partitioning to evaluate the effects of spatial variation on the quantification of phylogenetic congruence. Phylogenetic congruence was highly significant for all datasets and a large proportion of variance in both algal and fungal genetic distances was explained by partner genetic variation. Spatial variables, primarily at large and intermediate scales, were also important for explaining genetic diversity patterns in all datasets. Interestingly, spatial structuring was stronger for fungal than algal genetic variation. As the spatial extent of the samples increased, so too did the proportion of explained variation that was shared between the spatial variables and the partners' genetic variation. Different lichen taxa showed some variation in their phylogenetic congruence

  16. Ecosystem Functions across Trophic Levels Are Linked to Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Patrick L.; Davies, T. Jonathan; Gonzalez, Andrew

    2015-01-01

    In experimental systems, it has been shown that biodiversity indices based on traits or phylogeny can outperform species richness as predictors of plant ecosystem function. However, it is unclear whether this pattern extends to the function of food webs in natural ecosystems. Here we tested whether zooplankton functional and phylogenetic diversity explains the functioning of 23 natural pond communities. We used two measures of ecosystem function: (1) zooplankton community biomass and (2) phytoplankton abundance (Chl a). We tested for diversity-ecosystem function relationships within and across trophic levels. We found a strong correlation between zooplankton diversity and ecosystem function, whereas local environmental conditions were less important. Further, the positive diversity-ecosystem function relationships were more pronounced for measures of functional and phylogenetic diversity than for species richness. Zooplankton and phytoplankton biomass were best predicted by different indices, suggesting that the two functions are dependent upon different aspects of diversity. Zooplankton community biomass was best predicted by zooplankton trait-based functional richness, while phytoplankton abundance was best predicted by zooplankton phylogenetic diversity. Our results suggest that the positive relationship between diversity and ecosystem function can extend across trophic levels in natural environments, and that greater insight into variation in ecosystem function can be gained by combining functional and phylogenetic diversity measures. PMID:25693188

  17. Phylogenetic Diversity, Distribution, and Cophylogeny of Giant Bacteria (Epulopiscium) with their Surgeonfish Hosts in the Red Sea

    KAUST Repository

    Miyake, Sou

    2016-03-14

    Epulopiscium is a group of giant bacteria found in high abundance in intestinal tracts of herbivorous surgeonfish. Despite their peculiarly large cell size (can be up to 600 μm), extreme polyploidy (some with over 100,000 genome copies per cell) and viviparity (whereby mother cells produce live offspring), details about their diversity, distribution or their role in the host gut are lacking. Previous studies have highlighted the existence of morphologically distinct Epulopiscium cell types (defined as morphotypes A to J) in some surgeonfish genera, but the corresponding genetic diversity and distribution among other surgeonfishes remain mostly unknown. Therefore, we investigated the phylogenetic diversity of Epulopiscium, distribution and co-occurrence in multiple hosts. Here, we identified eleven new phylogenetic clades, six of which were also morphologically characterized. Three of these novel clades were phylogenetically and morphologically similar to cigar-shaped type A1 cells, found in a wide range of surgeonfishes including Acanthurus nigrofuscus, while three were similar to smaller, rod-shaped type E that has not been phylogenetically classified thus far. Our results also confirmed that biogeography appears to have relatively little influence on Epulopiscium diversity, as clades found in the Great Barrier Reef and Hawaii were also recovered from the Red Sea. Although multiple symbiont clades inhabited a given species of host surgeonfish and multiple host species possessed a given symbiont clade, statistical analysis of host and symbiont phylogenies indicated significant cophylogeny, which in turn suggests co-evolutionary relationships. A cluster analysis of Epulopiscium sequences from previously published amplicon sequencing dataset revealed a similar pattern, where specific clades were consistently found in high abundance amongst closely related surgeonfishes. Differences in abundance may indicate specialization of clades to certain gut environments

  18. Phylogenetic Diversity, Distribution, and Cophylogeny of Giant Bacteria (Epulopiscium) with their Surgeonfish Hosts in the Red Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyake, Sou; Ngugi, David K.; Stingl, Ulrich

    2016-01-01

    Epulopiscium is a group of giant bacteria found in high abundance in intestinal tracts of herbivorous surgeonfish. Despite their peculiarly large cell size (can be up to 600 μm), extreme polyploidy (some with over 100,000 genome copies per cell) and viviparity (whereby mother cells produce live offspring), details about their diversity, distribution or their role in the host gut are lacking. Previous studies have highlighted the existence of morphologically distinct Epulopiscium cell types (defined as morphotypes A to J) in some surgeonfish genera, but the corresponding genetic diversity and distribution among other surgeonfishes remain mostly unknown. Therefore, we investigated the phylogenetic diversity of Epulopiscium, distribution and co-occurrence in multiple hosts. Here, we identified eleven new phylogenetic clades, six of which were also morphologically characterized. Three of these novel clades were phylogenetically and morphologically similar to cigar-shaped type A1 cells, found in a wide range of surgeonfishes including Acanthurus nigrofuscus, while three were similar to smaller, rod-shaped type E that has not been phylogenetically classified thus far. Our results also confirmed that biogeography appears to have relatively little influence on Epulopiscium diversity, as clades found in the Great Barrier Reef and Hawaii were also recovered from the Red Sea. Although multiple symbiont clades inhabited a given species of host surgeonfish and multiple host species possessed a given symbiont clade, statistical analysis of host and symbiont phylogenies indicated significant cophylogeny, which in turn suggests co-evolutionary relationships. A cluster analysis of Epulopiscium sequences from previously published amplicon sequencing dataset revealed a similar pattern, where specific clades were consistently found in high abundance amongst closely related surgeonfishes. Differences in abundance may indicate specialization of clades to certain gut environments

  19. Phylogenetic Diversity, Distribution, and Cophylogeny of Giant Bacteria (Epulopiscium) with their Surgeonfish Hosts in the Red Sea

    KAUST Repository

    Miyake, Sou; Ngugi, David; Stingl, Ulrich

    2016-01-01

    Epulopiscium is a group of giant bacteria found in high abundance in intestinal tracts of herbivorous surgeonfish. Despite their peculiarly large cell size (can be up to 600 μm), extreme polyploidy (some with over 100,000 genome copies per cell) and viviparity (whereby mother cells produce live offspring), details about their diversity, distribution or their role in the host gut are lacking. Previous studies have highlighted the existence of morphologically distinct Epulopiscium cell types (defined as morphotypes A to J) in some surgeonfish genera, but the corresponding genetic diversity and distribution among other surgeonfishes remain mostly unknown. Therefore, we investigated the phylogenetic diversity of Epulopiscium, distribution and co-occurrence in multiple hosts. Here, we identified eleven new phylogenetic clades, six of which were also morphologically characterized. Three of these novel clades were phylogenetically and morphologically similar to cigar-shaped type A1 cells, found in a wide range of surgeonfishes including Acanthurus nigrofuscus, while three were similar to smaller, rod-shaped type E that has not been phylogenetically classified thus far. Our results also confirmed that biogeography appears to have relatively little influence on Epulopiscium diversity, as clades found in the Great Barrier Reef and Hawaii were also recovered from the Red Sea. Although multiple symbiont clades inhabited a given species of host surgeonfish and multiple host species possessed a given symbiont clade, statistical analysis of host and symbiont phylogenies indicated significant cophylogeny, which in turn suggests co-evolutionary relationships. A cluster analysis of Epulopiscium sequences from previously published amplicon sequencing dataset revealed a similar pattern, where specific clades were consistently found in high abundance amongst closely related surgeonfishes. Differences in abundance may indicate specialization of clades to certain gut environments

  20. Fast Computations for Measures of Phylogenetic Beta Diversity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantinos Tsirogiannis

    Full Text Available For many applications in ecology, it is important to examine the phylogenetic relations between two communities of species. More formally, let [Formula: see text] be a phylogenetic tree and let A and B be two samples of its tips, representing the examined communities. We want to compute a value that expresses the phylogenetic diversity between A and B in [Formula: see text]. There exist several measures that can do this; these are the so-called phylogenetic beta diversity (β-diversity measures. Two popular measures of this kind are the Community Distance (CD and the Common Branch Length (CBL. In most applications, it is not sufficient to compute the value of a beta diversity measure for two communities A and B; we also want to know if this value is relatively large or small compared to all possible pairs of communities in [Formula: see text] that have the same size. To decide this, the ideal approach is to compute a standardised index that involves the mean and the standard deviation of this measure among all pairs of species samples that have the same number of elements as A and B. However, no method exists for computing exactly and efficiently this index for CD and CBL. We present analytical expressions for computing the expectation and the standard deviation of CD and CBL. Based on these expressions, we describe efficient algorithms for computing the standardised indices of the two measures. Using standard algorithmic analysis, we provide guarantees on the theoretical efficiency of our algorithms. We implemented our algorithms and measured their efficiency in practice. Our implementations compute the standardised indices of CD and CBL in less than twenty seconds for a hundred pairs of samples on trees with 7 ⋅ 10(4 tips. Our implementations are available through the R package PhyloMeasures.

  1. Edge-related loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Bráulio A; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Moreno, Claudia E; Tabarelli, Marcelo

    2010-09-08

    Deforestation and forest fragmentation are known major causes of nonrandom extinction, but there is no information about their impact on the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining species assemblages. Using a large vegetation dataset from an old hyper-fragmented landscape in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest we assess whether the local extirpation of tree species and functional impoverishment of tree assemblages reduce the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining tree assemblages. We detected a significant loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in forest edges, but not in core areas of small (phylogenetic distance between any two randomly chosen individuals from forest edges; an increase of 17% in the average phylogenetic distance to closest non-conspecific relative for each individual in forest edges; and to the potential manifestation of late edge effects in the core areas of small forest remnants. We found no evidence supporting fragmentation-induced phylogenetic clustering or evenness. This could be explained by the low phylogenetic conservatism of key life-history traits corresponding to vulnerable species. Edge effects must be reduced to effectively protect tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

  2. Phylogenetic tree based on complete genomes using fractal and correlation analyses without sequence alignment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zu-Guo Yu

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available The complete genomes of living organisms have provided much information on their phylogenetic relationships. Similarly, the complete genomes of chloroplasts have helped resolve the evolution of this organelle in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In this review, we describe two algorithms to construct phylogenetic trees based on the theories of fractals and dynamic language using complete genomes. These algorithms were developed by our research group in the past few years. Our distance-based phylogenetic tree of 109 prokaryotes and eukaryotes agrees with the biologists' "tree of life" based on the 16S-like rRNA genes in a majority of basic branchings and most lower taxa. Our phylogenetic analysis also shows that the chloroplast genomes are separated into two major clades corresponding to chlorophytes s.l. and rhodophytes s.l. The interrelationships among the chloroplasts are largely in agreement with the current understanding on chloroplast evolution.

  3. Bacterial phylogenetic reconstruction from whole genomes is robust to recombination but demographic inference is not.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hedge, Jessica; Wilson, Daniel J

    2014-11-25

    Phylogenetic inference in bacterial genomics is fundamental to understanding problems such as population history, antimicrobial resistance, and transmission dynamics. The field has been plagued by an apparent state of contradiction since the distorting effects of recombination on phylogeny were discovered more than a decade ago. Researchers persist with detailed phylogenetic analyses while simultaneously acknowledging that recombination seriously misleads inference of population dynamics and selection. Here we resolve this paradox by showing that phylogenetic tree topologies based on whole genomes robustly reconstruct the clonal frame topology but that branch lengths are badly skewed. Surprisingly, removing recombining sites can exacerbate branch length distortion caused by recombination. Phylogenetic tree reconstruction is a popular approach for understanding the relatedness of bacteria in a population from differences in their genome sequences. However, bacteria frequently exchange regions of their genomes by a process called homologous recombination, which violates a fundamental assumption of phylogenetic methods. Since many researchers continue to use phylogenetics for recombining bacteria, it is important to understand how recombination affects the conclusions drawn from these analyses. We find that whole-genome sequences afford great accuracy in reconstructing evolutionary relationships despite concerns surrounding the presence of recombination, but the branch lengths of the phylogenetic tree are indeed badly distorted. Surprisingly, methods to reduce the impact of recombination on branch lengths can exacerbate the problem. Copyright © 2014 Hedge and Wilson.

  4. Genome sequence diversity and clues to the evolution of variola (smallpox) virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esposito, Joseph J; Sammons, Scott A; Frace, A Michael; Osborne, John D; Olsen-Rasmussen, Melissa; Zhang, Ming; Govil, Dhwani; Damon, Inger K; Kline, Richard; Laker, Miriam; Li, Yu; Smith, Geoffrey L; Meyer, Hermann; Leduc, James W; Wohlhueter, Robert M

    2006-08-11

    Comparative genomics of 45 epidemiologically varied variola virus isolates from the past 30 years of the smallpox era indicate low sequence diversity, suggesting that there is probably little difference in the isolates' functional gene content. Phylogenetic clustering inferred three clades coincident with their geographical origin and case-fatality rate; the latter implicated putative proteins that mediate viral virulence differences. Analysis of the viral linear DNA genome suggests that its evolution involved direct descent and DNA end-region recombination events. Knowing the sequences will help understand the viral proteome and improve diagnostic test precision, therapeutics, and systems for their assessment.

  5. Bacillus subtilis genome diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earl, Ashlee M; Losick, Richard; Kolter, Roberto

    2007-02-01

    Microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (M-CGH) is a powerful method for rapidly identifying regions of genome diversity among closely related organisms. We used M-CGH to examine the genome diversity of 17 strains belonging to the nonpathogenic species Bacillus subtilis. Our M-CGH results indicate that there is considerable genetic heterogeneity among members of this species; nearly one-third of Bsu168-specific genes exhibited variability, as measured by the microarray hybridization intensities. The variable loci include those encoding proteins involved in antibiotic production, cell wall synthesis, sporulation, and germination. The diversity in these genes may reflect this organism's ability to survive in diverse natural settings.

  6. Host specialization and phylogenetic diversity of Corynespora cassiicola.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, L J; Schlub, R L; Pernezny, K; Datnoff, L E

    2009-09-01

    The fungus Corynespora cassiicola is primarily found in the tropics and subtropics, and is widely diverse in substrate utilization and host association. Isolate characterization within C. cassiicola was undertaken to investigate how genetic diversity correlates with host specificity, growth rate, and geographic distribution. C. cassiicola isolates were collected from 68 different plant species in American Samoa, Brazil, Malaysia, and Micronesia, and Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee within the United States. Phylogenetic analyses using four loci were performed with 143 Corynespora spp. isolates, including outgroup taxa obtained from culture collections: C. citricola, C. melongenae, C. olivacea, C. proliferata, C. sesamum, and C. smithii. Phylogenetic trees were congruent from the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region, two random hypervariable loci (caa5 and ga4), and the actin-encoding locus act1, indicating a lack of recombination within the species and asexual propagation. Fifty isolates were tested for pathogenicity on eight known C. cassiicola crop hosts: basil, bean, cowpea, cucumber, papaya, soybean, sweet potato, and tomato. Pathogenicity profiles ranged from one to four hosts, with cucumber appearing in 14 of the 16 profiles. Bootstrap analyses and Bayesian posterior probability values identified six statistically significant phylogenetic lineages. The six phylogenetic lineages correlated with host of origin, pathogenicity, and growth rate but not with geographic location. Common fungal genotypes were widely distributed geographically, indicating long-distance and global dispersal of clonal lineages. This research reveals an abundance of previously unrecognized genetic diversity within the species and provides evidence for host specialization on papaya.

  7. Nitrogen addition, not initial phylogenetic diversity, increases litter decomposition by fungal communities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Stuart Amend

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Fungi play a critical role in the degradation of organic matter. Because different combinations of fungi result in different rates of decomposition, determining how climate change will affect microbial composition and function is fundamental to predicting future environments. Fungal response to global change is patterned by genetic relatedness, resulting in communities with comparatively low phylogenetic diversity. This may have important implications for the functional capacity of disturbed communities if lineages sensitive to disturbance also contain unique traits important for litter decomposition. Here we tested the relationship between phylogenetic diversity and decomposition rates. Leaf litter fungi were isolated from the field and deployed in microcosms as mock communities along a gradient of initial phylogenetic diversity, while species richness was held constant. Replicate communities were subject to nitrogen fertilization comparable to anthropogenic deposition levels. Carbon mineralization rates were measured over the course of sixty-six days. We found that nitrogen fertilization increased cumulative respiration by 24.8%, and that differences in respiration between fertilized and ambient communities diminished over the course of the experiment. Initial phylogenetic diversity failed to predict respiration rates or their change in response to nitrogen fertilization, and there was no correlation between community similarity and respiration rates. Last, we detected no phylogenetic signal in the contributions of individual isolates to respiration rates. Our results suggest that the degree to which phylogenetic diversity predicts ecosystem function will depend on environmental context.

  8. Local-scale Partitioning of Functional and Phylogenetic Beta Diversity in a Tropical Tree Assemblage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jie; Swenson, Nathan G; Zhang, Guocheng; Ci, Xiuqin; Cao, Min; Sha, Liqing; Li, Jie; Ferry Slik, J W; Lin, Luxiang

    2015-08-03

    The relative degree to which stochastic and deterministic processes underpin community assembly is a central problem in ecology. Quantifying local-scale phylogenetic and functional beta diversity may shed new light on this problem. We used species distribution, soil, trait and phylogenetic data to quantify whether environmental distance, geographic distance or their combination are the strongest predictors of phylogenetic and functional beta diversity on local scales in a 20-ha tropical seasonal rainforest dynamics plot in southwest China. The patterns of phylogenetic and functional beta diversity were generally consistent. The phylogenetic and functional dissimilarity between subplots (10 × 10 m, 20 × 20 m, 50 × 50 m and 100 × 100 m) was often higher than that expected by chance. The turnover of lineages and species function within habitats was generally slower than that across habitats. Partitioning the variation in phylogenetic and functional beta diversity showed that environmental distance was generally a better predictor of beta diversity than geographic distance thereby lending relatively more support for deterministic environmental filtering over stochastic processes. Overall, our results highlight that deterministic processes play a stronger role than stochastic processes in structuring community composition in this diverse assemblage of tropical trees.

  9. Construction of a phylogenetic tree of photosynthetic prokaryotes based on average similarities of whole genome sequences.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soichirou Satoh

    Full Text Available Phylogenetic trees have been constructed for a wide range of organisms using gene sequence information, especially through the identification of orthologous genes that have been vertically inherited. The number of available complete genome sequences is rapidly increasing, and many tools for construction of genome trees based on whole genome sequences have been proposed. However, development of a reasonable method of using complete genome sequences for construction of phylogenetic trees has not been established. We have developed a method for construction of phylogenetic trees based on the average sequence similarities of whole genome sequences. We used this method to examine the phylogeny of 115 photosynthetic prokaryotes, i.e., cyanobacteria, Chlorobi, proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes and nonphotosynthetic organisms including Archaea. Although the bootstrap values for the branching order of phyla were low, probably due to lateral gene transfer and saturated mutation, the obtained tree was largely consistent with the previously reported phylogenetic trees, indicating that this method is a robust alternative to traditional phylogenetic methods.

  10. Diversity of chloroplast genome among local clones of cocoa (Theobroma cacao, L.) from Central Sulawesi

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suwastika, I. Nengah; Pakawaru, Nurul Aisyah; Rifka, Rahmansyah, Muslimin, Ishizaki, Yoko; Cruz, André Freire; Basri, Zainuddin; Shiina, Takashi

    2017-02-01

    Chloroplast genomes typically range in size from 120 to 170 kilo base pairs (kb), which relatively conserved among plant species. Recent evaluation on several species, certain unique regions showed high variability which can be utilized in the phylogenetic analysis. Many fragments of coding regions, introns, and intergenic spacers, such as atpB-rbcL, ndhF, rbcL, rpl16, trnH-psbA, trnL-F, trnS-G, etc., have been used for phylogenetic reconstructions at various taxonomic levels. Based on that status, we would like to analysis the diversity of chloroplast genome within species of local cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) from Central Sulawesi. Our recent data showed, there were more than 20 clones from local farming in Central Sulawesi, and it can be detected based on phenotypic and nuclear-genome-based characterization (RAPD- Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA and SSR- Simple Sequences Repeat) markers. In developing DNA marker for this local cacao, here we also included analysis based on the variation of chloroplast genome. At least several regions such as rpl32-TurnL, it can be considered as chloroplast markers on our local clone of cocoa. Furthermore, we could develop phylogenetic analysis in between clones of cocoa.

  11. Correlation exploration of metabolic and genomic diversity in rice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shinozaki Kazuo

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background It is essential to elucidate the relationship between metabolic and genomic diversity to understand the genetic regulatory networks associated with the changing metabolo-phenotype among natural variation and/or populations. Recent innovations in metabolomics technologies allow us to grasp the comprehensive features of the metabolome. Metabolite quantitative trait analysis is a key approach for the identification of genetic loci involved in metabolite variation using segregated populations. Although several attempts have been made to find correlative relationships between genetic and metabolic diversity among natural populations in various organisms, it is still unclear whether it is possible to discover such correlations between each metabolite and the polymorphisms found at each chromosomal location. To assess the correlative relationship between the metabolic and genomic diversity found in rice accessions, we compared the distance matrices for these two "omics" patterns in the rice accessions. Results We selected 18 accessions from the world rice collection based on their population structure. To determine the genomic diversity of the rice genome, we genotyped 128 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP markers to calculate the genetic distance among the accessions. To identify the variations in the metabolic fingerprint, a soluble extract from the seed grain of each accession was analyzed with one dimensional 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR. We found no correlation between global metabolic diversity and the phylogenetic relationships among the rice accessions (rs = 0.14 by analyzing the distance matrices (calculated from the pattern of the metabolic fingerprint in the 4.29- to 0.71-ppm 1H chemical shift and the genetic distance on the basis of the RFLP markers. However, local correlation analysis between the distance matrices (derived from each 0.04-ppm integral region of the 1H chemical shift against genetic

  12. Complete sequencing of five araliaceae chloroplast genomes and the phylogenetic implications.

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    Rong Li

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The ginseng family (Araliaceae includes a number of economically important plant species. Previously phylogenetic studies circumscribed three major clades within the core ginseng plant family, yet the internal relationships of each major group have been poorly resolved perhaps due to rapid radiation of these lineages. Recent studies have shown that phyogenomics based on chloroplast genomes provides a viable way to resolve complex relationships. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report the complete nucleotide sequences of five Araliaceae chloroplast genomes using next-generation sequencing technology. The five chloroplast genomes are 156,333-156,459 bp in length including a pair of inverted repeats (25,551-26,108 bp separated by the large single-copy (86,028-86,566 bp and small single-copy (18,021-19,117 bp regions. Each chloroplast genome contains the same 114 unique genes consisting of 30 transfer RNA genes, four ribosomal RNA genes, and 80 protein coding genes. Gene size, content, and order, AT content, and IR/SC boundary structure are similar among all Araliaceae chloroplast genomes. A total of 140 repeats were identified in the five chloroplast genomes with palindromic repeat as the most common type. Phylogenomic analyses using parsimony, likelihood, and Bayesian inference based on the complete chloroplast genomes strongly supported the monophyly of the Asian Palmate group and the Aralia-Panax group. Furthermore, the relationships among the sampled taxa within the Asian Palmate group were well resolved. Twenty-six DNA markers with the percentage of variable sites higher than 5% were identified, which may be useful for phylogenetic studies of Araliaceae. CONCLUSION: The chloroplast genomes of Araliaceae are highly conserved in all aspects of genome features. The large-scale phylogenomic data based on the complete chloroplast DNA sequences is shown to be effective for the phylogenetic reconstruction of Araliaceae.

  13. Edge-related loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

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    Bráulio A Santos

    Full Text Available Deforestation and forest fragmentation are known major causes of nonrandom extinction, but there is no information about their impact on the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining species assemblages. Using a large vegetation dataset from an old hyper-fragmented landscape in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest we assess whether the local extirpation of tree species and functional impoverishment of tree assemblages reduce the phylogenetic diversity of the remaining tree assemblages. We detected a significant loss of tree phylogenetic diversity in forest edges, but not in core areas of small (<80 ha forest fragments. This was attributed to a reduction of 11% in the average phylogenetic distance between any two randomly chosen individuals from forest edges; an increase of 17% in the average phylogenetic distance to closest non-conspecific relative for each individual in forest edges; and to the potential manifestation of late edge effects in the core areas of small forest remnants. We found no evidence supporting fragmentation-induced phylogenetic clustering or evenness. This could be explained by the low phylogenetic conservatism of key life-history traits corresponding to vulnerable species. Edge effects must be reduced to effectively protect tree phylogenetic diversity in the severely fragmented Brazilian Atlantic forest.

  14. Comparative Genomic Analysis Reveals a Diverse Repertoire of Genes Involved in Prokaryote-Eukaryote Interactions within the Pseudovibrio Genus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, Stefano; Fernàndez-Guerra, Antonio; Reen, F Jerry; Glöckner, Frank O; Crowley, Susan P; O'Sullivan, Orla; Cotter, Paul D; Adams, Claire; Dobson, Alan D W; O'Gara, Fergal

    2016-01-01

    Strains of the Pseudovibrio genus have been detected worldwide, mainly as part of bacterial communities associated with marine invertebrates, particularly sponges. This recurrent association has been considered as an indication of a symbiotic relationship between these microbes and their host. Until recently, the availability of only two genomes, belonging to closely related strains, has limited the knowledge on the genomic and physiological features of the genus to a single phylogenetic lineage. Here we present 10 newly sequenced genomes of Pseudovibrio strains isolated from marine sponges from the west coast of Ireland, and including the other two publicly available genomes we performed an extensive comparative genomic analysis. Homogeneity was apparent in terms of both the orthologous genes and the metabolic features shared amongst the 12 strains. At the genomic level, a key physiological difference observed amongst the isolates was the presence only in strain P. axinellae AD2 of genes encoding proteins involved in assimilatory nitrate reduction, which was then proved experimentally. We then focused on studying those systems known to be involved in the interactions with eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. This analysis revealed that the genus harbors a large diversity of toxin-like proteins, secretion systems and their potential effectors. Their distribution in the genus was not always consistent with the phylogenetic relationship of the strains. Finally, our analyses identified new genomic islands encoding potential toxin-immunity systems, previously unknown in the genus. Our analyses shed new light on the Pseudovibrio genus, indicating a large diversity of both metabolic features and systems for interacting with the host. The diversity in both distribution and abundance of these systems amongst the strains underlines how metabolically and phylogenetically similar bacteria may use different strategies to interact with the host and find a niche within its

  15. Complete mitochondrial genome of the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), with phylogenetic analysis in phasianidae.

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    Zhou, Tai-Cheng; Sha, Tao; Irwin, David M; Zhang, Ya-Ping

    2015-01-01

    Pavo cristatus, known as the Indian peafowl, is endemic to India and Sri Lanka and has been domesticated for its ornamental and food value. However, its phylogenetic status is still debated. Here, to clarify the phylogenetic status of P. cristatus within Phasianidae, we analyzed its mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). The complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome was determined using 34 pairs of primers. Our data show that the mtDNA genome of P. cristatus is 16,686 bp in length. Molecular phylogenetic analyses of P. cristatus was performed along with 22 complete mtDNA genomes belonging to other species in Phasianidae using Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods, where Aythya americana and Anas platyrhynchos were used as outgroups. Our results show that P. critatus has its closest genetic affinity with Pavo muticus and belongs to clade that contains Gallus, Bambusicola and Francolinus.

  16. Comparative analyses of plastid genomes from fourteen Cornales species: inferences for phylogenetic relationships and genome evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fu, Chao-Nan; Li, Hong-Tao; Milne, Richard; Zhang, Ting; Ma, Peng-Fei; Yang, Jing; Li, De-Zhu; Gao, Lian-Ming

    2017-12-08

    The Cornales is the basal lineage of the asterids, the largest angiosperm clade. Phylogenetic relationships within the order were previously not fully resolved. Fifteen plastid genomes representing 14 species, ten genera and seven families of Cornales were newly sequenced for comparative analyses of genome features, evolution, and phylogenomics based on different partitioning schemes and filtering strategies. All plastomes of the 14 Cornales species had the typical quadripartite structure with a genome size ranging from 156,567 bp to 158,715 bp, which included two inverted repeats (25,859-26,451 bp) separated by a large single-copy region (86,089-87,835 bp) and a small single-copy region (18,250-18,856 bp) region. These plastomes encoded the same set of 114 unique genes including 31 transfer RNA, 4 ribosomal RNA and 79 coding genes, with an identical gene order across all examined Cornales species. Two genes (rpl22 and ycf15) contained premature stop codons in seven and five species respectively. The phylogenetic relationships among all sampled species were fully resolved with maximum support. Different filtering strategies (none, light and strict) of sequence alignment did not have an effect on these relationships. The topology recovered from coding and noncoding data sets was the same as for the whole plastome, regardless of filtering strategy. Moreover, mutational hotspots and highly informative regions were identified. Phylogenetic relationships among families and intergeneric relationships within family of Cornales were well resolved. Different filtering strategies and partitioning schemes do not influence the relationships. Plastid genomes have great potential to resolve deep phylogenetic relationships of plants.

  17. Genome-centric resolution of microbial diversity, metabolism and interactions in anaerobic digestion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanwonterghem, Inka; Jensen, Paul D; Rabaey, Korneel; Tyson, Gene W

    2016-09-01

    Our understanding of the complex interconnected processes performed by microbial communities is hindered by our inability to culture the vast majority of microorganisms. Metagenomics provides a way to bypass this cultivation bottleneck and recent advances in this field now allow us to recover a growing number of genomes representing previously uncultured populations from increasingly complex environments. In this study, a temporal genome-centric metagenomic analysis was performed of lab-scale anaerobic digesters that host complex microbial communities fulfilling a series of interlinked metabolic processes to enable the conversion of cellulose to methane. In total, 101 population genomes that were moderate to near-complete were recovered based primarily on differential coverage binning. These populations span 19 phyla, represent mostly novel species and expand the genomic coverage of several rare phyla. Classification into functional guilds based on their metabolic potential revealed metabolic networks with a high level of functional redundancy as well as niche specialization, and allowed us to identify potential roles such as hydrolytic specialists for several rare, uncultured populations. Genome-centric analyses of complex microbial communities across diverse environments provide the key to understanding the phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of these interactive communities. © 2016 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  18. Evolutionary history determines how plant productivity responds to phylogenetic diversity and species richness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark A. Genung

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function has received a great deal of attention in ecological research and recent results, from re-analyses, suggest that ecosystem function improves with increases in phylogenetic diversity. However, many of these results have been generalized across a range of different species and clades, and plants with different evolutionary histories could display different relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function. To experimentally test this hypothesis, we manipulated species richness and phylogenetic diversity using 26 species from two subgenera of the genus Eucalyptus (subgenus Eucalyptus and subgenus Symphyomyrtus. We found that plant biomass (a measurement of ecosystem function sometimes, but not always, responded to increases in species richness and phylogenetic diversity. Specifically, Symphyomyrtus plants showed a positive response while no comparable effect was observed for Eucalyptus plants, showing that responses to biodiversity can vary across different phylogenetic groups. Our results show that the impacts of evolutionary history may complicate the relationship between the diversity of plant communities and plant biomass.

  19. Genome-wide identification, characterization and phylogenetic analysis of 50 catfish ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Shikai; Li, Qi; Liu, Zhanjiang

    2013-01-01

    Although a large set of full-length transcripts was recently assembled in catfish, annotation of large gene families, especially those with duplications, is still a great challenge. Most often, complexities in annotation cause mis-identification and thereby much confusion in the scientific literature. As such, detailed phylogenetic analysis and/or orthology analysis are required for annotation of genes involved in gene families. The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene superfamily is a large gene family that encodes membrane proteins that transport a diverse set of substrates across membranes, playing important roles in protecting organisms from diverse environment. In this work, we identified a set of 50 ABC transporters in catfish genome. Phylogenetic analysis allowed their identification and annotation into seven subfamilies, including 9 ABCA genes, 12 ABCB genes, 12 ABCC genes, 5 ABCD genes, 2 ABCE genes, 4 ABCF genes and 6 ABCG genes. Most ABC transporters are conserved among vertebrates, though cases of recent gene duplications and gene losses do exist. Gene duplications in catfish were found for ABCA1, ABCB3, ABCB6, ABCC5, ABCD3, ABCE1, ABCF2 and ABCG2. The whole set of catfish ABC transporters provide the essential genomic resources for future biochemical, toxicological and physiological studies of ABC drug efflux transporters. The establishment of orthologies should allow functional inferences with the information from model species, though the function of lineage-specific genes can be distinct because of specific living environment with different selection pressure.

  20. Karyotype diversity and genome size variation in Neotropical Maxillariinae orchids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moraes, A P; Koehler, S; Cabral, J S; Gomes, S S L; Viccini, L F; Barros, F; Felix, L P; Guerra, M; Forni-Martins, E R

    2017-03-01

    Orchidaceae is a widely distributed plant family with very diverse vegetative and floral morphology, and such variability is also reflected in their karyotypes. However, since only a low proportion of Orchidaceae has been analysed for chromosome data, greater diversity may await to be unveiled. Here we analyse both genome size (GS) and karyotype in two subtribes recently included in the broadened Maxillariinea to detect how much chromosome and GS variation there is in these groups and to evaluate which genome rearrangements are involved in the species evolution. To do so, the GS (14 species), the karyotype - based on chromosome number, heterochromatic banding and 5S and 45S rDNA localisation (18 species) - was characterised and analysed along with published data using phylogenetic approaches. The GS presented a high phylogenetic correlation and it was related to morphological groups in Bifrenaria (larger plants - higher GS). The two largest GS found among genera were caused by different mechanisms: polyploidy in Bifrenaria tyrianthina and accumulation of repetitive DNA in Scuticaria hadwenii. The chromosome number variability was caused mainly through descending dysploidy, and x=20 was estimated as the base chromosome number. Combining GS and karyotype data with molecular phylogeny, our data provide a more complete scenario of the karyotype evolution in Maxillariinae orchids, allowing us to suggest, besides dysploidy, that inversions and transposable elements as two mechanisms involved in the karyotype evolution. Such karyotype modifications could be associated with niche changes that occurred during species evolution. © 2016 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

  1. Comparative Genomics Reveals the Diversity of Restriction-Modification Systems and DNA Methylation Sites in Listeria monocytogenes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Poyin; den Bakker, Henk C; Korlach, Jonas; Kong, Nguyet; Storey, Dylan B; Paxinos, Ellen E; Ashby, Meredith; Clark, Tyson; Luong, Khai; Wiedmann, Martin; Weimer, Bart C

    2017-02-01

    Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen that is found in a wide variety of anthropogenic and natural environments. Genome sequencing technologies are rapidly becoming a powerful tool in facilitating our understanding of how genotype, classification phenotypes, and virulence phenotypes interact to predict the health risks of individual bacterial isolates. Currently, 57 closed L. monocytogenes genomes are publicly available, representing three of the four phylogenetic lineages, and they suggest that L. monocytogenes has high genomic synteny. This study contributes an additional 15 closed L. monocytogenes genomes that were used to determine the associations between the genome and methylome with host invasion magnitude. In contrast to previous findings, large chromosomal inversions and rearrangements were detected in five isolates at the chromosome terminus and within rRNA genes, including a previously undescribed inversion within rRNA-encoding regions. Each isolate's epigenome contained highly diverse methyltransferase recognition sites, even within the same serotype and methylation pattern. Eleven strains contained a single chromosomally encoded methyltransferase, one strain contained two methylation systems (one system on a plasmid), and three strains exhibited no methylation, despite the occurrence of methyltransferase genes. In three isolates a new, unknown DNA modification was observed in addition to diverse methylation patterns, accompanied by a novel methylation system. Neither chromosome rearrangement nor strain-specific patterns of epigenome modification observed within virulence genes were correlated with serotype designation, clonal complex, or in vitro infectivity. These data suggest that genome diversity is larger than previously considered in L. monocytogenes and that as more genomes are sequenced, additional structure and methylation novelty will be observed in this organism. Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis, a disease

  2. European Chlamydia abortus livestock isolate genomes reveal unusual stability and limited diversity, reflected in geographical signatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seth-Smith, H M B; Busó, Leonor Sánchez; Livingstone, M; Sait, M; Harris, S R; Aitchison, K D; Vretou, Evangelia; Siarkou, V I; Laroucau, K; Sachse, K; Longbottom, D; Thomson, N R

    2017-05-04

    Chlamydia abortus (formerly Chlamydophila abortus) is an economically important livestock pathogen, causing ovine enzootic abortion (OEA), and can also cause zoonotic infections in humans affecting pregnancy outcome. Large-scale genomic studies on other chlamydial species are giving insights into the biology of these organisms but have not yet been performed on C. abortus. Our aim was to investigate a broad collection of European isolates of C. abortus, using next generation sequencing methods, looking at diversity, geographic distribution and genome dynamics. Whole genome sequencing was performed on our collection of 57 C. abortus isolates originating primarily from the UK, Germany, France and Greece, but also from Tunisia, Namibia and the USA. Phylogenetic analysis of a total of 64 genomes shows a deep structural division within the C. abortus species with a major clade displaying limited diversity, in addition to a branch carrying two more distantly related Greek isolates, LLG and POS. Within the major clade, seven further phylogenetic groups can be identified, demonstrating geographical associations. The number of variable nucleotide positions across the sampled isolates is significantly lower than those published for C. trachomatis and C. psittaci. No recombination was identified within C. abortus, and no plasmid was found. Analysis of pseudogenes showed lineage specific loss of some functions, notably with several Pmp and TMH/Inc proteins predicted to be inactivated in many of the isolates studied. The diversity within C. abortus appears to be much lower compared to other species within the genus. There are strong geographical signatures within the phylogeny, indicating clonal expansion within areas of limited livestock transport. No recombination has been identified within this species, showing that different species of Chlamydia may demonstrate different evolutionary dynamics, and that the genome of C. abortus is highly stable.

  3. Genome Surfing As Driver of Microbial Genomic Diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choudoir, Mallory J; Panke-Buisse, Kevin; Andam, Cheryl P; Buckley, Daniel H

    2017-08-01

    Historical changes in population size, such as those caused by demographic range expansions, can produce nonadaptive changes in genomic diversity through mechanisms such as gene surfing. We propose that demographic range expansion of a microbial population capable of horizontal gene exchange can result in genome surfing, a mechanism that can cause widespread increase in the pan-genome frequency of genes acquired by horizontal gene exchange. We explain that patterns of genetic diversity within Streptomyces are consistent with genome surfing, and we describe several predictions for testing this hypothesis both in Streptomyces and in other microorganisms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Fast and accurate phylogenetic reconstruction from high-resolution whole-genome data and a novel robustness estimator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Y; Rajan, V; Moret, B M E

    2011-09-01

    The rapid accumulation of whole-genome data has renewed interest in the study of genomic rearrangements. Comparative genomics, evolutionary biology, and cancer research all require models and algorithms to elucidate the mechanisms, history, and consequences of these rearrangements. However, even simple models lead to NP-hard problems, particularly in the area of phylogenetic analysis. Current approaches are limited to small collections of genomes and low-resolution data (typically a few hundred syntenic blocks). Moreover, whereas phylogenetic analyses from sequence data are deemed incomplete unless bootstrapping scores (a measure of confidence) are given for each tree edge, no equivalent to bootstrapping exists for rearrangement-based phylogenetic analysis. We describe a fast and accurate algorithm for rearrangement analysis that scales up, in both time and accuracy, to modern high-resolution genomic data. We also describe a novel approach to estimate the robustness of results-an equivalent to the bootstrapping analysis used in sequence-based phylogenetic reconstruction. We present the results of extensive testing on both simulated and real data showing that our algorithm returns very accurate results, while scaling linearly with the size of the genomes and cubically with their number. We also present extensive experimental results showing that our approach to robustness testing provides excellent estimates of confidence, which, moreover, can be tuned to trade off thresholds between false positives and false negatives. Together, these two novel approaches enable us to attack heretofore intractable problems, such as phylogenetic inference for high-resolution vertebrate genomes, as we demonstrate on a set of six vertebrate genomes with 8,380 syntenic blocks. A copy of the software is available on demand.

  5. Phylogenetic analyses of Vitis (Vitaceae) based on complete chloroplast genome sequences: effects of taxon sampling and phylogenetic methods on resolving relationships among rosids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansen, Robert K; Kaittanis, Charalambos; Saski, Christopher; Lee, Seung-Bum; Tomkins, Jeffrey; Alverson, Andrew J; Daniell, Henry

    2006-04-09

    The Vitaceae (grape) is an economically important family of angiosperms whose phylogenetic placement is currently unresolved. Recent phylogenetic analyses based on one to several genes have suggested several alternative placements of this family, including sister to Caryophyllales, asterids, Saxifragales, Dilleniaceae or to rest of rosids, though support for these different results has been weak. There has been a recent interest in using complete chloroplast genome sequences for resolving phylogenetic relationships among angiosperms. These studies have clarified relationships among several major lineages but they have also emphasized the importance of taxon sampling and the effects of different phylogenetic methods for obtaining accurate phylogenies. We sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of Vitis vinifera and used these data to assess relationships among 27 angiosperms, including nine taxa of rosids. The Vitis vinifera chloroplast genome is 160,928 bp in length, including a pair of inverted repeats of 26,358 bp that are separated by small and large single copy regions of 19,065 bp and 89,147 bp, respectively. The gene content and order of Vitis is identical to many other unrearranged angiosperm chloroplast genomes, including tobacco. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood were performed on DNA sequences of 61 protein-coding genes for two datasets with 28 or 29 taxa, including eight or nine taxa from four of the seven currently recognized major clades of rosids. Parsimony and likelihood phylogenies of both data sets provide strong support for the placement of Vitaceae as sister to the remaining rosids. However, the position of the Myrtales and support for the monophyly of the eurosid I clade differs between the two data sets and the two methods of analysis. In parsimony analyses, the inclusion of Gossypium is necessary to obtain trees that support the monophyly of the eurosid I clade. However, maximum likelihood analyses place

  6. Phylogenetic analyses of Vitis (Vitaceae based on complete chloroplast genome sequences: effects of taxon sampling and phylogenetic methods on resolving relationships among rosids

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alverson Andrew J

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Vitaceae (grape is an economically important family of angiosperms whose phylogenetic placement is currently unresolved. Recent phylogenetic analyses based on one to several genes have suggested several alternative placements of this family, including sister to Caryophyllales, asterids, Saxifragales, Dilleniaceae or to rest of rosids, though support for these different results has been weak. There has been a recent interest in using complete chloroplast genome sequences for resolving phylogenetic relationships among angiosperms. These studies have clarified relationships among several major lineages but they have also emphasized the importance of taxon sampling and the effects of different phylogenetic methods for obtaining accurate phylogenies. We sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of Vitis vinifera and used these data to assess relationships among 27 angiosperms, including nine taxa of rosids. Results The Vitis vinifera chloroplast genome is 160,928 bp in length, including a pair of inverted repeats of 26,358 bp that are separated by small and large single copy regions of 19,065 bp and 89,147 bp, respectively. The gene content and order of Vitis is identical to many other unrearranged angiosperm chloroplast genomes, including tobacco. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood were performed on DNA sequences of 61 protein-coding genes for two datasets with 28 or 29 taxa, including eight or nine taxa from four of the seven currently recognized major clades of rosids. Parsimony and likelihood phylogenies of both data sets provide strong support for the placement of Vitaceae as sister to the remaining rosids. However, the position of the Myrtales and support for the monophyly of the eurosid I clade differs between the two data sets and the two methods of analysis. In parsimony analyses, the inclusion of Gossypium is necessary to obtain trees that support the monophyly of the eurosid I clade

  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. Incorporating phylogenetic information for the definition of floristic districts in hyper-diverse Amazon forests: implications for conservation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guevara, J.E.; Pitman, N.C.A.; ter Steege, H.; Mogollón, H.; Ceron, C.; Palacios, W.; Oleas, N.; Fine, P.V.A.

    2017-01-01

    Using complementary metrics to evaluate phylogenetic diversity can facilitate the delimitation of floristic units and conservation priority areas. In this study, we describe the spatial patterns of phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity, phylogenetic endemism, and evolutionary distinctiveness of the

  9. 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

  10. The Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequences of Five Epimedium Species: Lights into Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yanjun; Du, Liuwen; Liu, Ao; Chen, Jianjun; Wu, Li; Hu, Weiming; Zhang, Wei; Kim, Kyunghee; Lee, Sang-Choon; Yang, Tae-Jin; Wang, Ying

    2016-01-01

    Epimedium L. is a phylogenetically and economically important genus in the family Berberidaceae. We here sequenced the complete chloroplast (cp) genomes of four Epimedium species using Illumina sequencing technology via a combination of de novo and reference-guided assembly, which was also the first comprehensive cp genome analysis on Epimedium combining the cp genome sequence of E. koreanum previously reported. The five Epimedium cp genomes exhibited typical quadripartite and circular structure that was rather conserved in genomic structure and the synteny of gene order. However, these cp genomes presented obvious variations at the boundaries of the four regions because of the expansion and contraction of the inverted repeat (IR) region and the single-copy (SC) boundary regions. The trnQ-UUG duplication occurred in the five Epimedium cp genomes, which was not found in the other basal eudicotyledons. The rapidly evolving cp genome regions were detected among the five cp genomes, as well as the difference of simple sequence repeats (SSR) and repeat sequence were identified. Phylogenetic relationships among the five Epimedium species based on their cp genomes showed accordance with the updated system of the genus on the whole, but reminded that the evolutionary relationships and the divisions of the genus need further investigation applying more evidences. The availability of these cp genomes provided valuable genetic information for accurately identifying species, taxonomy and phylogenetic resolution and evolution of Epimedium, and assist in exploration and utilization of Epimedium plants. PMID:27014326

  11. The complete chloroplast genome sequences of five Epimedium species: lights into phylogenetic and taxonomic analyses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanjun eZhang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Epimedium L. is a phylogenetically and economically important genus in the family Berberidaceae. We here sequenced the complete chloroplast (cp genomes of four Epimedium species using Illumina sequencing technology via a combination of de novo and reference-guided assembly, which was also the first comprehensive cp genome analysis on Epimedium combining the cp genome sequence of E. koreanum previously reported. The five Epimedium cp genomes exhibited typical quadripartite and circular structure that was rather conserved in genomic structure and the synteny of gene order. However, these cp genomes presented obvious variations at the boundaries of the four regions because of the expansion and contraction of the inverted repeat (IR region and the single-copy (SC boundary regions. The trnQ-UUG duplication occurred in the five Epimedium cp genomes, which was not found in the other basal eudicotyledons. The rapidly evolving cp genome regions were detected among the five cp genomes, as well as the difference of simple sequence repeats (SSR and repeat sequence were identified. Phylogenetic relationships among the five Epimedium species based on their cp genomes showed accordance with the updated system of the genus on the whole, but reminded that the evolutionary relationships and the divisions of the genus need further investigation applying more evidences. The availability of these cp genomes provided valuable genetic information for accurately identifying species, taxonomy and phylogenetic resolution and evolution of Epimedium, and assist in exploration and utilization of Epimedium plants.

  12. REFGEN and TREENAMER: Automated Sequence Data Handling for Phylogenetic Analysis in the Genomic Era

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonard, Guy; Stevens, Jamie R.; Richards, Thomas A.

    2009-01-01

    The phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences and increasingly that of amino acid sequences is used to address a number of biological questions. Access to extensive datasets, including numerous genome projects, means that standard phylogenetic analyses can include many hundreds of sequences. Unfortunately, most phylogenetic analysis programs do not tolerate the sequence naming conventions of genome databases. Managing large numbers of sequences and standardizing sequence labels for use in phylogenetic analysis programs can be a time consuming and laborious task. Here we report the availability of an online resource for the management of gene sequences recovered from public access genome databases such as GenBank. These web utilities include the facility for renaming every sequence in a FASTA alignment file, with each sequence label derived from a user-defined combination of the species name and/or database accession number. This facility enables the user to keep track of the branching order of the sequences/taxa during multiple tree calculations and re-optimisations. Post phylogenetic analysis, these webpages can then be used to rename every label in the subsequent tree files (with a user-defined combination of species name and/or database accession number). Together these programs drastically reduce the time required for managing sequence alignments and labelling phylogenetic figures. Additional features of our platform include the automatic removal of identical accession numbers (recorded in the report file) and generation of species and accession number lists for use in supplementary materials or figure legends. PMID:19812722

  13. A comparative test of phylogenetic diversity indices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schweiger, Oliver; Klotz, Stefan; Durka, Walter; Kühn, Ingolf

    2008-09-01

    Traditional measures of biodiversity, such as species richness, usually treat species as being equal. As this is obviously not the case, measuring diversity in terms of features accumulated over evolutionary history provides additional value to theoretical and applied ecology. Several phylogenetic diversity indices exist, but their behaviour has not yet been tested in a comparative framework. We provide a test of ten commonly used phylogenetic diversity indices based on 40 simulated phylogenies of varying topology. We restrict our analysis to a topological fully resolved tree without information on branch lengths and species lists with presence-absence data. A total of 38,000 artificial communities varying in species richness covering 5-95% of the phylogenies were created by random resampling. The indices were evaluated based on their ability to meet a priori defined requirements. No index meets all requirements, but three indices turned out to be more suitable than others under particular conditions. Average taxonomic distinctness (AvTD) and intensive quadratic entropy (J) are calculated by averaging and are, therefore, unbiased by species richness while reflecting phylogeny per se well. However, averaging leads to the violation of set monotonicity, which requires that species extinction cannot increase the index. Total taxonomic distinctness (TTD) sums up distinctiveness values for particular species across the community. It is therefore strongly linked to species richness and reflects phylogeny per se weakly but satisfies set monotonicity. We suggest that AvTD and J are best applied to studies that compare spatially or temporally rather independent communities that potentially vary strongly in their phylogenetic composition-i.e. where set monotonicity is a more negligible issue, but independence of species richness is desired. In contrast, we suggest that TTD be used in studies that compare rather interdependent communities where changes occur more gradually by

  14. Complete genome of a European hepatitis C virus subtype 1g isolate: phylogenetic and genetic analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracho, Maria A; Saludes, Verónica; Martró, Elisa; Bargalló, Ana; González-Candelas, Fernando; Ausina, Vicent

    2008-06-05

    Hepatitis C virus isolates have been classified into six main genotypes and a variable number of subtypes within each genotype, mainly based on phylogenetic analysis. Analyses of the genetic relationship among genotypes and subtypes are more reliable when complete genome sequences (or at least the full coding region) are used; however, so far 31 of 80 confirmed or proposed subtypes have at least one complete genome available. Of these, 20 correspond to confirmed subtypes of epidemic interest. We present and analyse the first complete genome sequence of a HCV subtype 1g isolate. Phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses reveal that HCV-1g is the most divergent subtype among the HCV-1 confirmed subtypes. Potential genomic recombination events between genotypes or subtype 1 genomes were ruled out. We demonstrate phylogenetic congruence of previously deposited partial sequences of HCV-1g with respect to our sequence. In light of this, we propose changing the current status of its subtype-specific designation from provisional to confirmed.

  15. A database of phylogenetically atypical genes in archaeal and bacterial genomes, identified using the DarkHorse algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allen Eric E

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The process of horizontal gene transfer (HGT is believed to be widespread in Bacteria and Archaea, but little comparative data is available addressing its occurrence in complete microbial genomes. Collection of high-quality, automated HGT prediction data based on phylogenetic evidence has previously been impractical for large numbers of genomes at once, due to prohibitive computational demands. DarkHorse, a recently described statistical method for discovering phylogenetically atypical genes on a genome-wide basis, provides a means to solve this problem through lineage probability index (LPI ranking scores. LPI scores inversely reflect phylogenetic distance between a test amino acid sequence and its closest available database matches. Proteins with low LPI scores are good horizontal gene transfer candidates; those with high scores are not. Description The DarkHorse algorithm has been applied to 955 microbial genome sequences, and the results organized into a web-searchable relational database, called the DarkHorse HGT Candidate Resource http://darkhorse.ucsd.edu. Users can select individual genomes or groups of genomes to screen by LPI score, search for protein functions by descriptive annotation or amino acid sequence similarity, or select proteins with unusual G+C composition in their underlying coding sequences. The search engine reports LPI scores for match partners as well as query sequences, providing the opportunity to explore whether potential HGT donor sequences are phylogenetically typical or atypical within their own genomes. This information can be used to predict whether or not sufficient information is available to build a well-supported phylogenetic tree using the potential donor sequence. Conclusion The DarkHorse HGT Candidate database provides a powerful, flexible set of tools for identifying phylogenetically atypical proteins, allowing researchers to explore both individual HGT events in single genomes, and

  16. Phylogenetic Conflict in Bears Identified by Automated Discovery of Transposable Element Insertions in Low-Coverage Genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallus, Susanne; Janke, Axel

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Phylogenetic reconstruction from transposable elements (TEs) offers an additional perspective to study evolutionary processes. However, detecting phylogenetically informative TE insertions requires tedious experimental work, limiting the power of phylogenetic inference. Here, we analyzed the genomes of seven bear species using high-throughput sequencing data to detect thousands of TE insertions. The newly developed pipeline for TE detection called TeddyPi (TE detection and discovery for Phylogenetic Inference) identified 150,513 high-quality TE insertions in the genomes of ursine and tremarctine bears. By integrating different TE insertion callers and using a stringent filtering approach, the TeddyPi pipeline produced highly reliable TE insertion calls, which were confirmed by extensive in vitro validation experiments. Analysis of single nucleotide substitutions in the flanking regions of the TEs shows that these substitutions correlate with the phylogenetic signal from the TE insertions. Our phylogenomic analyses show that TEs are a major driver of genomic variation in bears and enabled phylogenetic reconstruction of a well-resolved species tree, despite strong signals for incomplete lineage sorting and introgression. The analyses show that the Asiatic black, sun, and sloth bear form a monophyletic clade, in which phylogenetic incongruence originates from incomplete lineage sorting. TeddyPi is open source and can be adapted to various TE and structural variation callers. The pipeline makes it possible to confidently extract thousands of TE insertions even from low-coverage genomes (∼10×) of nonmodel organisms. This opens new possibilities for biologists to study phylogenies and evolutionary processes as well as rates and patterns of (retro-)transposition and structural variation. PMID:28985298

  17. Phylogenetic signal from rearrangements in 18 Anopheles species by joint scaffolding extant and ancestral genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anselmetti, Yoann; Duchemin, Wandrille; Tannier, Eric; Chauve, Cedric; Bérard, Sèverine

    2018-05-09

    Genomes rearrangements carry valuable information for phylogenetic inference or the elucidation of molecular mechanisms of adaptation. However, the detection of genome rearrangements is often hampered by current deficiencies in data and methods: Genomes obtained from short sequence reads have generally very fragmented assemblies, and comparing multiple gene orders generally leads to computationally intractable algorithmic questions. We present a computational method, ADSEQ, which, by combining ancestral gene order reconstruction, comparative scaffolding and de novo scaffolding methods, overcomes these two caveats. ADSEQ provides simultaneously improved assemblies and ancestral genomes, with statistical supports on all local features. Compared to previous comparative methods, it runs in polynomial time, it samples solutions in a probabilistic space, and it can handle a significantly larger gene complement from the considered extant genomes, with complex histories including gene duplications and losses. We use ADSEQ to provide improved assemblies and a genome history made of duplications, losses, gene translocations, rearrangements, of 18 complete Anopheles genomes, including several important malaria vectors. We also provide additional support for a differentiated mode of evolution of the sex chromosome and of the autosomes in these mosquito genomes. We demonstrate the method's ability to improve extant assemblies accurately through a procedure simulating realistic assembly fragmentation. We study a debated issue regarding the phylogeny of the Gambiae complex group of Anopheles genomes in the light of the evolution of chromosomal rearrangements, suggesting that the phylogenetic signal they carry can differ from the phylogenetic signal carried by gene sequences, more prone to introgression.

  18. Using tree diversity to compare phylogenetic heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sul, Seung-Jin; Matthews, Suzanne; Williams, Tiffani L

    2009-04-29

    Evolutionary trees are family trees that represent the relationships between a group of organisms. Phylogenetic heuristics are used to search stochastically for the best-scoring trees in tree space. Given that better tree scores are believed to be better approximations of the true phylogeny, traditional evaluation techniques have used tree scores to determine the heuristics that find the best scores in the fastest time. We develop new techniques to evaluate phylogenetic heuristics based on both tree scores and topologies to compare Pauprat and Rec-I-DCM3, two popular Maximum Parsimony search algorithms. Our results show that although Pauprat and Rec-I-DCM3 find the trees with the same best scores, topologically these trees are quite different. Furthermore, the Rec-I-DCM3 trees cluster distinctly from the Pauprat trees. In addition to our heatmap visualizations of using parsimony scores and the Robinson-Foulds distance to compare best-scoring trees found by the two heuristics, we also develop entropy-based methods to show the diversity of the trees found. Overall, Pauprat identifies more diverse trees than Rec-I-DCM3. Overall, our work shows that there is value to comparing heuristics beyond the parsimony scores that they find. Pauprat is a slower heuristic than Rec-I-DCM3. However, our work shows that there is tremendous value in using Pauprat to reconstruct trees-especially since it finds identical scoring but topologically distinct trees. Hence, instead of discounting Pauprat, effort should go in improving its implementation. Ultimately, improved performance measures lead to better phylogenetic heuristics and will result in better approximations of the true evolutionary history of the organisms of interest.

  19. REFGEN and TREENAMER: Automated Sequence Data Handling for Phylogenetic Analysis in the Genomic Era

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guy Leonard

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences and increasingly that of amino acid sequences is used to address a number of biological questions. Access to extensive datasets, including numerous genome projects, means that standard phylogenetic analyses can include many hundreds of sequences. Unfortunately, most phylogenetic analysis programs do not tolerate the sequence naming conventions of genome databases. Managing large numbers of sequences and standardizing sequence labels for use in phylogenetic analysis programs can be a time consuming and laborious task. Here we report the availability of an online resource for the management of gene sequences recovered from public access genome databases such as GenBank. These web utilities include the facility for renaming every sequence in a FASTA alignment fi le, with each sequence label derived from a user-defined combination of the species name and/or database accession number. This facility enables the user to keep track of the branching order of the sequences/taxa during multiple tree calculations and re-optimisations. Post phylogenetic analysis, these webpages can then be used to rename every label in the subsequent tree fi les (with a user-defined combination of species name and/or database accession number. Together these programs drastically reduce the time required for managing sequence alignments and labelling phylogenetic figures. Additional features of our platform include the automatic removal of identical accession numbers (recorded in the report file and generation of species and accession number lists for use in supplementary materials or figure legends.

  20. Phylogenetic Conflict in Bears Identified by Automated Discovery of Transposable Element Insertions in Low-Coverage Genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lammers, Fritjof; Gallus, Susanne; Janke, Axel; Nilsson, Maria A

    2017-10-01

    Phylogenetic reconstruction from transposable elements (TEs) offers an additional perspective to study evolutionary processes. However, detecting phylogenetically informative TE insertions requires tedious experimental work, limiting the power of phylogenetic inference. Here, we analyzed the genomes of seven bear species using high-throughput sequencing data to detect thousands of TE insertions. The newly developed pipeline for TE detection called TeddyPi (TE detection and discovery for Phylogenetic Inference) identified 150,513 high-quality TE insertions in the genomes of ursine and tremarctine bears. By integrating different TE insertion callers and using a stringent filtering approach, the TeddyPi pipeline produced highly reliable TE insertion calls, which were confirmed by extensive in vitro validation experiments. Analysis of single nucleotide substitutions in the flanking regions of the TEs shows that these substitutions correlate with the phylogenetic signal from the TE insertions. Our phylogenomic analyses show that TEs are a major driver of genomic variation in bears and enabled phylogenetic reconstruction of a well-resolved species tree, despite strong signals for incomplete lineage sorting and introgression. The analyses show that the Asiatic black, sun, and sloth bear form a monophyletic clade, in which phylogenetic incongruence originates from incomplete lineage sorting. TeddyPi is open source and can be adapted to various TE and structural variation callers. The pipeline makes it possible to confidently extract thousands of TE insertions even from low-coverage genomes (∼10×) of nonmodel organisms. This opens new possibilities for biologists to study phylogenies and evolutionary processes as well as rates and patterns of (retro-)transposition and structural variation. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  1. Complete genome of a European hepatitis C virus subtype 1g isolate: phylogenetic and genetic analyses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bargalló Ana

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hepatitis C virus isolates have been classified into six main genotypes and a variable number of subtypes within each genotype, mainly based on phylogenetic analysis. Analyses of the genetic relationship among genotypes and subtypes are more reliable when complete genome sequences (or at least the full coding region are used; however, so far 31 of 80 confirmed or proposed subtypes have at least one complete genome available. Of these, 20 correspond to confirmed subtypes of epidemic interest. Results We present and analyse the first complete genome sequence of a HCV subtype 1g isolate. Phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses reveal that HCV-1g is the most divergent subtype among the HCV-1 confirmed subtypes. Potential genomic recombination events between genotypes or subtype 1 genomes were ruled out. We demonstrate phylogenetic congruence of previously deposited partial sequences of HCV-1g with respect to our sequence. Conclusion In light of this, we propose changing the current status of its subtype-specific designation from provisional to confirmed.

  2. Unraveling Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomic diversity and evolution in Lisbon, Portugal, a highly drug resistant setting

    KAUST Repository

    Perdigão, João

    2014-11-18

    Background Multidrug- (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) presents a challenge to disease control and elimination goals. In Lisbon, Portugal, specific and successful XDR-TB strains have been found in circulation for almost two decades. Results In the present study we have genotyped and sequenced the genomes of 56 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates recovered mostly from Lisbon. The genotyping data revealed three major clusters associated with MDR-TB, two of which are associated with XDR-TB. Whilst the genomic data contributed to elucidate the phylogenetic positioning of circulating MDR-TB strains, showing a high predominance of a single SNP cluster group 5. Furthermore, a genome-wide phylogeny analysis from these strains, together with 19 publicly available genomes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates, revealed two major clades responsible for M/XDR-TB in the region: Lisboa3 and Q1 (LAM). The data presented by this study yielded insights on microevolution and identification of novel compensatory mutations associated with rifampicin resistance in rpoB and rpoC. The screening for other structural variations revealed putative clade-defining variants. One deletion in PPE41, found among Lisboa3 isolates, is proposed to contribute to immune evasion and as a selective advantage. Insertion sequence (IS) mapping has also demonstrated the role of IS6110 as a major driver in mycobacterial evolution by affecting gene integrity and regulation. Conclusions Globally, this study contributes with novel genome-wide phylogenetic data and has led to the identification of new genomic variants that support the notion of a growing genomic diversity facing both setting and host adaptation.

  3. Soil phosphorus heterogeneity promotes tree species diversity and phylogenetic clustering in a tropical seasonal rainforest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Wumei; Ci, Xiuqin; Song, Caiyun; He, Tianhua; Zhang, Wenfu; Li, Qiaoming; Li, Jie

    2016-12-01

    The niche theory predicts that environmental heterogeneity and species diversity are positively correlated in tropical forests, whereas the neutral theory suggests that stochastic processes are more important in determining species diversity. This study sought to investigate the effects of soil nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) heterogeneity on tree species diversity in the Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rainforest in southwestern China. Thirty-nine plots of 400 m 2 (20 × 20 m) were randomly located in the Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rainforest. Within each plot, soil nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) availability and heterogeneity, tree species diversity, and community phylogenetic structure were measured. Soil phosphorus heterogeneity and tree species diversity in each plot were positively correlated, while phosphorus availability and tree species diversity were not. The trees in plots with low soil phosphorus heterogeneity were phylogenetically overdispersed, while the phylogenetic structure of trees within the plots became clustered as heterogeneity increased. Neither nitrogen availability nor its heterogeneity was correlated to tree species diversity or the phylogenetic structure of trees within the plots. The interspecific competition in the forest plots with low soil phosphorus heterogeneity could lead to an overdispersed community. However, as heterogeneity increase, more closely related species may be able to coexist together and lead to a clustered community. Our results indicate that soil phosphorus heterogeneity significantly affects tree diversity in the Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rainforest, suggesting that deterministic processes are dominant in this tropical forest assembly.

  4. The mean and variance of phylogenetic diversity under rarefaction

    OpenAIRE

    Nipperess, David A.; Matsen, Frederick A.

    2013-01-01

    Phylogenetic diversity (PD) depends on sampling intensity, which complicates the comparison of PD between samples of different depth. One approach to dealing with differing sample depth for a given diversity statistic is to rarefy, which means to take a random subset of a given size of the original sample. Exact analytical formulae for the mean and variance of species richness under rarefaction have existed for some time but no such solution exists for PD. We have derived exact formulae for t...

  5. Phylogenetic Diversity of Vibrio cholerae Associated with Endemic Cholera in Mexico from 1991 to 2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seon Young Choi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available An outbreak of cholera occurred in 1991 in Mexico, where it had not been reported for more than a century and is now endemic. Vibrio cholerae O1 prototype El Tor and classical strains coexist with altered El Tor strains (1991 to 1997. Nontoxigenic (CTX− V. cholerae El Tor dominated toxigenic (CTX+ strains (2001 to 2003, but V. cholerae CTX+ variant El Tor was isolated during 2004 to 2008, outcompeting CTX−V. cholerae. Genomes of six Mexican V. cholerae O1 strains isolated during 1991 to 2008 were sequenced and compared with both contemporary and archived strains of V. cholerae. Three were CTX+ El Tor, two were CTX− El Tor, and the remaining strain was a CTX+ classical isolate. Whole-genome sequence analysis showed the six isolates belonged to five distinct phylogenetic clades. One CTX− isolate is ancestral to the 6th and 7th pandemic CTX+V. cholerae isolates. The other CTX− isolate joined with CTX− non-O1/O139 isolates from Haiti and seroconverted O1 isolates from Brazil and Amazonia. One CTX+ isolate was phylogenetically placed with the sixth pandemic classical clade and the V. cholerae O395 classical reference strain. Two CTX+ El Tor isolates possessing intact Vibrio seventh pandemic island II (VSP-II are related to hybrid El Tor isolates from Mozambique and Bangladesh. The third CTX+ El Tor isolate contained West African-South American (WASA recombination in VSP-II and showed relatedness to isolates from Peru and Brazil. Except for one isolate, all Mexican isolates lack SXT/R391 integrative conjugative elements (ICEs and sensitivity to selected antibiotics, with one isolate resistant to streptomycin. No isolates were related to contemporary isolates from Asia, Africa, or Haiti, indicating phylogenetic diversity.

  6. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Dodonaea viscosa: comparative and phylogenetic analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saina, Josphat K; Gichira, Andrew W; Li, Zhi-Zhong; Hu, Guang-Wan; Wang, Qing-Feng; Liao, Kuo

    2018-02-01

    The plant chloroplast (cp) genome is a highly conserved structure which is beneficial for evolution and systematic research. Currently, numerous complete cp genome sequences have been reported due to high throughput sequencing technology. However, there is no complete chloroplast genome of genus Dodonaea that has been reported before. To better understand the molecular basis of Dodonaea viscosa chloroplast, we used Illumina sequencing technology to sequence its complete genome. The whole length of the cp genome is 159,375 base pairs (bp), with a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 27,099 bp separated by a large single copy (LSC) 87,204 bp, and small single copy (SSC) 17,972 bp. The annotation analysis revealed a total of 115 unique genes of which 81 were protein coding, 30 tRNA, and four ribosomal RNA genes. Comparative genome analysis with other closely related Sapindaceae members showed conserved gene order in the inverted and single copy regions. Phylogenetic analysis clustered D. viscosa with other species of Sapindaceae with strong bootstrap support. Finally, a total of 249 SSRs were detected. Moreover, a comparison of the synonymous (Ks) and nonsynonymous (Ka) substitution rates in D. viscosa showed very low values. The availability of cp genome reported here provides a valuable genetic resource for comprehensive further studies in genetic variation, taxonomy and phylogenetic evolution of Sapindaceae family. In addition, SSR markers detected will be used in further phylogeographic and population structure studies of the species in this genus.

  7. Mitochondrial genomes of Meloidogyne chitwoodi and M. incognita (Nematoda: Tylenchina): comparative analysis, gene order and phylogenetic relationships with other nematodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphreys-Pereira, Danny A; Elling, Axel A

    2014-01-01

    Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are among the most important plant pathogens. In this study, the mitochondrial (mt) genomes of the root-knot nematodes, M. chitwoodi and M. incognita were sequenced. PCR analyses suggest that both mt genomes are circular, with an estimated size of 19.7 and 18.6-19.1kb, respectively. The mt genomes each contain a large non-coding region with tandem repeats and the control region. The mt gene arrangement of M. chitwoodi and M. incognita is unlike that of other nematodes. Sequence alignments of the two Meloidogyne mt genomes showed three translocations; two in transfer RNAs and one in cox2. Compared with other nematode mt genomes, the gene arrangement of M. chitwoodi and M. incognita was most similar to Pratylenchus vulnus. Phylogenetic analyses (Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian inference) were conducted using 78 complete mt genomes of diverse nematode species. Analyses based on nucleotides and amino acids of the 12 protein-coding mt genes showed strong support for the monophyly of class Chromadorea, but only amino acid-based analyses supported the monophyly of class Enoplea. The suborder Spirurina was not monophyletic in any of the phylogenetic analyses, contradicting the Clade III model, which groups Ascaridomorpha, Spiruromorpha and Oxyuridomorpha based on the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene. Importantly, comparisons of mt gene arrangement and tree-based methods placed Meloidogyne as sister taxa of Pratylenchus, a migratory plant endoparasitic nematode, and not with the sedentary endoparasitic Heterodera. Thus, comparative analyses of mt genomes suggest that sedentary endoparasitism in Meloidogyne and Heterodera is based on convergent evolution. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Genomic Diversity of Lactobacillus salivarius▿ †

    OpenAIRE

    Raftis, Emma J.; Salvetti, Elisa; Torriani, Sandra; Felis, Giovanna E.; O'Toole, Paul W.

    2010-01-01

    Strains of Lactobacillus salivarius are increasingly employed as probiotic agents for humans or animals. Despite the diversity of environmental sources from which they have been isolated, the genomic diversity of L. salivarius has been poorly characterized, and the implications of this diversity for strain selection have not been examined. To tackle this, we applied comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to 33 strains derived from humans, animals, or foo...

  9. Seed plant phylogenetic diversity and species richness in conservation planning within a global biodiversity hotspot in eastern Asia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Rong; Kraft, Nathan J B; Yu, Haiying; Li, Heng

    2015-12-01

    One of the main goals of conservation biology is to understand the factors shaping variation in biodiversity across the planet. This understanding is critical for conservation planners to be able to develop effective conservation strategies. Although many studies have focused on species richness and the protection of rare and endemic species, less attention has been paid to the protection of the phylogenetic dimension of biodiversity. We explored how phylogenetic diversity, species richness, and phylogenetic community structure vary in seed plant communities along an elevational gradient in a relatively understudied high mountain region, the Dulong Valley, in southeastern Tibet, China. As expected, phylogenetic diversity was well correlated with species richness among the elevational bands and among communities. At the community level, evergreen broad-leaved forests had the highest levels of species richness and phylogenetic diversity. Using null model analyses, we found evidence of nonrandom phylogenetic structure across the region. Evergreen broad-leaved forests were phylogenetically overdispersed, whereas other vegetation types tended to be phylogenetically clustered. We suggest that communities with high species richness or overdispersed phylogenetic structure should be a focus for biodiversity conservation within the Dulong Valley because these areas may help maximize the potential of this flora to respond to future global change. In biodiversity hotspots worldwide, we suggest that the phylogenetic structure of a community may serve as a useful measure of phylogenetic diversity in the context of conservation planning. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

  10. Genomic Diversity of Lactobacillus salivarius▿ †

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raftis, Emma J.; Salvetti, Elisa; Torriani, Sandra; Felis, Giovanna E.; O'Toole, Paul W.

    2011-01-01

    Strains of Lactobacillus salivarius are increasingly employed as probiotic agents for humans or animals. Despite the diversity of environmental sources from which they have been isolated, the genomic diversity of L. salivarius has been poorly characterized, and the implications of this diversity for strain selection have not been examined. To tackle this, we applied comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to 33 strains derived from humans, animals, or food. The CGH, based on total genome content, including small plasmids, identified 18 major regions of genomic variation, or hot spots for variation. Three major divisions were thus identified, with only a subset of the human isolates constituting an ecologically discernible group. Omission of the small plasmids from the CGH or analysis by MLST provided broadly concordant fine divisions and separated human-derived and animal-derived strains more clearly. The two gene clusters for exopolysaccharide (EPS) biosynthesis corresponded to regions of significant genomic diversity. The CGH-based groupings of these regions did not correlate with levels of production of bound or released EPS. Furthermore, EPS production was significantly modulated by available carbohydrate. In addition to proving difficult to predict from the gene content, EPS production levels correlated inversely with production of biofilms, a trait considered desirable in probiotic commensals. L. salivarius displays a high level of genomic diversity, and while selection of L. salivarius strains for probiotic use can be informed by CGH or MLST, it also requires pragmatic experimental validation of desired phenotypic traits. PMID:21131523

  11. PhyloSift: phylogenetic analysis of genomes and metagenomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darling, Aaron E; Jospin, Guillaume; Lowe, Eric; Matsen, Frederick A; Bik, Holly M; Eisen, Jonathan A

    2014-01-01

    Like all organisms on the planet, environmental microbes are subject to the forces of molecular evolution. Metagenomic sequencing provides a means to access the DNA sequence of uncultured microbes. By combining DNA sequencing of microbial communities with evolutionary modeling and phylogenetic analysis we might obtain new insights into microbiology and also provide a basis for practical tools such as forensic pathogen detection. In this work we present an approach to leverage phylogenetic analysis of metagenomic sequence data to conduct several types of analysis. First, we present a method to conduct phylogeny-driven Bayesian hypothesis tests for the presence of an organism in a sample. Second, we present a means to compare community structure across a collection of many samples and develop direct associations between the abundance of certain organisms and sample metadata. Third, we apply new tools to analyze the phylogenetic diversity of microbial communities and again demonstrate how this can be associated to sample metadata. These analyses are implemented in an open source software pipeline called PhyloSift. As a pipeline, PhyloSift incorporates several other programs including LAST, HMMER, and pplacer to automate phylogenetic analysis of protein coding and RNA sequences in metagenomic datasets generated by modern sequencing platforms (e.g., Illumina, 454).

  12. PhyloSift: phylogenetic analysis of genomes and metagenomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aaron E. Darling

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Like all organisms on the planet, environmental microbes are subject to the forces of molecular evolution. Metagenomic sequencing provides a means to access the DNA sequence of uncultured microbes. By combining DNA sequencing of microbial communities with evolutionary modeling and phylogenetic analysis we might obtain new insights into microbiology and also provide a basis for practical tools such as forensic pathogen detection.In this work we present an approach to leverage phylogenetic analysis of metagenomic sequence data to conduct several types of analysis. First, we present a method to conduct phylogeny-driven Bayesian hypothesis tests for the presence of an organism in a sample. Second, we present a means to compare community structure across a collection of many samples and develop direct associations between the abundance of certain organisms and sample metadata. Third, we apply new tools to analyze the phylogenetic diversity of microbial communities and again demonstrate how this can be associated to sample metadata.These analyses are implemented in an open source software pipeline called PhyloSift. As a pipeline, PhyloSift incorporates several other programs including LAST, HMMER, and pplacer to automate phylogenetic analysis of protein coding and RNA sequences in metagenomic datasets generated by modern sequencing platforms (e.g., Illumina, 454.

  13. Analysis of Acorus calamus chloroplast genome and its phylogenetic implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goremykin, Vadim V; Holland, Barbara; Hirsch-Ernst, Karen I; Hellwig, Frank H

    2005-09-01

    Determining the phylogenetic relationships among the major lines of angiosperms is a long-standing problem, yet the uncertainty as to the phylogenetic affinity of these lines persists. While a number of studies have suggested that the ANITA (Amborella-Nymphaeales-Illiciales-Trimeniales-Aristolochiales) grade is basal within angiosperms, studies of complete chloroplast genome sequences also suggested an alternative tree, wherein the line leading to the grasses branches first among the angiosperms. To improve taxon sampling in the existing chloroplast genome data, we sequenced the chloroplast genome of the monocot Acorus calamus. We generated a concatenated alignment (89,436 positions for 15 taxa), encompassing almost all sequences usable for phylogeny reconstruction within spermatophytes. The data still contain support for both the ANITA-basal and grasses-basal hypotheses. Using simulations we can show that were the ANITA-basal hypothesis true, parsimony (and distance-based methods with many models) would be expected to fail to recover it. The self-evident explanation for this failure appears to be a long-branch attraction (LBA) between the clade of grasses and the out-group. However, this LBA cannot explain the discrepancies observed between tree topology recovered using the maximum likelihood (ML) method and the topologies recovered using the parsimony and distance-based methods when grasses are deleted. Furthermore, the fact that neither maximum parsimony nor distance methods consistently recover the ML tree, when according to the simulations they would be expected to, when the out-group (Pinus) is deleted, suggests that either the generating tree is not correct or the best symmetric model is misspecified (or both). We demonstrate that the tree recovered under ML is extremely sensitive to model specification and that the best symmetric model is misspecified. Hence, we remain agnostic regarding phylogenetic relationships among basal angiosperm lineages.

  14. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic reconstruction from high-resolution whole-genome data and a tree of 68 eukaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Yu; Hu, Fei; Tang, Jijun; Moret, Bernard M E

    2013-01-01

    The rapid accumulation of whole-genome data has renewed interest in the study of the evolution of genomic architecture, under such events as rearrangements, duplications, losses. Comparative genomics, evolutionary biology, and cancer research all require tools to elucidate the mechanisms, history, and consequences of those evolutionary events, while phylogenetics could use whole-genome data to enhance its picture of the Tree of Life. Current approaches in the area of phylogenetic analysis are limited to very small collections of closely related genomes using low-resolution data (typically a few hundred syntenic blocks); moreover, these approaches typically do not include duplication and loss events. We describe a maximum likelihood (ML) approach for phylogenetic analysis that takes into account genome rearrangements as well as duplications, insertions, and losses. Our approach can handle high-resolution genomes (with 40,000 or more markers) and can use in the same analysis genomes with very different numbers of markers. Because our approach uses a standard ML reconstruction program (RAxML), it scales up to large trees. We present the results of extensive testing on both simulated and real data showing that our approach returns very accurate results very quickly. In particular, we analyze a dataset of 68 high-resolution eukaryotic genomes, with from 3,000 to 42,000 genes, from the eGOB database; the analysis, including bootstrapping, takes just 3 hours on a desktop system and returns a tree in agreement with all well supported branches, while also suggesting resolutions for some disputed placements.

  15. High phylogenetic diversity is preserved in species-poor high-elevation temperate moth assemblages

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zou, Yi; Sang, Weiguo; Hausmann, Axel; Axmacher, Jan Christoph

    2016-01-01

    Understanding the diversity and composition of species assemblages and identifying underlying biotic and abiotic determinants represent great ecological challenges. Addressing some of these issues, we investigated the α-diversity and phylogenetic composition of species-rich geometrid moth

  16. Genetic Competence Drives Genome Diversity in Bacillus subtilis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chevreux, Bastien; Serra, Cláudia R; Schyns, Ghislain; Henriques, Adriano O

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Prokaryote genomes are the result of a dynamic flux of genes, with increases achieved via horizontal gene transfer and reductions occurring through gene loss. The ecological and selective forces that drive this genomic flexibility vary across species. Bacillus subtilis is a naturally competent bacterium that occupies various environments, including plant-associated, soil, and marine niches, and the gut of both invertebrates and vertebrates. Here, we quantify the genomic diversity of B. subtilis and infer the genome dynamics that explain the high genetic and phenotypic diversity observed. Phylogenomic and comparative genomic analyses of 42 B. subtilis genomes uncover a remarkable genome diversity that translates into a core genome of 1,659 genes and an asymptotic pangenome growth rate of 57 new genes per new genome added. This diversity is due to a large proportion of low-frequency genes that are acquired from closely related species. We find no gene-loss bias among wild isolates, which explains why the cloud genome, 43% of the species pangenome, represents only a small proportion of each genome. We show that B. subtilis can acquire xenologous copies of core genes that propagate laterally among strains within a niche. While not excluding the contributions of other mechanisms, our results strongly suggest a process of gene acquisition that is largely driven by competence, where the long-term maintenance of acquired genes depends on local and global fitness effects. This competence-driven genomic diversity provides B. subtilis with its generalist character, enabling it to occupy a wide range of ecological niches and cycle through them. PMID:29272410

  17. Phylogenetic and Genomic Analyses Resolve the Origin of Important Plant Genes Derived from Transposable Elements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joly-Lopez, Zoé; Hoen, Douglas R; Blanchette, Mathieu; Bureau, Thomas E

    2016-08-01

    Once perceived as merely selfish, transposable elements (TEs) are now recognized as potent agents of adaptation. One way TEs contribute to evolution is through TE exaptation, a process whereby TEs, which persist by replicating in the genome, transform into novel host genes, which persist by conferring phenotypic benefits. Known exapted TEs (ETEs) contribute diverse and vital functions, and may facilitate punctuated equilibrium, yet little is known about this process. To better understand TE exaptation, we designed an approach to resolve the phylogenetic context and timing of exaptation events and subsequent patterns of ETE diversification. Starting with known ETEs, we search in diverse genomes for basal ETEs and closely related TEs, carefully curate the numerous candidate sequences, and infer detailed phylogenies. To distinguish TEs from ETEs, we also weigh several key genomic characteristics including repetitiveness, terminal repeats, pseudogenic features, and conserved domains. Applying this approach to the well-characterized plant ETEs MUG and FHY3, we show that each group is paraphyletic and we argue that this pattern demonstrates that each originated in not one but multiple exaptation events. These exaptations and subsequent ETE diversification occurred throughout angiosperm evolution including the crown group expansion, the angiosperm radiation, and the primitive evolution of angiosperms. In addition, we detect evidence of several putative novel ETE families. Our findings support the hypothesis that TE exaptation generates novel genes more frequently than is currently thought, often coinciding with key periods of evolution. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  18. Chromosomal Speciation in the Genomics Era: Disentangling Phylogenetic Evolution of Rock-wallabies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Sally; Bragg, Jason G; Blom, Mozes P K; Deakin, Janine E; Kirkpatrick, Mark; Eldridge, Mark D B; Moritz, Craig

    2017-01-01

    The association of chromosome rearrangements (CRs) with speciation is well established, and there is a long history of theory and evidence relating to "chromosomal speciation." Genomic sequencing has the potential to provide new insights into how reorganization of genome structure promotes divergence, and in model systems has demonstrated reduced gene flow in rearranged segments. However, there are limits to what we can understand from a small number of model systems, which each only tell us about one episode of chromosomal speciation. Progressing from patterns of association between chromosome (and genic) change, to understanding processes of speciation requires both comparative studies across diverse systems and integration of genome-scale sequence comparisons with other lines of evidence. Here, we showcase a promising example of chromosomal speciation in a non-model organism, the endemic Australian marsupial genus Petrogale . We present initial phylogenetic results from exon-capture that resolve a history of divergence associated with extensive and repeated CRs. Yet it remains challenging to disentangle gene tree heterogeneity caused by recent divergence and gene flow in this and other such recent radiations. We outline a way forward for better integration of comparative genomic sequence data with evidence from molecular cytogenetics, and analyses of shifts in the recombination landscape and potential disruption of meiotic segregation and epigenetic programming. In all likelihood, CRs impact multiple cellular processes and these effects need to be considered together, along with effects of genic divergence. Understanding the effects of CRs together with genic divergence will require development of more integrative theory and inference methods. Together, new data and analysis tools will combine to shed light on long standing questions of how chromosome and genic divergence promote speciation.

  19. Characterization of the first complete genome sequence of an Impatiens necrotic spot orthotospovirus isolate from the United States and worldwide phylogenetic analyses of INSV isolates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Kaixi; Margaria, Paolo; Rosa, Cristina

    2018-05-10

    Impatiens necrotic spot orthotospovirus (INSV) can impact economically important ornamental plants and vegetables worldwide. Characterization studies on INSV are limited. For most INSV isolates, there are no complete genome sequences available. This lack of genomic information has a negative impact on the understanding of the INSV genetic diversity and evolution. Here we report the first complete nucleotide sequence of a US INSV isolate. INSV-UP01 was isolated from an impatiens in Pennsylvania, US. RT-PCR was used to clone its full-length genome and Vector NTI to assemble overlapping sequences. Phylogenetic trees were constructed by using MEGA7 software to show the phylogenetic relationships with other available INSV sequences worldwide. This US isolate has genome and biological features classical of INSV species and clusters in the Western Hemisphere clade, but its origin appears to be recent. Furthermore, INSV-UP01 might have been involved in a recombination event with an Italian isolate belonging to the Asian clade. Our analyses support that INSV isolates infect a broad plant-host range they group by geographic origin and not by host, and are subjected to frequent recombination events. These results justify the need to generate and analyze complete genome sequences of orthotospoviruses in general and INSV in particular.

  20. Evolution and Phylogenetic Diversity of Yam Species (Dioscorea spp.: Implication for Conservation and Agricultural Practices.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie Florence Sandrine Ngo Ngwe

    Full Text Available Yams (Dioscorea spp. consist of approximately 600 species. Presently, these species are threatened by genetic erosion due to many factors such as pest attacks and farming practices. In parallel, complex taxonomic boundaries in this genus makes it more challenging to properly address the genetic diversity of yam and manage its germplasm. As a first step toward evaluating and preserving the genetic diversity yam species, we use a phylogenetic diversity (PD approach that has the advantage to investigate phylogenetic relationships and test hypotheses of species monophyly while alleviating to the problem of ploidy variation within and among species. The Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of 62 accessions from 7 species from three regions of Cameroon showed that most Dioscorea sections were monophyletic, but species within sections were generally non-monophyletic. The wild species D. praehensilis and cultivated D. cayenensis were the species with the highest PD. At the opposite, D. esculenta has a low PD and future studies should focus on this species to properly address its conservation status. We also show that wild species show a stronger genetic structure than cultivated species, which potentially reflects the management of the yam germplasm by farmers. These findings show that phylogenetic diversity is a promising approach for an initial investigation of genetic diversity in a crop consisting of closely related species.

  1. Compositional and mutational rate heterogeneity in mitochondrial genomes and its effect on the phylogenetic inferences of Cimicomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Huanhuan; Li, Teng; Dang, Kai; Bu, Wenjun

    2018-04-18

    Mitochondrial genome (mt-genome) data can potentially return artefactual relationships in the higher-level phylogenetic inference of insects due to the biases of accelerated substitution rates and compositional heterogeneity. Previous studies based on mt-genome data alone showed a paraphyly of Cimicomorpha (Insecta, Hemiptera) due to the positions of the families Tingidae and Reduviidae rather than the monophyly that was supported based on morphological characters, morphological and molecular combined data and large scale molecular datasets. Various strategies have been proposed to ameliorate the effects of potential mt-genome biases, including dense taxon sampling, removal of third codon positions or purine-pyrimidine coding and the use of site-heterogeneous models. In this study, we sequenced the mt-genomes of five additional Tingidae species and discussed the compositional and mutational rate heterogeneity in mt-genomes and its effect on the phylogenetic inferences of Cimicomorpha by implementing the bias-reduction strategies mentioned above. Heterogeneity in nucleotide composition and mutational biases were found in mt protein-coding genes, and the third codon exhibited high levels of saturation. Dense taxon sampling of Tingidae and Reduviidae and the other common strategies mentioned above were insufficient to recover the monophyly of the well-established group Cimicomorpha. When the sites with weak phylogenetic signals in the dataset were removed, the remaining dataset of mt-genomes can support the monophyly of Cimicomorpha; this support demonstrates that mt-genomes possess strong phylogenetic signals for the inference of higher-level phylogeny of this group. Comparison of the ratio of the removal of amino acids for each PCG showed that ATP8 has the highest ratio while CO1 has the lowest. This pattern is largely congruent with the evolutionary rate of 13 PCGs that ATP8 represents the highest evolutionary rate, whereas CO1 appears to be the lowest. Notably

  2. Increasing phylogenetic resolution at low taxonomic levels using massively parallel sequencing of chloroplast genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cronn Richard

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Molecular evolutionary studies share the common goal of elucidating historical relationships, and the common challenge of adequately sampling taxa and characters. Particularly at low taxonomic levels, recent divergence, rapid radiations, and conservative genome evolution yield limited sequence variation, and dense taxon sampling is often desirable. Recent advances in massively parallel sequencing make it possible to rapidly obtain large amounts of sequence data, and multiplexing makes extensive sampling of megabase sequences feasible. Is it possible to efficiently apply massively parallel sequencing to increase phylogenetic resolution at low taxonomic levels? Results We reconstruct the infrageneric phylogeny of Pinus from 37 nearly-complete chloroplast genomes (average 109 kilobases each of an approximately 120 kilobase genome generated using multiplexed massively parallel sequencing. 30/33 ingroup nodes resolved with ≥ 95% bootstrap support; this is a substantial improvement relative to prior studies, and shows massively parallel sequencing-based strategies can produce sufficient high quality sequence to reach support levels originally proposed for the phylogenetic bootstrap. Resampling simulations show that at least the entire plastome is necessary to fully resolve Pinus, particularly in rapidly radiating clades. Meta-analysis of 99 published infrageneric phylogenies shows that whole plastome analysis should provide similar gains across a range of plant genera. A disproportionate amount of phylogenetic information resides in two loci (ycf1, ycf2, highlighting their unusual evolutionary properties. Conclusion Plastome sequencing is now an efficient option for increasing phylogenetic resolution at lower taxonomic levels in plant phylogenetic and population genetic analyses. With continuing improvements in sequencing capacity, the strategies herein should revolutionize efforts requiring dense taxon and character sampling

  3. Reduced representation approaches to interrogate genome diversity in large repetitive plant genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirsch, Cory D; Evans, Joseph; Buell, C Robin; Hirsch, Candice N

    2014-07-01

    Technology and software improvements in the last decade now provide methodologies to access the genome sequence of not only a single accession, but also multiple accessions of plant species. This provides a means to interrogate species diversity at the genome level. Ample diversity among accessions in a collection of species can be found, including single-nucleotide polymorphisms, insertions and deletions, copy number variation and presence/absence variation. For species with small, non-repetitive rich genomes, re-sequencing of query accessions is robust, highly informative, and economically feasible. However, for species with moderate to large sized repetitive-rich genomes, technical and economic barriers prevent en masse genome re-sequencing of accessions. Multiple approaches to access a focused subset of loci in species with larger genomes have been developed, including reduced representation sequencing, exome capture and transcriptome sequencing. Collectively, these approaches have enabled interrogation of diversity on a genome scale for large plant genomes, including crop species important to worldwide food security. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Calculation of evolutionary correlation between individual genes and full-length genome: a method useful for choosing phylogenetic markers for molecular epidemiology.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shuai Wang

    Full Text Available Individual genes or regions are still commonly used to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among viral isolates. The genomic regions that can faithfully provide assessments consistent with those predicted with full-length genome sequences would be preferable to serve as good candidates of the phylogenetic markers for molecular epidemiological studies of many viruses. Here we employed a statistical method to evaluate the evolutionary relationships between individual viral genes and full-length genomes without tree construction as a way to determine which gene can match the genome well in phylogenetic analyses. This method was performed by calculation of linear correlations between the genetic distance matrices of aligned individual gene sequences and aligned genome sequences. We applied this method to the phylogenetic analyses of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2, measles virus (MV, hepatitis E virus (HEV and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV. Phylogenetic trees were constructed for comparisons and the possible factors affecting the method accuracy were also discussed in the calculations. The results revealed that this method could produce results consistent with those of previous studies about the proper consensus sequences that could be successfully used as phylogenetic markers. And our results also suggested that these evolutionary correlations could provide useful information for identifying genes that could be used effectively to infer the genetic relationships.

  5. Genome Size Dynamics and Evolution in Monocots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilia J. Leitch

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Monocot genomic diversity includes striking variation at many levels. This paper compares various genomic characters (e.g., range of chromosome numbers and ploidy levels, occurrence of endopolyploidy, GC content, chromosome packaging and organization, genome size between monocots and the remaining angiosperms to discern just how distinctive monocot genomes are. One of the most notable features of monocots is their wide range and diversity of genome sizes, including the species with the largest genome so far reported in plants. This genomic character is analysed in greater detail, within a phylogenetic context. By surveying available genome size and chromosome data it is apparent that different monocot orders follow distinctive modes of genome size and chromosome evolution. Further insights into genome size-evolution and dynamics were obtained using statistical modelling approaches to reconstruct the ancestral genome size at key nodes across the monocot phylogenetic tree. Such approaches reveal that while the ancestral genome size of all monocots was small (1C=1.9 pg, there have been several major increases and decreases during monocot evolution. In addition, notable increases in the rates of genome size-evolution were found in Asparagales and Poales compared with other monocot lineages.

  6. Comprehensive genomic characterization of campylobacter genus reveals some underlying mechanisms for its genomic diversification.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yizhuang Zhou

    Full Text Available Campylobacter species.are phenotypically diverse in many aspects including host habitats and pathogenicities, which demands comprehensive characterization of the entire Campylobacter genus to study their underlying genetic diversification. Up to now, 34 Campylobacter strains have been sequenced and published in public databases, providing good opportunity to systemically analyze their genomic diversities. In this study, we first conducted genomic characterization, which includes genome-wide alignments, pan-genome analysis, and phylogenetic identification, to depict the genetic diversity of Campylobacter genus. Afterward, we improved the tetranucleotide usage pattern-based naïve Bayesian classifier to identify the abnormal composition fragments (ACFs, fragments with significantly different tetranucleotide frequency profiles from its genomic tetranucleotide frequency profiles including horizontal gene transfers (HGTs to explore the mechanisms for the genetic diversity of this organism. Finally, we analyzed the HGTs transferred via bacteriophage transductions. To our knowledge, this study is the first to use single nucleotide polymorphism information to construct liable microevolution phylogeny of 21 Campylobacter jejuni strains. Combined with the phylogeny of all the collected Campylobacter species based on genome-wide core gene information, comprehensive phylogenetic inference of all 34 Campylobacter organisms was determined. It was found that C. jejuni harbors a high fraction of ACFs possibly through intraspecies recombination, whereas other Campylobacter members possess numerous ACFs possibly via intragenus recombination. Furthermore, some Campylobacter strains have undergone significant ancient viral integration during their evolution process. The improved method is a powerful tool for bacterial genomic analysis. Moreover, the findings would provide useful information for future research on Campylobacter genus.

  7. The complete mitochondrial genome of the enigmatic bigheadedturtle (Platysternon): description of unusual genomic features and thereconciliation of phylogenetic hypotheses based on mitochondrial andnuclear DNA

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parham, James F.; Feldman, Chris R.; Boore, Jeffrey L.

    2005-12-28

    The big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) from east Asia is the sole living representative of a poorly-studied turtle lineage (Platysternidae). It has no close living relatives, and its phylogenetic position within turtles is one of the outstanding controversies in turtle systematics. Platysternon was traditionally considered to be close to snapping turtles (Chelydridae) based on some studies of its morphology and mitochondrial (mt) DNA, however, other studies of morphology and nuclear (nu) DNA do not support that hypothesis. We sequenced the complete mt genome of Platysternon and the nearly complete mt genomes of two other relevant turtles and compared them to turtle mt genomes from the literature to form the largest molecular dataset used to date to address this issue. The resulting phylogeny robustly rejects the placement of Platysternon with Chelydridae, but instead shows that it is a member of the Testudinoidea, a diverse, nearly globally-distributed group that includes pond turtles and tortoises. We also discovered that Platysternon mtDNA has large-scale gene rearrangements and possesses two, nearly identical, control regions, features that distinguish it from all other studied turtles. Our study robustly determines the phylogenetic placement of Platysternon and provides a well-resolved outline of major turtle lineages, while demonstrating the significantly greater resolving power of comparing large amounts of mt sequence over that of short fragments. Earlier phylogenies placing Platysternon with chelydrids required a temporal gap in the fossil record that is now unnecessary. The duplicated control regions and gene rearrangements of the Platysternon mt DNA probably resulted from the duplication of part of the genome and then the subsequent loss of redundant genes. Although it is possible that having two control regions may provide some advantage, explaining why the control regions would be maintained while some of the duplicated genes were eroded

  8. Phylogenetic diversity of macromycetes and woody plants along an elevational gradient in Eastern Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marko Gomez-Hernandez; Guadalupe Williams-Linera; D. Jean Lodge; Roger Guevara; Eduardo Ruiz-Sanchez; Etelvina Gandara

    2016-01-01

    Phylogenetic information provides insight into the ecological and evolutionary processes that organize species assemblages. We compared patterns of phylogenetic diversity among macromycete and woody plant communities along a steep elevational gradient in eastern Mexico to better understand the evolutionary processes that structure their communities. Macrofungi and...

  9. Whole genome sequence phylogenetic analysis of four Mexican rabies viruses isolated from cattle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bárcenas-Reyes, I; Loza-Rubio, E; Cantó-Alarcón, G J; Luna-Cozar, J; Enríquez-Vázquez, A; Barrón-Rodríguez, R J; Milián-Suazo, F

    2017-08-01

    Phylogenetic analysis of the rabies virus in molecular epidemiology has been traditionally performed on partial sequences of the genome, such as the N, G, and P genes; however, that approach raises concerns about the discriminatory power compared to whole genome sequencing. In this study we characterized four strains of the rabies virus isolated from cattle in Querétaro, Mexico by comparing the whole genome sequence to that of strains from the American, European and Asian continents. Four cattle brain samples positive to rabies and characterized as AgV11, genotype 1, were used in the study. A cDNA sequence was generated by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) using oligo dT. cDNA samples were sequenced in an Illumina NextSeq 500 platform. The phylogenetic analysis was performed with MEGA 6.0. Minimum evolution phylogenetic trees were constructed with the Neighbor-Joining method and bootstrapped with 1000 replicates. Three large and seven small clusters were formed with the 26 sequences used. The largest cluster grouped strains from different species in South America: Brazil, and the French Guyana. The second cluster grouped five strains from Mexico. A Mexican strain reported in a different study was highly related to our four strains, suggesting common source of infection. The phylogenetic analysis shows that the type of host is different for the different regions in the American Continent; rabies is more related to bats. It was concluded that the rabies virus in central Mexico is genetically stable and that it is transmitted by the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Reconstruction of phylogenetic trees of prokaryotes using maximal common intervals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heydari, Mahdi; Marashi, Sayed-Amir; Tusserkani, Ruzbeh; Sadeghi, Mehdi

    2014-10-01

    One of the fundamental problems in bioinformatics is phylogenetic tree reconstruction, which can be used for classifying living organisms into different taxonomic clades. The classical approach to this problem is based on a marker such as 16S ribosomal RNA. Since evolutionary events like genomic rearrangements are not included in reconstructions of phylogenetic trees based on single genes, much effort has been made to find other characteristics for phylogenetic reconstruction in recent years. With the increasing availability of completely sequenced genomes, gene order can be considered as a new solution for this problem. In the present work, we applied maximal common intervals (MCIs) in two or more genomes to infer their distance and to reconstruct their evolutionary relationship. Additionally, measures based on uncommon segments (UCS's), i.e., those genomic segments which are not detected as part of any of the MCIs, are also used for phylogenetic tree reconstruction. We applied these two types of measures for reconstructing the phylogenetic tree of 63 prokaryotes with known COG (clusters of orthologous groups) families. Similarity between the MCI-based (resp. UCS-based) reconstructed phylogenetic trees and the phylogenetic tree obtained from NCBI taxonomy browser is as high as 93.1% (resp. 94.9%). We show that in the case of this diverse dataset of prokaryotes, tree reconstruction based on MCI and UCS outperforms most of the currently available methods based on gene orders, including breakpoint distance and DCJ. We additionally tested our new measures on a dataset of 13 closely-related bacteria from the genus Prochlorococcus. In this case, distances like rearrangement distance, breakpoint distance and DCJ proved to be useful, while our new measures are still appropriate for phylogenetic reconstruction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Beyond Linear Sequence Comparisons: The use of genome-levelcharacters for phylogenetic reconstruction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boore, Jeffrey L.

    2004-11-27

    Although the phylogenetic relationships of many organisms have been convincingly resolved by the comparisons of nucleotide or amino acid sequences, others have remained equivocal despite great effort. Now that large-scale genome sequencing projects are sampling many lineages, it is becoming feasible to compare large data sets of genome-level features and to develop this as a tool for phylogenetic reconstruction that has advantages over conventional sequence comparisons. Although it is unlikely that these will address a large number of evolutionary branch points across the broad tree of life due to the infeasibility of such sampling, they have great potential for convincingly resolving many critical, contested relationships for which no other data seems promising. However, it is important that we recognize potential pitfalls, establish reasonable standards for acceptance, and employ rigorous methodology to guard against a return to earlier days of scenario-driven evolutionary reconstructions.

  12. Phylogenetic analysis of vitamin B12-related metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

    OpenAIRE

    Young, Douglas B.; Comas, I?aki; de Carvalho, Luiz P. S.

    2015-01-01

    Comparison of genome sequences from clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with phylogenetically-related pathogens Mycobacterium marinum, Mycobacterium kansasii, and Mycobacterium leprae reveals diversity amongst genes associated with vitamin B12-related metabolism. Diversity is generated by gene deletion events, differential acquisition of genes by horizontal transfer, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with predicted impact on protein function and transcriptional regulation...

  13. Partitioning the regional and local drivers of phylogenetic and functional diversity along temperate elevational gradients on an East Asian peninsula.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chun, Jung-Hwa; Lee, Chang-Bae

    2018-02-12

    Species-centric approaches to biodiversity in ecological research are limited in their ability to reflect the evolutionary history and functional diversity of community assembly. Recently, the introduction of alternative facets of biodiversity, such as phylogenetic and functional diversity, has shed light on this problem and improved our understanding of the processes underlying biodiversity patterns. Here, we investigated the phylogenetic and functional diversity patterns of α, β and γ components in woody plant assemblages along regional and local elevational gradients in South Korea. Although the patterns of phylogenetic and functional diversity varied along regional and local elevational transects, the main drivers were partitioned into two categories: regional area or climate for phylogenetic diversity, depending on whether the transect was at a regional or local scale; and habitat heterogeneity for functional diversity, which was derived in elevational bands. Moreover, environmental distance was more important than was geographic distance for phylogenetic and functional β diversity between paired elevational bands. These results support the hypothesis that niche-based deterministic processes such as environmental filtering and competitive exclusion are fundamental in structuring woody plant assemblages along temperate elevational gradients regardless of scale (regional vs. local) in our study areas.

  14. Mitochondrial genome diversity in dagger and needle nematodes (Nematoda: Longidoridae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palomares-Rius, J E; Cantalapiedra-Navarrete, C; Archidona-Yuste, A; Blok, V C; Castillo, P

    2017-02-02

    Dagger and needle nematodes included in the family Longidoridae (viz. Longidorus, Paralongidorus, and Xiphinema) are highly polyphagous plant-parasitic nematodes in wild and cultivated plants and some of them are plant-virus vectors (nepovirus). The mitochondrial (mt) genomes of the dagger and needle nematodes, Xiphinema rivesi, Xiphinema pachtaicum, Longidorus vineacola and Paralongidorus litoralis were sequenced in this study. The four circular mt genomes have an estimated size of 12.6, 12.5, 13.5 and 12.7 kb, respectively. Up to date, the mt genome of X. pachtaicum is the smallest genome found in Nematoda. The four mt genomes contain 12 protein-coding genes (viz. cox1-3, nad1-6, nad4L, atp6 and cob) and two ribosomal RNA genes (rrnL and rrnS), but the atp8 gene was not detected. These mt genomes showed a gene arrangement very different within the Longidoridae species sequenced, with the exception of very closely related species (X. americanum and X. rivesi). The sizes of non-coding regions in the Longidoridae nematodes were very small and were present in a few places in the mt genome. Phylogenetic analysis of all coding genes showed a closer relationship between Longidorus and Paralongidorus and different phylogenetic possibilities for the three Xiphinema species.

  15. Phylogenetic diversity of bacteria associated with toxic and non-toxic ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Phylogenetic diversity of bacteria associated with toxic and non-toxic strains of Alexandrium minutum. L Palacios, B Reguera, J Franco, I Marín. Abstract. Marine planktonic dinoflagellates are usually associated with bacteria, some of which seem to have a symbiotic relation with the dinoflagellate cells. The role of bacteria in ...

  16. Phylogenetic diversity and biogeography of the Mamiellophyceae lineage of eukaryotic phytoplankton across the oceans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monier, Adam; Worden, Alexandra Z; Richards, Thomas A

    2016-08-01

    High-throughput diversity amplicon sequencing of marine microbial samples has revealed that members of the Mamiellophyceae lineage are successful phytoplankton in many oceanic habitats. Indeed, these eukaryotic green algae can dominate the picoplanktonic biomass, however, given the broad expanses of the oceans, their geographical distributions and the phylogenetic diversity of some groups remain poorly characterized. As these algae play a foundational role in marine food webs, it is crucial to assess their global distribution in order to better predict potential changes in abundance and community structure. To this end, we analyzed the V9-18S small subunit rDNA sequences deposited from the Tara Oceans expedition to evaluate the diversity and biogeography of these phytoplankton. Our results show that the phylogenetic composition of Mamiellophyceae communities is in part determined by geographical provenance, and do not appear to be influenced - in the samples recovered - by water depth, at least at the resolution possible with the V9-18S. Phylogenetic classification of Mamiellophyceae sequences revealed that the Dolichomastigales order encompasses more sequence diversity than other orders in this lineage. These results indicate that a large fraction of the Mamiellophyceae diversity has been hitherto overlooked, likely because of a combination of size fraction, sequencing and geographical limitations. © 2016 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. PhyDesign: an online application for profiling phylogenetic informativeness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Townsend Jeffrey P

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The rapid increase in number of sequenced genomes for species across of the tree of life is revealing a diverse suite of orthologous genes that could potentially be employed to inform molecular phylogenetic studies that encompass broader taxonomic sampling. Optimal usage of this diversity of loci requires user-friendly tools to facilitate widespread cost-effective locus prioritization for phylogenetic sampling. The Townsend (2007 phylogenetic informativeness provides a unique empirical metric for guiding marker selection. However, no software or automated methodology to evaluate sequence alignments and estimate the phylogenetic informativeness metric has been available. Results Here, we present PhyDesign, a platform-independent online application that implements the Townsend (2007 phylogenetic informativeness analysis, providing a quantitative prediction of the utility of loci to solve specific phylogenetic questions. An easy-to-use interface facilitates uploading of alignments and ultrametric trees to calculate and depict profiles of informativeness over specified time ranges, and provides rankings of locus prioritization for epochs of interest. Conclusions By providing these profiles, PhyDesign facilitates locus prioritization increasing the efficiency of sequencing for phylogenetic purposes compared to traditional studies with more laborious and low capacity screening methods, as well as increasing the accuracy of phylogenetic studies. Together with a manual and sample files, the application is freely accessible at http://phydesign.townsend.yale.edu.

  18. Decoupling phylogenetic and functional diversity to reveal hidden signals in community assembly

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    de Bello, Francesco; Šmilauer, P.; Diniz-Filho, J. A. F.; Carmona, C. P.; Lososová, Z.; Herben, Tomáš; Götzenberger, Lars

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 10 (2017), s. 1200-1211 ISSN 2041-210X R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-15012S; GA ČR GB14-36079G EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 267243 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : community ecology * phylogenetic diversity * functional diversity Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour OBOR OECD: Ecology Impact factor: 5.708, year: 2016

  19. Relative roles of local disturbance, current climate and palaeoclimate in determining phylogenetic and functional diversity in Chinese forests

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Feng, Gang; Mi, Xiangcheng; Bøcher, Peder Klith

    2014-01-01

    their relative roles in determining woody plant phylogenetic and functional diversity in this important hotspot for woody plant diversity. Local disturbance was the best predictor of functional diversity as represented by maximum canopy height (Hmax), probably reflecting the dominant role of competition...... studied, their relative importance for other aspects of diversity, notably phylogenetic and functional diversity is so far little studied. Here, we link data from large Chinese forest plots to data on current and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) climate as well as local disturbance regimes to study...

  20. Evaluation of a Phylogenetic Marker Based on Genomic Segment B of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus: Facilitating a Feasible Incorporation of this Segment to the Molecular Epidemiology Studies for this Viral Agent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfonso-Morales, Abdulahi; Rios, Liliam; Martínez-Pérez, Orlando; Dolz, Roser; Valle, Rosa; Perera, Carmen L; Bertran, Kateri; Frías, Maria T; Ganges, Llilianne; Díaz de Arce, Heidy; Majó, Natàlia; Núñez, José I; Pérez, Lester J

    2015-01-01

    Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is a highly contagious and acute viral disease, which has caused high mortality rates in birds and considerable economic losses in different parts of the world for more than two decades and it still represents a considerable threat to poultry. The current study was designed to rigorously measure the reliability of a phylogenetic marker included into segment B. This marker can facilitate molecular epidemiology studies, incorporating this segment of the viral genome, to better explain the links between emergence, spreading and maintenance of the very virulent IBD virus (vvIBDV) strains worldwide. Sequences of the segment B gene from IBDV strains isolated from diverse geographic locations were obtained from the GenBank Database; Cuban sequences were obtained in the current work. A phylogenetic marker named B-marker was assessed by different phylogenetic principles such as saturation of substitution, phylogenetic noise and high consistency. This last parameter is based on the ability of B-marker to reconstruct the same topology as the complete segment B of the viral genome. From the results obtained from B-marker, demographic history for both main lineages of IBDV regarding segment B was performed by Bayesian skyline plot analysis. Phylogenetic analysis for both segments of IBDV genome was also performed, revealing the presence of a natural reassortant strain with segment A from vvIBDV strains and segment B from non-vvIBDV strains within Cuban IBDV population. This study contributes to a better understanding of the emergence of vvIBDV strains, describing molecular epidemiology of IBDV using the state-of-the-art methodology concerning phylogenetic reconstruction. This study also revealed the presence of a novel natural reassorted strain as possible manifest of change in the genetic structure and stability of the vvIBDV strains. Therefore, it highlights the need to obtain information about both genome segments of IBDV for molecular

  1. Large Diversity of Nonstandard Genes and Dynamic Evolution of Chloroplast Genomes in Siphonous Green Algae (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cremen, Ma Chiela M; Leliaert, Frederik; Marcelino, Vanessa R; Verbruggen, Heroen

    2018-04-01

    Chloroplast genomes have undergone tremendous alterations through the evolutionary history of the green algae (Chloroplastida). This study focuses on the evolution of chloroplast genomes in the siphonous green algae (order Bryopsidales). We present five new chloroplast genomes, which along with existing sequences, yield a data set representing all but one families of the order. Using comparative phylogenetic methods, we investigated the evolutionary dynamics of genomic features in the order. Our results show extensive variation in chloroplast genome architecture and intron content. Variation in genome size is accounted for by the amount of intergenic space and freestanding open reading frames that do not show significant homology to standard plastid genes. We show the diversity of these nonstandard genes based on their conserved protein domains, which are often associated with mobile functions (reverse transcriptase/intron maturase, integrases, phage- or plasmid-DNA primases, transposases, integrases, ligases). Investigation of the introns showed proliferation of group II introns in the early evolution of the order and their subsequent loss in the core Halimedineae, possibly through RT-mediated intron loss.

  2. Transcriptional and phylogenetic analysis of five complete ambystomatid salamander mitochondrial genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samuels, Amy K; Weisrock, David W; Smith, Jeramiah J; France, Katherine J; Walker, John A; Putta, Srikrishna; Voss, S Randal

    2005-04-11

    We report on a study that extended mitochondrial transcript information from a recent EST project to obtain complete mitochondrial genome sequence for 5 tiger salamander complex species (Ambystoma mexicanum, A. t. tigrinum, A. andersoni, A. californiense, and A. dumerilii). We describe, for the first time, aspects of mitochondrial transcription in a representative amphibian, and then use complete mitochondrial sequence data to examine salamander phylogeny at both deep and shallow levels of evolutionary divergence. The available mitochondrial ESTs for A. mexicanum (N=2481) and A. t. tigrinum (N=1205) provided 92% and 87% coverage of the mitochondrial genome, respectively. Complete mitochondrial sequences for all species were rapidly obtained by using long distance PCR and DNA sequencing. A number of genome structural characteristics (base pair length, base composition, gene number, gene boundaries, codon usage) were highly similar among all species and to other distantly related salamanders. Overall, mitochondrial transcription in Ambystoma approximated the pattern observed in other vertebrates. We inferred from the mapping of ESTs onto mtDNA that transcription occurs from both heavy and light strand promoters and continues around the entire length of the mtDNA, followed by post-transcriptional processing. However, the observation of many short transcripts corresponding to rRNA genes indicates that transcription may often terminate prematurely to bias transcription of rRNA genes; indeed an rRNA transcription termination signal sequence was observed immediately following the 16S rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analyses of salamander family relationships consistently grouped Ambystomatidae in a clade containing Cryptobranchidae and Hynobiidae, to the exclusion of Salamandridae. This robust result suggests a novel alternative hypothesis because previous studies have consistently identified Ambystomatidae and Salamandridae as closely related taxa. Phylogenetic analyses of tiger

  3. Prokaryotic caspase homologs: phylogenetic patterns and functional characteristics reveal considerable diversity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johannes Asplund-Samuelsson

    Full Text Available Caspases accomplish initiation and execution of apoptosis, a programmed cell death process specific to metazoans. The existence of prokaryotic caspase homologs, termed metacaspases, has been known for slightly more than a decade. Despite their potential connection to the evolution of programmed cell death in eukaryotes, the phylogenetic distribution and functions of these prokaryotic metacaspase sequences are largely uncharted, while a few experiments imply involvement in programmed cell death. Aiming at providing a more detailed picture of prokaryotic caspase homologs, we applied a computational approach based on Hidden Markov Model search profiles to identify and functionally characterize putative metacaspases in bacterial and archaeal genomes. Out of the total of 1463 analyzed genomes, merely 267 (18% were identified to contain putative metacaspases, but their taxonomic distribution included most prokaryotic phyla and a few archaea (Euryarchaeota. Metacaspases were particularly abundant in Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria and Cyanobacteria, which harbor many morphologically and developmentally complex organisms, and a distinct correlation was found between abundance and phenotypic complexity in Cyanobacteria. Notably, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, known to undergo genetically regulated autolysis, lacked metacaspases. Pfam domain architecture analysis combined with operon identification revealed rich and varied configurations among the metacaspase sequences. These imply roles in programmed cell death, but also e.g. in signaling, various enzymatic activities and protein modification. Together our data show a wide and scattered distribution of caspase homologs in prokaryotes with structurally and functionally diverse sub-groups, and with a potentially intriguing evolutionary role. These features will help delineate future characterizations of death pathways in prokaryotes.

  4. Comparative analyses of the complete mitochondrial genomes of Dosinia clams and their phylogenetic position within Veneridae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Changda; Li, Qi; Kong, Lingfeng

    2018-01-01

    Mitochondrial genomes have proved to be a powerful tool in resolving phylogenetic relationship. In order to understand the mitogenome characteristics and phylogenetic position of the genus Dosinia, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of Dosinia altior and Dosinia troscheli (Bivalvia: Veneridae), compared them with that of Dosinia japonica and established a phylogenetic tree for Veneridae. The mitogenomes of D. altior (17,536 bp) and D. troscheli (17,229 bp) are the two smallest in Veneridae, which include 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and non-coding regions. The mitogenomes of the Dosinia species are similar in size, gene content, AT content, AT- and GC- skews, and gene arrangement. The phylogenetic relationships of family Veneridae were established based on 12 concatenated protein-coding genes using maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses, which supported that Dosininae and Meretricinae have a closer relationship, with Tapetinae being the sister taxon. The information obtained in this study will contribute to further understanding of the molecular features of bivalve mitogenomes and the evolutionary history of the genus Dosinia.

  5. White-tailed deer are a biotic filter during community assembly, reducing species and phylogenetic diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Begley-Miller, Danielle R; Hipp, Andrew L; Brown, Bethany H; Hahn, Marlene; Rooney, Thomas P

    2014-06-09

    Community assembly entails a filtering process, where species found in a local community are those that can pass through environmental (abiotic) and biotic filters and successfully compete. Previous research has demonstrated the ability of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) to reduce species diversity and favour browse-tolerant plant communities. In this study, we expand on our previous work by investigating deer as a possible biotic filter altering local plant community assembly. We used replicated 23-year-old deer exclosures to experimentally assess the effects of deer on species diversity (H'), richness (SR), phylogenetic community structure and phylogenetic diversity in paired browsed (control) and unbrowsed (exclosed) plots. Additionally, we developed a deer-browsing susceptibility index (DBSI) to assess the vulnerability of local species to deer. Deer browsing caused a 12 % reduction in H' and 17 % reduction in SR, consistent with previous studies. Furthermore, browsing reduced phylogenetic diversity by 63 %, causing significant phylogenetic clustering. Overall, graminoids were the least vulnerable to deer browsing based on DBSI calculations. These findings demonstrate that deer are a significant driver of plant community assembly due to their role as a selective browser, or more generally, as a biotic filter. This study highlights the importance of knowledge about the plant tree of life in assessing the effects of biotic filters on plant communities. Application of such knowledge has considerable potential to advance our understanding of plant community assembly. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

  6. Switchgrass genomic diversity, ploidy, and evolution: novel insights from a network-based SNP discovery protocol.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fei Lu

    Full Text Available Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L. is a perennial grass that has been designated as an herbaceous model biofuel crop for the United States of America. To facilitate accelerated breeding programs of switchgrass, we developed both an association panel and linkage populations for genome-wide association study (GWAS and genomic selection (GS. All of the 840 individuals were then genotyped using genotyping by sequencing (GBS, generating 350 GB of sequence in total. As a highly heterozygous polyploid (tetraploid and octoploid species lacking a reference genome, switchgrass is highly intractable with earlier methodologies of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP discovery. To access the genetic diversity of species like switchgrass, we developed a SNP discovery pipeline based on a network approach called the Universal Network-Enabled Analysis Kit (UNEAK. Complexities that hinder single nucleotide polymorphism discovery, such as repeats, paralogs, and sequencing errors, are easily resolved with UNEAK. Here, 1.2 million putative SNPs were discovered in a diverse collection of primarily upland, northern-adapted switchgrass populations. Further analysis of this data set revealed the fundamentally diploid nature of tetraploid switchgrass. Taking advantage of the high conservation of genome structure between switchgrass and foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L. P. Beauv., two parent-specific, synteny-based, ultra high-density linkage maps containing a total of 88,217 SNPs were constructed. Also, our results showed clear patterns of isolation-by-distance and isolation-by-ploidy in natural populations of switchgrass. Phylogenetic analysis supported a general south-to-north migration path of switchgrass. In addition, this analysis suggested that upland tetraploid arose from upland octoploid. All together, this study provides unparalleled insights into the diversity, genomic complexity, population structure, phylogeny, phylogeography, ploidy, and evolutionary dynamics

  7. [Phylogenetic analysis of genomes of Vibrio cholerae strains isolated on the territory of Rostov region].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuleshov, K V; Markelov, M L; Dedkov, V G; Vodop'ianov, A S; Kermanov, A V; Pisanov, R V; Kruglikov, V D; Mazrukho, A B; Maleev, V V; Shipulin, G A

    2013-01-01

    Determination of origin of 2 Vibrio cholerae strains isolated on the territory of Rostov region by using full genome sequencing data. Toxigenic strain 2011 EL- 301 V. cholerae 01 El Tor Inaba No. 301 (ctxAB+, tcpA+) and nontoxigenic strain V. cholerae O1 Ogawa P- 18785 (ctxAB-, tcpA+) were studied. Sequencing was carried out on the MiSeq platform. Phylogenetic analysis of the genomes obtained was carried out based on comparison of conservative part of the studied and 54 previously sequenced genomes. 2011EL-301 strain genome was presented by 164 contigs with an average coverage of 100, N50 parameter was 132 kb, for strain P- 18785 - 159 contigs with a coverage of69, N50 - 83 kb. The contigs obtained for strain 2011 EL-301 were deposited in DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases with access code AJFN02000000, for strain P-18785 - ANHS00000000. 716 protein-coding orthologous genes were detected. Based on phylogenetic analysis strain P- 18785 belongs to PG-1 subgroup (a group of predecessor strains of the 7th pandemic). Strain 2011EL-301 belongs to groups of strains of the 7th pandemic and is included into the cluster with later isolates that are associated with cases of cholera in South Africa and cases of import of cholera to the USA from Pakistan. The data obtained allows to establish phylogenetic connections with V cholerae strains isolated earlier.

  8. Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Acanthoscelides obtectus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) with phylogenetic analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Jie; Yang, Hong; Dai, Renhuai

    2017-10-01

    Acanthoscelides obtectus is a common species of the subfamily Bruchinae and a worldwide-distributed seed-feeding beetle. The complete mitochondrial genome of A. obtectus is 16,130 bp in length with an A + T content of 76.4%. It contains a positive AT skew and a negative GC skew. The mitogenome of A. obtectus contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes and a non-coding region (D-loop). All PCGs start with an ATN codon, and seven (ND3, ATP6, COIII, ND3, ND4L, ND6, and Cytb) of them terminate with TAA, while the remaining five (COI, COII, ND1, ND4, and ND5) terminate with a single T, ATP8 terminates with TGA. Except tRNA Ser , the secondary structures of 21 tRNAs that can be folded into a typical clover-leaf structure were identified. The secondary structures of lrRNA and srRNA were also predicted in this study. There are six domains with 48 helices in lrRNA and three domains with 32 helices in srRNA. The control region of A. obtectus is 1354 bp in size with the highest A + T content (83.5%) in a mitochondrial gene. Thirteen PCGs in 19 species have been used to infer their phylogenetic relationships. Our results show that A. obtectus belongs to the family Chrysomelidae (subfamily-Bruchinae). This is the first study on phylogenetic analyses involving the mitochondrial genes of A. obtectus and could provide basic data for future studies of mitochondrial genome diversities and the evolution of related insect lineages.

  9. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Ampelopsis: gene organization, comparative analysis and phylogenetic relationships to other angiosperms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gurusamy eRaman

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Ampelopsis brevipedunculata is an economically important plant that belongs to the Vitaceae family of angiosperms. The phylogenetic placement of Vitaceae is still unresolved. Recent phylogenetic studies suggested that it should be placed in various alternative families including Caryophyllaceae, asteraceae, Saxifragaceae, Dilleniaceae, or with the rest of the rosid families. However, these analyses provided weak supportive results because they were based on only one of several genes. Accordingly, complete chloroplast genome sequences are required to resolve the phylogenetic relationships among angiosperms. Recent phylogenetic analyses based on the complete chloroplast genome sequence suggested strong support for the position of Vitaceae as the earliest diverging lineage of rosids and placed it as a sister to the remaining rosids. These studies also revealed relationships among several major lineages of angiosperms; however, they highlighted the significance of taxon sampling for obtaining accurate phylogenies. In the present study, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genome of A. brevipedunculata and used these data to assess the relationships among 32 angiosperms, including 18 taxa of rosids. The Ampelopsis chloroplast genome is 161,090 bp in length, and includes a pair of inverted repeats of 26,394 bp that are separated by small and large single copy regions of 19,036 bp and 89,266 bp, respectively. The gene content and order of Ampelopsis is identical to many other unrearranged angiosperm chloroplast genomes, including Vitis and tobacco. A phylogenetic tree constructed based on 70 protein-coding genes of 33 angiosperms showed that both Saxifragales and Vitaceae diverged from the rosid clade and formed two clades with 100% bootstrap value. The position of the Vitaceae is sister to Saxifragales, and both are the basal and earliest diverging lineages. Moreover, Saxifragales forms a sister clade to Vitaceae of rosids. Overall, the results of

  10. The Complete Mitochondrial Genome of Corizus tetraspilus (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae) and Phylogenetic Analysis of Pentatomomorpha

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Zhong-Long; Wang, Juan; Shen, Yu-Ying

    2015-01-01

    Insect mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) are the most extensively used genetic information for molecular evolution, phylogenetics and population genetics. Pentatomomorpha (>14,000 species) is the second largest infraorder of Heteroptera and of great economic importance. To better understand the diversity and phylogeny within Pentatomomorpha, we sequenced and annotated the complete mitogenome of Corizus tetraspilus (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae), an important pest of alfalfa in China. We analyzed the main features of the C. tetraspilus mitogenome, and provided a comparative analysis with four other Coreoidea species. Our results reveal that gene content, gene arrangement, nucleotide composition, codon usage, rRNA structures and sequences of mitochondrial transcription termination factor are conserved in Coreoidea. Comparative analysis shows that different protein-coding genes have been subject to different evolutionary rates correlated with the G+C content. All the transfer RNA genes found in Coreoidea have the typical clover leaf secondary structure, except for trnS1 (AGN) which lacks the dihydrouridine (DHU) arm and possesses a unusual anticodon stem (9 bp vs. the normal 5 bp). The control regions (CRs) among Coreoidea are highly variable in size, of which the CR of C. tetraspilus is the smallest (440 bp), making the C. tetraspilus mitogenome the smallest (14,989 bp) within all completely sequenced Coreoidea mitogenomes. No conserved motifs are found in the CRs of Coreoidea. In addition, the A+T content (60.68%) of the CR of C. tetraspilus is much lower than that of the entire mitogenome (74.88%), and is lowest among Coreoidea. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitogenomic data support the monophyly of each superfamily within Pentatomomorpha, and recognize a phylogenetic relationship of (Aradoidea + (Pentatomoidea + (Lygaeoidea + (Pyrrhocoroidea + Coreoidea)))). PMID:26042898

  11. Phylogenetic and Diversity Analysis of Dactylis glomerata Subspecies Using SSR and IT-ISJ Markers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Defei; Zhao, Xinxin; Cheng, Yajuan; Ma, Xiao; Huang, Linkai; Zhang, Xinquan

    2016-10-31

    The genus Dactylis , an important forage crop, has a wide geographical distribution in temperate regions. While this genus is thought to include a single species, Dactylis glomerata , this species encompasses many subspecies whose relationships have not been fully characterized. In this study, the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of nine representative Dactylis subspecies were examined using SSR and IT-ISJ markers. In total, 21 pairs of SSR primers and 15 pairs of IT-ISJ primers were used to amplify 295 polymorphic bands with polymorphic rates of 100%. The average polymorphic information contents (PICs) of SSR and IT-ISJ markers were 0.909 and 0.780, respectively. The combined data of the two markers indicated a high level of genetic diversity among the nine D. glomerata subspecies, with a Nei's gene diversity index value of 0.283 and Shannon's diversity of 0.448. Preliminarily phylogenetic analysis results revealed that the 20 accessions could be divided into three groups (A, B, C). Furthermore, they could be divided into five clusters, which is similar to the structure analysis with K = 5. Phylogenetic placement in these three groups may be related to the distribution ranges and the climate types of the subspecies in each group. Group A contained eight accessions of four subspecies, originating from the west Mediterranean, while Group B contained seven accessions of three subspecies, originating from the east Mediterranean.

  12. Exploring the determinants of phylogenetic diversity and assemblage structure in conifers across temporal, spatial, and taxonomic scales

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eiserhardt, Wolf L.; Borchsenius, Finn; Sandel, Brody Steven

    -environmental models are important elements in this framework. Here, we integrate both types of data in order to explore the determinants of forest tree diversity using the conifers as a model group. Conifers are an old, diverse (ca. 650 spp. in 6 families) and widespread group of woody plants of high ecological...... and economic importance. They are better studied than most other globally distributed groups of forest trees, allowing integrative studies with high phylogenetic and spatial resolution. We analyse phylogenetic diversity, assemblage structure, and diversification rates for regional conifer assemblages...

  13. Phylogenetic diversity and ecological pattern of ammonia-oxidizing archaea in the surface sediments of the western Pacific.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Huiluo; Hong, Yiguo; Li, Meng; Gu, Ji-Dong

    2011-11-01

    The phylogenetic diversity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) was surveyed in the surface sediments from the northern part of the South China Sea (SCS). The distribution pattern of AOA in the western Pacific was discussed through comparing the SCS with other areas in the western Pacific including Changjiang Estuary and the adjacent East China Sea where high input of anthropogenic nitrogen was evident, the tropical West Pacific Continental Margins close to the Philippines, the deep-sea methane seep sediments in the Okhotsk Sea, the cold deep sea of Northeastern Japan Sea, and the hydrothermal field in the Southern Okinawa Trough. These various environments provide a wide spectrum of physical and chemical conditions for a better understanding of the distribution pattern and diversities of AOA in the western Pacific. Under these different conditions, the distinct community composition between shallow and deep-sea sediments was clearly delineated based on the UniFrac PCoA and Jackknife Environmental Cluster analyses. Phylogenetic analyses showed that a few ammonia-oxidizing archaeal subclades in the marine water column/sediment clade and endemic lineages were indicative phylotypes for some environments. Higher phylogenetic diversity was observed in the Philippines while lower diversity in the hydrothermal vent habitat. Water depth and possibly with other environmental factors could be the main driving forces to shape the phylogenetic diversity of AOA observed, not only in the SCS but also in the whole western Pacific. The multivariate regression tree analysis also supported this observation consistently. Moreover, the functions of current and other climate factors were also discussed in comparison of phylogenetic diversity. The information collectively provides important insights into the ecophysiological requirements of uncultured ammonia-oxidizing archaeal lineages in the western Pacific Ocean.

  14. Patterns of Phylogenetic Diversity of Subtropical Rainforest of the Great Sandy Region, Australia Indicate Long Term Climatic Refugia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Marion G; McDonald, William J F; Forster, Paul I; Kress, W John; Erickson, David; Faith, Daniel P; Shapcott, Alison

    2016-01-01

    Australia's Great Sandy Region is of international significance containing two World Heritage areas and patches of rainforest growing on white sand. Previous broad-scale analysis found the Great Sandy biogeographic subregion contained a significantly more phylogenetically even subset of species than expected by chance contrasting with rainforest on white sand in Peru. This study aimed to test the patterns of rainforest diversity and relatedness at a finer scale and to investigate why we may find different patterns of phylogenetic evenness compared with rainforests on white sands in other parts of the world. This study focussed on rainforest sites within the Great Sandy and surrounding areas in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. We undertook field collections, expanded our three-marker DNA barcode library of SEQ rainforest plants and updated the phylogeny to 95% of the SEQ rainforest flora. We sampled species composition of rainforest in fixed area plots from 100 sites. We calculated phylogenetic diversity (PD) measures as well as species richness (SR) for each rainforest community. These combined with site variables such as geology, were used to evaluate patterns and relatedness. We found that many rainforest communities in the Great Sandy area were significantly phylogenetically even at the individual site level consistent with a broader subregion analysis. Sites from adjacent areas were either not significant or were significantly phylogenetically clustered. Some results in the neighbouring areas were consistent with historic range expansions. In contrast with expectations, sites located on the oldest substrates had significantly lower phylogenetic diversity (PD). Fraser Island was once connected to mainland Australia, our results are consistent with a region geologically old enough to have continuously supported rainforest in refugia. The interface of tropical and temperate floras in part also explains the significant phylogenetic evenness and higher than

  15. Patterns of Phylogenetic Diversity of Subtropical Rainforest of the Great Sandy Region, Australia Indicate Long Term Climatic Refugia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marion G Howard

    Full Text Available Australia's Great Sandy Region is of international significance containing two World Heritage areas and patches of rainforest growing on white sand. Previous broad-scale analysis found the Great Sandy biogeographic subregion contained a significantly more phylogenetically even subset of species than expected by chance contrasting with rainforest on white sand in Peru. This study aimed to test the patterns of rainforest diversity and relatedness at a finer scale and to investigate why we may find different patterns of phylogenetic evenness compared with rainforests on white sands in other parts of the world. This study focussed on rainforest sites within the Great Sandy and surrounding areas in South East Queensland (SEQ, Australia. We undertook field collections, expanded our three-marker DNA barcode library of SEQ rainforest plants and updated the phylogeny to 95% of the SEQ rainforest flora. We sampled species composition of rainforest in fixed area plots from 100 sites. We calculated phylogenetic diversity (PD measures as well as species richness (SR for each rainforest community. These combined with site variables such as geology, were used to evaluate patterns and relatedness. We found that many rainforest communities in the Great Sandy area were significantly phylogenetically even at the individual site level consistent with a broader subregion analysis. Sites from adjacent areas were either not significant or were significantly phylogenetically clustered. Some results in the neighbouring areas were consistent with historic range expansions. In contrast with expectations, sites located on the oldest substrates had significantly lower phylogenetic diversity (PD. Fraser Island was once connected to mainland Australia, our results are consistent with a region geologically old enough to have continuously supported rainforest in refugia. The interface of tropical and temperate floras in part also explains the significant phylogenetic evenness

  16. Extremely Low Genomic Diversity of Rickettsia japonica Distributed in Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akter, Arzuba; Ooka, Tadasuke; Gotoh, Yasuhiro; Yamamoto, Seigo; Fujita, Hiromi; Terasoma, Fumio; Kida, Kouji; Taira, Masakatsu; Nakadouzono, Fumiko; Gokuden, Mutsuyo; Hirano, Manabu; Miyashiro, Mamoru; Inari, Kouichi; Shimazu, Yukie; Tabara, Kenji; Toyoda, Atsushi; Yoshimura, Dai; Itoh, Takehiko; Kitano, Tomokazu; Sato, Mitsuhiko P; Katsura, Keisuke; Mondal, Shakhinur Islam; Ogura, Yoshitoshi; Ando, Shuji; Hayashi, Tetsuya

    2017-01-01

    Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular bacteria that have small genomes as a result of reductive evolution. Many Rickettsia species of the spotted fever group (SFG) cause tick-borne diseases known as "spotted fevers". The life cycle of SFG rickettsiae is closely associated with that of the tick, which is generally thought to act as a bacterial vector and reservoir that maintains the bacterium through transstadial and transovarial transmission. Each SFG member is thought to have adapted to a specific tick species, thus restricting the bacterial distribution to a relatively limited geographic region. These unique features of SFG rickettsiae allow investigation of how the genomes of such biologically and ecologically specialized bacteria evolve after genome reduction and the types of population structures that are generated. Here, we performed a nationwide, high-resolution phylogenetic analysis of Rickettsia japonica, an etiological agent of Japanese spotted fever that is distributed in Japan and Korea. The comparison of complete or nearly complete sequences obtained from 31 R. japonica strains isolated from various sources in Japan over the past 30 years demonstrated an extremely low level of genomic diversity. In particular, only 34 single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified among the 27 strains of the major lineage containing all clinical isolates and tick isolates from the three tick species. Our data provide novel insights into the biology and genome evolution of R. japonica, including the possibilities of recent clonal expansion and a long generation time in nature due to the long dormant phase associated with tick life cycles. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  17. The complete mitochondrial genome of rabbit pinworm Passalurus ambiguus: genome characterization and phylogenetic analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Guo-Hua; Li, Sheng; Zou, Feng-Cai; Wang, Chun-Ren; Zhu, Xing-Quan

    2016-01-01

    Passalurus ambiguus (Nematda: Oxyuridae) is a common pinworm which parasitizes in the caecum and colon of rabbits. Despite its significance as a pathogen, the epidemiology, genetics, systematics, and biology of this pinworm remain poorly understood. In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of P. ambiguus. The circular mt genome is 14,023 bp in size and encodes of 36 genes, including 12 protein-coding, two ribosomal RNA, and 22 transfer RNA genes. The mt gene order of P. ambiguus is the same as that of Wellcomia siamensis, but distinct from that of Enterobius vermicularis. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes by Bayesian inference (BI) showed that P. ambiguus was more closely related to W. siamensis than to E. vermicularis. This mt genome provides novel genetic markers for studying the molecular epidemiology, population genetics, systematics of pinworm of animals and humans, and should have implications for the diagnosis, prevention, and control of passaluriasis in rabbits and other animals.

  18. A preliminary mitochondrial genome phylogeny of Orthoptera (Insecta) and approaches to maximizing phylogenetic signal found within mitochondrial genome data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenn, J Daniel; Song, Hojun; Cameron, Stephen L; Whiting, Michael F

    2008-10-01

    The phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial genomes (mtgenomes) is examined using the framework of a preliminary phylogeny of Orthoptera. This study presents five newly sequenced genomes from four orthopteran families. While all ensiferan and polyneopteran taxa retain the ancestral gene order, all caeliferan lineages including the newly sequenced caeliferan species contain a tRNA rearrangement from the insect ground plan tRNA(Lys)(K)-tRNA(Asp)(D) swapping to tRNA(Asp) (D)-tRNA(Lys) (K) confirming that this rearrangement is a possible molecular synapomorphy for this suborder. The phylogenetic signal in mtgenomes is rigorously examined under the analytical regimens of parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference, along with how gene inclusion/exclusion, data recoding, gap coding, and different partitioning schemes influence the phylogenetic reconstruction. When all available data are analyzed simultaneously, the monophyly of Orthoptera and its two suborders, Caelifera and Ensifera, are consistently recovered in the context of our taxon sampling, regardless of the optimality criteria. When protein-coding genes are analyzed as a single partition, nearly identical topology to the combined analyses is recovered, suggesting that much of the signals of the mtgenome come from the protein-coding genes. Transfer and ribosomal RNAs perform poorly when analyzed individually, but contribute signal when analyzed in combination with the protein-coding genes. Inclusion of third codon position of the protein-coding genes does not negatively affect the phylogenetic reconstruction when all genes are analyzed together, whereas recoding of the protein-coding genes into amino acid sequences introduces artificial resolution. Over-partitioning in a Bayesian framework appears to have a negative effect in achieving convergence. Our findings suggest that the best phylogenetic inferences are made when all available nucleotide data from the mtgenome are analyzed simultaneously, and that

  19. Penicillium arizonense, a new, genome sequenced fungal species, reveals a high chemical diversity in secreted metabolites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grijseels, Sietske; Nielsen, Jens Christian; Randelovic, Milica

    2016-01-01

    A new soil-borne species belonging to the Penicillium section Canescentia is described, Penicillium arizonense sp. nov. (type strain CBS 141311T = IBT 12289T). The genome was sequenced and assembled into 33.7 Mb containing 12,502 predicted genes. A phylogenetic assessment based on marker genes...... confirmed the grouping of P. arizonense within section Canescentia. Compared to related species, P. arizonense proved to encode a high number of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, in particular hemicellulases. Mining the genome for genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis resulted...... of biosynthetic gene clusters in P. arizonense responsible for the synthesis of all detected compounds except curvulinic acid. The capacity to produce biomass degrading enzymes and the identification of a high chemical diversity in secreted bioactive secondary metabolites, offers a broad range of potential...

  20. Genome-wide-analyses of Listeria monocytogenes from food-processing plants reveal clonal diversity and date the emergence of persisting sequence types.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knudsen, Gitte M; Nielsen, Jesper Boye; Marvig, Rasmus L; Ng, Yin; Worning, Peder; Westh, Henrik; Gram, Lone

    2017-08-01

    Whole genome sequencing is increasing used in epidemiology, e.g. for tracing outbreaks of food-borne diseases. This requires in-depth understanding of pathogen emergence, persistence and genomic diversity along the food production chain including in food processing plants. We sequenced the genomes of 80 isolates of Listeria monocytogenes sampled from Danish food processing plants over a time-period of 20 years, and analysed the sequences together with 10 public available reference genomes to advance our understanding of interplant and intraplant genomic diversity of L. monocytogenes. Except for three persisting sequence types (ST) based on Multi Locus Sequence Typing being ST7, ST8 and ST121, long-term persistence of clonal groups was limited, and new clones were introduced continuously, potentially from raw materials. No particular gene could be linked to the persistence phenotype. Using time-based phylogenetic analyses of the persistent STs, we estimate the L. monocytogenes evolutionary rate to be 0.18-0.35 single nucleotide polymorphisms/year, suggesting that the persistent STs emerged approximately 100 years ago, which correlates with the onset of industrialization and globalization of the food market. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. Genomic Diversity in the Genus of Aspergillus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Jane Lind Nybo

    , sections and genus of Aspergillus. The work uncovers a large genomic diversity across all studied groups of species. The genomic diversity was especially evident on the section level, where the proteins shared by all species only represents ⇠55% of the proteome. This number decreases even further, to 38......, sections Nigri, Usti and Cavericolus, clade Tubingensis, and species A. niger. It lastly uses these results to predict genetic traits that take part in fungal speciation. Within a few years the Aspergillus whole-genus sequencing project will have published all currently-accepted Aspergillus genomes......Aspergillus is a highly important genus of saprotrophic filamentous fungi. It is a very diverse genus that is inextricably intertwined with human a↵airs on a daily basis, holding species relevant to plant and human pathology, enzyme and bulk chemistry production, food and beverage biotechnology...

  2. Trends over time in tree and seedling phylogenetic diversity indicate regional differences in forest biodiversity change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Kevin M; Woodall, Christopher W

    2012-03-01

    Changing climate conditions may impact the short-term ability of forest tree species to regenerate in many locations. In the longer term, tree species may be unable to persist in some locations while they become established in new places. Over both time frames, forest tree biodiversity may change in unexpected ways. Using repeated inventory measurements five years apart from more than 7000 forested plots in the eastern United States, we tested three hypotheses: phylogenetic diversity is substantially different from species richness as a measure of biodiversity; forest communities have undergone recent changes in phylogenetic diversity that differ by size class, region, and seed dispersal strategy; and these patterns are consistent with expected early effects of climate change. Specifically, the magnitude of diversity change across broad regions should be greater among seedlings than in trees, should be associated with latitude and elevation, and should be greater among species with high dispersal capacity. Our analyses demonstrated that phylogenetic diversity and species richness are decoupled at small and medium scales and are imperfectly associated at large scales. This suggests that it is appropriate to apply indicators of biodiversity change based on phylogenetic diversity, which account for evolutionary relationships among species and may better represent community functional diversity. Our results also detected broadscale patterns of forest biodiversity change that are consistent with expected early effects of climate change. First, the statistically significant increase over time in seedling diversity in the South suggests that conditions there have become more favorable for the reproduction and dispersal of a wider variety of species, whereas the significant decrease in northern seedling diversity indicates that northern conditions have become less favorable. Second, we found weak correlations between seedling diversity change and latitude in both zones

  3. Comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes of five aphid species (Hemiptera: Aphididae and phylogenetic implications.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan Wang

    Full Text Available Insect mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes are of great interest in exploring molecular evolution, phylogenetics and population genetics. Only two mitogenomes have been previously released in the insect group Aphididae, which consists of about 5,000 known species including some agricultural, forestry and horticultural pests. Here we report the complete 16,317 bp mitogenome of Cavariella salicicola and two nearly complete mitogenomes of Aphis glycines and Pterocomma pilosum. We also present a first comparative analysis of mitochondrial genomes of aphids. Results showed that aphid mitogenomes share conserved genomic organization, nucleotide and amino acid composition, and codon usage features. All 37 genes usually present in animal mitogenomes were sequenced and annotated. The analysis of gene evolutionary rate revealed the lowest and highest rates for COI and ATP8, respectively. A unique repeat region exclusively in aphid mitogenomes, which included variable numbers of tandem repeats in a lineage-specific manner, was highlighted for the first time. This region may have a function as another origin of replication. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on protein-coding genes and the stem-loop structures of control regions confirmed a sister relationship between Cavariella and pterocommatines. Current evidence suggest that pterocommatines could be formally transferred into Macrosiphini. Our paper also offers methodological instructions for obtaining other Aphididae mitochondrial genomes.

  4. Visualization of Genome Diversity in German Shepherd Dogs

    OpenAIRE

    Sally-Anne Mortlock; Rachel Booth; Hamutal Mazrier; Mehar S. Khatkar; Peter Williamson

    2016-01-01

    A loss of genetic diversity may lead to increased disease risks in subpopulations of dogs. The canine breed structure has contributed to relatively small effective population size in many breeds and can limit the options for selective breeding strategies to maintain diversity. With the completion of the canine genome sequencing project, and the subsequent reduction in the cost of genotyping on a genomic scale, evaluating diversity in dogs has become much more accurate and accessible. This pro...

  5. A new subtype of hepatitis C virus genotype 1: complete genome and phylogenetic relationships of an Equatorial Guinea isolate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bracho, Maria Alma; Carrillo-Cruz, Francy Yolima; Ortega, Enrique; Moya, Andrés; González-Candelas, Fernando

    2006-06-01

    Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease and is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. However, there have been few studies on the distribution and genetic diversity of HCV isolates in non-developed countries. Here, the complete genome sequence of an HCV genotype 1 isolate from Equatorial Guinea is reported, the first complete HCV-1 genome of African origin. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that this sequence always grouped with sequences of genotype 1, but did not group clearly with any subtype described so far. An analysis of partial NS5B gene sequences with additional sequences of African origin also failed to find close similarities between the new sequence and any previously known isolate. Genetic divergence of the coding region of this new sequence with respect to the recognized subtypes of HCV-1 ranged from 20 to 22%. It is proposed that this isolate is a representative of a new, distinct variant of HCV subtype 1.

  6. Cytological and genome size data analyzed in a phylogenetic frame: Evolutionary implications concerning Sisyrinchium taxa (Iridaceae: Iridoideae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Burchardt

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Sisyrinchium is the largest genus of Iridaceae in the Americas and has the greatest amount of cytological data available. This study aimed at investigating how genomes evolved in this genus. Chromosome number, genome size and altitude from species of sect. Viperella were analyzed in a phylogenetic context. Meiotic and pollen analyses were performed to assess reproductive success of natural populations, especially from those polyploid taxa. Character optimizations revealed that the common ancestor of sect. Viperella was probably diploid (2n = 2x =18 with two subsequent polyplodization events. Total DNA content (2C varied considerably across the phylogeny with larger genomes detected mainly in polyploid species. Altitude also varied across the phylogeny, however no significant relationship was found between DNA content changes and altitude in our data set. All taxa presented regular meiosis and pollen viability (> 87%, except for S. sp. nov. aff. alatum (22.70%, suggesting a recent hybrid origin. Chromosome number is mostly constant within this section and polyploidy is the only source of modification. Although 2C varied considerably among the 20 taxa investigated, the diversity observed cannot be attributed only to polyploidy events because large variations of DNA content were also observed among diploids.

  7. Genomic diversity of Lactobacillus salivarius

    OpenAIRE

    Raftis, Emma J.

    2015-01-01

    Lactobacillus salivarius is unusual among the lactobacilli due to its multireplicon genome architecture. The circular megaplasmids harboured by L. salivarius strains encode strain-specific traits for intestinal survival and probiotic activity. L. salivarius strains are increasingly being exploited for their probiotic properties in humans and animals. In terms of probiotic strain selection, it is important to have an understanding of the level of genomic diversity present in this species. Comp...

  8. Tree phylogenetic diversity promotes host-parasitoid interactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staab, Michael; Bruelheide, Helge; Durka, Walter; Michalski, Stefan; Purschke, Oliver; Zhu, Chao-Dong; Klein, Alexandra-Maria

    2016-07-13

    Evidence from grassland experiments suggests that a plant community's phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a strong predictor of ecosystem processes, even stronger than species richness per se This has, however, never been extended to species-rich forests and host-parasitoid interactions. We used cavity-nesting Hymenoptera and their parasitoids collected in a subtropical forest as a model system to test whether hosts, parasitoids, and their interactions are influenced by tree PD and a comprehensive set of environmental variables, including tree species richness. Parasitism rate and parasitoid abundance were positively correlated with tree PD. All variables describing parasitoids decreased with elevation, and were, except parasitism rate, dependent on host abundance. Quantitative descriptors of host-parasitoid networks were independent of the environment. Our study indicates that host-parasitoid interactions in species-rich forests are related to the PD of the tree community, which influences parasitism rates through parasitoid abundance. We show that effects of tree community PD are much stronger than effects of tree species richness, can cascade to high trophic levels, and promote trophic interactions. As during habitat modification phylogenetic information is usually lost non-randomly, even species-rich habitats may not be able to continuously provide the ecosystem process parasitism if the evolutionarily most distinct plant lineages vanish. © 2016 The Author(s).

  9. PhyTB: Phylogenetic tree visualisation and sample positioning for M. tuberculosis

    KAUST Repository

    Benavente, Ernest D

    2015-05-13

    Background Phylogenetic-based classification of M. tuberculosis and other bacterial genomes is a core analysis for studying evolutionary hypotheses, disease outbreaks and transmission events. Whole genome sequencing is providing new insights into the genomic variation underlying intra- and inter-strain diversity, thereby assisting with the classification and molecular barcoding of the bacteria. One roadblock to strain investigation is the lack of user-interactive solutions to interrogate and visualise variation within a phylogenetic tree setting. Results We have developed a web-based tool called PhyTB (http://pathogenseq.lshtm.ac.uk/phytblive/index.php webcite) to assist phylogenetic tree visualisation and identification of M. tuberculosis clade-informative polymorphism. Variant Call Format files can be uploaded to determine a sample position within the tree. A map view summarises the geographical distribution of alleles and strain-types. The utility of the PhyTB is demonstrated on sequence data from 1,601 M. tuberculosis isolates. Conclusion PhyTB contextualises M. tuberculosis genomic variation within epidemiological, geographical and phylogenic settings. Further tool utility is possible by incorporating large variants and phenotypic data (e.g. drug-resistance profiles), and an assessment of genotype-phenotype associations. Source code is available to develop similar websites for other organisms (http://sourceforge.net/projects/phylotrack webcite).

  10. Microbial network, phylogenetic diversity and community membership in the active layer across a permafrost thaw gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mondav, Rhiannon; McCalley, Carmody K; Hodgkins, Suzanne B; Frolking, Steve; Saleska, Scott R; Rich, Virginia I; Chanton, Jeff P; Crill, Patrick M

    2017-08-01

    Biogenic production and release of methane (CH 4 ) from thawing permafrost has the potential to be a strong source of radiative forcing. We investigated changes in the active layer microbial community of three sites representative of distinct permafrost thaw stages at a palsa mire in northern Sweden. The palsa site (intact permafrost and low radiative forcing signature) had a phylogenetically clustered community dominated by Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria. The bog (thawing permafrost and low radiative forcing signature) had lower alpha diversity and midrange phylogenetic clustering, characteristic of ecosystem disturbance affecting habitat filtering. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens and Acidobacteria dominated the bog shifting from palsa-like to fen-like at the waterline. The fen (no underlying permafrost, high radiative forcing signature) had the highest alpha, beta and phylogenetic diversity, was dominated by Proteobacteria and Euryarchaeota and was significantly enriched in methanogens. The Mire microbial network was modular with module cores consisting of clusters of Acidobacteria, Euryarchaeota or Xanthomonodales. Loss of underlying permafrost with associated hydrological shifts correlated to changes in microbial composition, alpha, beta and phylogenetic diversity associated with a higher radiative forcing signature. These results support the complex role of microbial interactions in mediating carbon budget changes and climate feedback in response to climate forcing. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. Phylogenetic relationships among amphisbaenian reptiles based on complete mitochondrial genomic sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macey, J Robert; Papenfuss, Theodore J; Kuehl, Jennifer V; Fourcade, H Mathew; Boore, Jeffrey L

    2004-10-01

    Complete mitochondrial genomic sequences are reported from 12 members in the four families of the reptile group Amphisbaenia. Analysis of 11,946 aligned nucleotide positions (5797 informative) produces a robust phylogenetic hypothesis. The family Rhineuridae is basal and Bipedidae is the sister taxon to the Amphisbaenidae plus Trogonophidae. Amphisbaenian reptiles are surprisingly old, predating the breakup of Pangaea 200 million years before present, because successive basal taxa (Rhineuridae and Bipedidae) are situated in tectonic regions of Laurasia and nested taxa (Amphisbaenidae and Trogonophidae) are found in Gondwanan regions. Thorough sampling within the Bipedidae shows that it is not tectonic movement of Baja California away from the Mexican mainland that is primary in isolating Bipes species, but rather that primary vicariance occurred between northern and southern groups. Amphisbaenian families show parallel reduction in number of limbs and Bipes species exhibit parallel reduction in number of digits. A measure is developed for comparing the phylogenetic information content of various genes. A synapomorphic trait defining the Bipedidae is a shift from the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement to the derived state of trnE and nad6. In addition, a tandem duplication of trnT and trnP is observed in Bipes biporus with a pattern of pseudogene formation that varies among populations. The first case of convergent rearrangement of the mitochondrial genome among animals demonstrated by complete genomic sequences is reported. Relative to most vertebrates, the Rhineuridae has the block nad6, trnE switched in order with the block cob, trnT, trnP, as they are in birds.

  12. Phylogenetic relationships among amphisbaenian reptiles based on complete mitochondrial genomic sequences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Macey, J. Robert; Papenfuss, Theodore J.; Kuehl, Jennifer V.; Fourcade, H. Matthew; Boore, Jeffrey L.

    2004-05-19

    Complete mitochondrial genomic sequences are reported from 12 members in the four families of the reptile group Amphisbaenia. Analysis of 11,946 aligned nucleotide positions (5,797 informative) produces a robust phylogenetic hypothesis. The family Rhineuridae is basal and Bipedidae is the sister taxon to the Amphisbaenidae plus Trogonophidae. Amphisbaenian reptiles are surprisingly old, predating the breakup of Pangaea 200 million years before present, because successive basal taxa (Rhineuridae and Bipedidae) are situated in tectonic regions of Laurasia and nested taxa (Amphisbaenidae and Trogonophidae) are found in Gondwanan regions. Thorough sampling within the Bipedidae shows that it is not tectonic movement of Baja California away from the Mexican mainland that is primary in isolating Bipes species, but rather that primary vicariance occurred between northern and southern groups. Amphisbaenian families show parallel reduction in number of limbs and Bipes species exhibit parallel reduction in number of digits. A measure is developed for comparing the phylogenetic information content of various genes. A synapomorphic trait defining the Bipedidae is a shift from the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement to the derived state of trnE and nad6. In addition, a tandem duplication of trnT and trnP is observed in B. biporus with a pattern of pseudogene formation that varies among populations. The first case of convergent rearrangement of the mitochondrial genome among animals demonstrated by complete genomic sequences is reported. Relative to most vertebrates, the Rhineuridae has the block nad6, trnE switched in order with cob, trnT, trnP, as they are in birds.

  13. Comparative genomics of the marine bacterial genus Glaciecola reveals the high degree of genomic diversity and genomic characteristic for cold adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Qi-Long; Xie, Bin-Bin; Yu, Yong; Shu, Yan-Li; Rong, Jin-Cheng; Zhang, Yan-Jiao; Zhao, Dian-Li; Chen, Xiu-Lan; Zhang, Xi-Ying; Chen, Bo; Zhou, Bai-Cheng; Zhang, Yu-Zhong

    2014-06-01

    To what extent the genomes of different species belonging to one genus can be diverse and the relationship between genomic differentiation and environmental factor remain unclear for oceanic bacteria. With many new bacterial genera and species being isolated from marine environments, this question warrants attention. In this study, we sequenced all the type strains of the published species of Glaciecola, a recently defined cold-adapted genus with species from diverse marine locations, to study the genomic diversity and cold-adaptation strategy in this genus.The genome size diverged widely from 3.08 to 5.96 Mb, which can be explained by massive gene gain and loss events. Horizontal gene transfer and new gene emergence contributed substantially to the genome size expansion. The genus Glaciecola had an open pan-genome. Comparative genomic research indicated that species of the genus Glaciecola had high diversity in genome size, gene content and genetic relatedness. This may be prevalent in marine bacterial genera considering the dynamic and complex environments of the ocean. Species of Glaciecola had some common genomic features related to cold adaptation, which enable them to thrive and play a role in biogeochemical cycle in the cold marine environments.

  14. Early Epstein-Barr Virus Genomic Diversity and Convergence toward the B95.8 Genome in Primary Infection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weiss, Eric R; Lamers, Susanna L; Henderson, Jennifer L; Melnikov, Alexandre; Somasundaran, Mohan; Garber, Manuel; Selin, Liisa; Nusbaum, Chad; Luzuriaga, Katherine

    2018-01-15

    Over 90% of the world's population is persistently infected with Epstein-Barr virus. While EBV does not cause disease in most individuals, it is the common cause of acute infectious mononucleosis (AIM) and has been associated with several cancers and autoimmune diseases, highlighting a need for a preventive vaccine. At present, very few primary, circulating EBV genomes have been sequenced directly from infected individuals. While low levels of diversity and low viral evolution rates have been predicted for double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viruses, recent studies have demonstrated appreciable diversity in common dsDNA pathogens (e.g., cytomegalovirus). Here, we report 40 full-length EBV genome sequences obtained from matched oral wash and B cell fractions from a cohort of 10 AIM patients. Both intra- and interpatient diversity were observed across the length of the entire viral genome. Diversity was most pronounced in viral genes required for establishing latent infection and persistence, with appreciable levels of diversity also detected in structural genes, including envelope glycoproteins. Interestingly, intrapatient diversity declined significantly over time ( P < 0.01), and this was particularly evident on comparison of viral genomes sequenced from B cell fractions in early primary infection and convalescence ( P < 0.001). B cell-associated viral genomes were observed to converge, becoming nearly identical to the B95.8 reference genome over time (Spearman rank-order correlation test; r = -0.5589, P = 0.0264). The reduction in diversity was most marked in the EBV latency genes. In summary, our data suggest independent convergence of diverse viral genome sequences toward a reference-like strain within a relatively short period following primary EBV infection. IMPORTANCE Identification of viral proteins with low variability and high immunogenicity is important for the development of a protective vaccine. Knowledge of genome diversity within circulating viral

  15. AFLP analysis of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Brassica oleracea in Ireland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Esawi, Mohamed A; Germaine, Kieran; Bourke, Paula; Malone, Renee

    2016-01-01

    Brassica oleracea L. is one of the most economically important vegetable crop species of the genus Brassica L. This species is threatened in Ireland, without any prior reported genetic studies. The use of this species is being very limited due to its imprecise phylogeny and uncompleted genetic characterisation. The main objective of this study was to assess the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of a set of 25 Irish B. oleracea accessions using the powerful amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique. A total of 471 fragments were scored across all the 11 AFLP primer sets used, out of which 423 (89.8%) were polymorphic and could differentiate the accessions analysed. The dendrogram showed that cauliflowers were more closely related to cabbages than kales were, and accessions of some cabbage types were distributed among different clusters within cabbage subgroups. Approximately 33.7% of the total genetic variation was found among accessions, and 66.3% of the variation resided within accessions. The total genetic diversity (HT) and the intra-accessional genetic diversity (HS) were 0.251 and 0.156, respectively. This high level of variation demonstrates that the Irish B. oleracea accessions studied should be managed and conserved for future utilisation and exploitation in food and agriculture. In conclusion, this study addressed important phylogenetic questions within this species, and provided a new insight into the inclusion of four accessions of cabbages and kales in future breeding programs for improving varieties. AFLP markers were efficient for assessing genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships in Irish B. oleracea species. Copyright © 2016 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

  16. Evaluation of a Phylogenetic Marker Based on Genomic Segment B of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus: Facilitating a Feasible Incorporation of this Segment to the Molecular Epidemiology Studies for this Viral Agent.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdulahi Alfonso-Morales

    Full Text Available Infectious bursal disease (IBD is a highly contagious and acute viral disease, which has caused high mortality rates in birds and considerable economic losses in different parts of the world for more than two decades and it still represents a considerable threat to poultry. The current study was designed to rigorously measure the reliability of a phylogenetic marker included into segment B. This marker can facilitate molecular epidemiology studies, incorporating this segment of the viral genome, to better explain the links between emergence, spreading and maintenance of the very virulent IBD virus (vvIBDV strains worldwide.Sequences of the segment B gene from IBDV strains isolated from diverse geographic locations were obtained from the GenBank Database; Cuban sequences were obtained in the current work. A phylogenetic marker named B-marker was assessed by different phylogenetic principles such as saturation of substitution, phylogenetic noise and high consistency. This last parameter is based on the ability of B-marker to reconstruct the same topology as the complete segment B of the viral genome. From the results obtained from B-marker, demographic history for both main lineages of IBDV regarding segment B was performed by Bayesian skyline plot analysis. Phylogenetic analysis for both segments of IBDV genome was also performed, revealing the presence of a natural reassortant strain with segment A from vvIBDV strains and segment B from non-vvIBDV strains within Cuban IBDV population.This study contributes to a better understanding of the emergence of vvIBDV strains, describing molecular epidemiology of IBDV using the state-of-the-art methodology concerning phylogenetic reconstruction. This study also revealed the presence of a novel natural reassorted strain as possible manifest of change in the genetic structure and stability of the vvIBDV strains. Therefore, it highlights the need to obtain information about both genome segments of IBDV for

  17. Distinctive mitochondrial genome of Calanoid copepod Calanus sinicus with multiple large non-coding regions and reshuffled gene order: Useful molecular markers for phylogenetic and population studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Copepods are highly diverse and abundant, resulting in extensive ecological radiation in marine ecosystems. Calanus sinicus dominates continental shelf waters in the northwest Pacific Ocean and plays an important role in the local ecosystem by linking primary production to higher trophic levels. A lack of effective molecular markers has hindered phylogenetic and population genetic studies concerning copepods. As they are genome-level informative, mitochondrial DNA sequences can be used as markers for population genetic studies and phylogenetic studies. Results The mitochondrial genome of C. sinicus is distinct from other arthropods owing to the concurrence of multiple non-coding regions and a reshuffled gene arrangement. Further particularities in the mitogenome of C. sinicus include low A + T-content, symmetrical nucleotide composition between strands, abbreviated stop codons for several PCGs and extended lengths of the genes atp6 and atp8 relative to other copepods. The monophyletic Copepoda should be placed within the Vericrustacea. The close affinity between Cyclopoida and Poecilostomatoida suggests reassigning the latter as subordinate to the former. Monophyly of Maxillopoda is rejected. Within the alignment of 11 C. sinicus mitogenomes, there are 397 variable sites harbouring three 'hotspot' variable sites and three microsatellite loci. Conclusion The occurrence of the circular subgenomic fragment during laboratory assays suggests that special caution should be taken when sequencing mitogenomes using long PCR. Such a phenomenon may provide additional evidence of mitochondrial DNA recombination, which appears to have been a prerequisite for shaping the present mitochondrial profile of C. sinicus during its evolution. The lack of synapomorphic gene arrangements among copepods has cast doubt on the utility of gene order as a useful molecular marker for deep phylogenetic analysis. However, mitochondrial genomic sequences have been valuable markers for

  18. Partitioning the impact of environment and spatial structure on alpha and beta components of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in European ants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnan, Xavier; Cerdá, Xim; Retana, Javier

    2015-01-01

    We analyze the relative contribution of environmental and spatial variables to the alpha and beta components of taxonomic (TD), phylogenetic (PD), and functional (FD) diversity in ant communities found along different climate and anthropogenic disturbance gradients across western and central Europe, in order to assess the mechanisms structuring ant biodiversity. To this aim we calculated alpha and beta TD, PD, and FD for 349 ant communities, which included a total of 155 ant species; we examined 10 functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness. Variation partitioning was used to examine how much variation in ant diversity was explained by environmental and spatial variables. Autocorrelation in diversity measures and each trait's phylogenetic signal were also analyzed. We found strong autocorrelation in diversity measures. Both environmental and spatial variables significantly contributed to variation in TD, PD, and FD at both alpha and beta scales; spatial structure had the larger influence. The different facets of diversity showed similar patterns along environmental gradients. Environment explained a much larger percentage of variation in FD than in TD or PD. All traits demonstrated strong phylogenetic signals. Our results indicate that environmental filtering and dispersal limitations structure all types of diversity in ant communities. Strong dispersal limitations appear to have led to clustering of TD, PD, and FD in western and central Europe, probably because different historical and evolutionary processes generated different pools of species. Remarkably, these three facets of diversity showed parallel patterns along environmental gradients. Trait-mediated species sorting and niche conservatism appear to structure ant diversity, as evidenced by the fact that more variation was explained for FD and that all traits had strong phylogenetic signals. Since environmental variables explained much more variation in FD than in PD, functional diversity should be a

  19. Structure and phylogenetic diversity of post-fire ectomycorrhizal communities of maritime pine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rincón, A; Santamaría, B P; Ocaña, L; Verdú, M

    2014-02-01

    Environmental disturbances define the diversity and assemblage of species, affecting the functioning of ecosystems. Fire is a major disturbance of Mediterranean pine forests. Pines are highly dependent on the ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal symbiosis, which is critical for tree recruitment under primary succession. To determine the effects of time since fire on the structure and recovery of EM fungal communities, we surveyed the young Pinus pinaster regenerate in three sites differing in the elapsed time after the last fire event. Pine roots were collected, and EM fungi characterized by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and the large subunit (LSU) regions of the nuclear ribosomal (nr)-DNA. The effects of the elapsed time after fire on the EM community structure (richness, presence/absence of fungi, phylogenetic diversity) and on soil properties were analysed.Fungal richness decreased with the elapsed time since the fire; although, the phylogenetic diversity of the EM community increased. Soil properties were different depending on the elapsed time after fire and particularly, the organic matter, carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio, nitrogen and iron significantly correlated with the assemblage of fungal species. Ascomycetes, particularly Tuberaceae and Pezizales, were significantly over-represented on saplings in the burned site. On seedlings, a significant over-representation of Rhizopogonaceae and Atheliaceae was observed in the most recently burned site, while other fungi (i.e. Cortinariaceae) were significantly under-represented. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that fire can act as a selective agent by printing a phylogenetic signal on the EM fungal communities associated with naturally regenerated pines, pointing out to some groups as potential fire-adapted fungi.

  20. Mitochondrial genome diversity and population structure of two western honey bee subspecies in the Republic of South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eimanifar, Amin; Kimball, Rebecca T; Braun, Edward L; Ellis, James D

    2018-01-22

    Apis mellifera capensis Eschscholtz and A.m. scutellata Lepeletier are subspecies of western honey bees that are indigenous to the Republic of South Africa (RSA). Both subspecies have invasive potential and are organisms of concern for areas outside their native range, though they are important bees to beekeepers, agriculture, and the environment where they are native. The aim of the present study was to examine genetic differentiation among these subspecies and estimate their phylogenetic relationships using complete mitochondrial genomes sequences. We used 25 individuals that were either assigned to one of the subspecies or designated hybrids using morphometric analyses. Phylogenetic analyses of mitogenome sequences by maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference identified a monophyletic RSA clade, subdivided into two clades. A haplotype network was consistent with the phylogenetic trees. However, members of both subspecies occurred in both clades, indicating that A.m. capensis and A.m. scutellata are neither reciprocally monophyletic nor do they exhibit paraphyly with one subspecies nested within the other subspecies. Furthermore, no mitogenomic features were diagnostic to either subspecies. All bees analyzed from the RSA expressed a substantial level of haplotype diversity (most samples had unique haplotypes) but limited nucleotide diversity. The number of variable codons across protein-coding genes (PCGs) differed among loci, with CO3 exhibiting the most variation and ATP6 the least.

  1. Diverse circovirus-like genome architectures revealed by environmental metagenomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosario, Karyna; Duffy, Siobain; Breitbart, Mya

    2009-10-01

    Single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses with circular genomes are the smallest viruses known to infect eukaryotes. The present study identified 10 novel genomes similar to ssDNA circoviruses through data-mining of public viral metagenomes. The metagenomic libraries included samples from reclaimed water and three different marine environments (Chesapeake Bay, British Columbia coastal waters and Sargasso Sea). All the genomes have similarities to the replication (Rep) protein of circoviruses; however, only half have genomic features consistent with known circoviruses. Some of the genomes exhibit a mixture of genomic features associated with different families of ssDNA viruses (i.e. circoviruses, geminiviruses and parvoviruses). Unique genome architectures and phylogenetic analysis of the Rep protein suggest that these viruses belong to novel genera and/or families. Investigating the complex community of ssDNA viruses in the environment can lead to the discovery of divergent species and help elucidate evolutionary links between ssDNA viruses.

  2. Intraclonal genome diversity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa clones CHA and TB

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to different living conditions is accompanied by microevolution resulting in genomic diversity between strains of the same clonal lineage. In order to detect the impact of colonized habitats on P. aeruginosa microevolution we determined the genomic diversity between the highly virulent cystic fibrosis (CF) isolate CHA and two temporally and geographically unrelated clonal variants. The outcome was compared with the intraclonal genome diversity between three more closely related isolates of another clonal complex. Results The three clone CHA isolates differed in their core genome in several dozen strain specific nucleotide exchanges and small deletions from each other. Loss of function mutations and non-conservative amino acid replacements affected several habitat- and lifestyle-associated traits, for example, the key regulator GacS of the switch between acute and chronic disease phenotypes was disrupted in strain CHA. Intraclonal genome diversity manifested in an individual composition of the respective accessory genome whereby the highest number of accessory DNA elements was observed for isolate PT22 from a polluted aquatic habitat. Little intraclonal diversity was observed between three spatiotemporally related outbreak isolates of clone TB. Although phenotypically different, only a few individual SNPs and deletions were detected in the clone TB isolates. Their accessory genome mainly differed in prophage-like DNA elements taken up by one of the strains. Conclusions The higher geographical and temporal distance of the clone CHA isolates was associated with an increased intraclonal genome diversity compared to the more closely related clone TB isolates derived from a common source demonstrating the impact of habitat adaptation on the microevolution of P. aeruginosa. However, even short-term habitat differentiation can cause major phenotypic diversification driven by single genomic variation events and uptake of phage

  3. Population genomic analysis reveals differential evolutionary histories and patterns of diversity across subgenomes and subpopulations of Brassica napus L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elodie eGazave

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The allotetraploid species Brassica napus L. is a global crop of major economic importance, providing canola oil (seed and vegetables for human consumption and fodder and meal for livestock feed. Characterizing the genetic diversity present in the extant germplasm pool of B. napus is fundamental to better conserve, manage and utilize the genetic resources of this species. We used sequence-based genotyping to identify and genotype 30,881 SNPs in a diversity panel of 782 B. napus accessions, representing samples of winter and spring growth habits originating from 33 countries across Europe, Asia and America. We detected strong population structure broadly concordant with growth habit and geography, and identified three major genetic groups: spring (SP, winter Europe (WE, and winter Asia (WA. Subpopulation-specific polymorphism patterns suggest enriched genetic diversity within the WA group and a smaller effective breeding population for the SP group compared to WE. Interestingly, the two subgenomes of B. napus appear to have different geographic origins, with phylogenetic analysis placing WE and WA as basal clades for the other subpopulations in the C and A subgenomes, respectively. Finally, we identified 16 genomic regions where the patterns of diversity differed markedly from the genome-wide average, several of which are suggestive of genomic inversions. The results obtained in this study constitute a valuable resource for worldwide breeding efforts and the genetic dissection and prediction of complex B. napus traits.

  4. Dimensions of biodiversity loss: Spatial mismatch in land-use impacts on species, functional and phylogenetic diversity of European bees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Palma, Adriana; Kuhlmann, Michael; Bugter, Rob; Ferrier, Simon; Hoskins, Andrew J; Potts, Simon G; Roberts, Stuart P M; Schweiger, Oliver; Purvis, Andy

    2017-12-01

    Agricultural intensification and urbanization are important drivers of biodiversity change in Europe. Different aspects of bee community diversity vary in their sensitivity to these pressures, as well as independently influencing ecosystem service provision (pollination). To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of human impacts on bee diversity across Europe, we assess multiple, complementary indices of diversity. One Thousand four hundred and forty six sites across Europe. We collated data on bee occurrence and abundance from the published literature and supplemented them with the PREDICTS database. Using Rao's Quadratic Entropy, we assessed how species, functional and phylogenetic diversity of 1,446 bee communities respond to land-use characteristics including land-use class, cropland intensity, human population density and distance to roads. We combined these models with statistically downscaled estimates of land use in 2005 to estimate and map-at a scale of approximately 1 km 2 -the losses in diversity relative to semi-natural/natural baseline (the predicted diversity of an uninhabited grid square, consisting only of semi-natural/natural vegetation). We show that-relative to the predicted local diversity in uninhabited semi-natural/natural habitat-half of all EU27 countries have lost over 10% of their average local species diversity and two-thirds of countries have lost over 5% of their average local functional and phylogenetic diversity. All diversity measures were generally lower in pasture and higher-intensity cropland than in semi-natural/natural vegetation, but facets of diversity showed less consistent responses to human population density. These differences have led to marked spatial mismatches in losses: losses in phylogenetic diversity were in some areas almost 20 percentage points (pp.) more severe than losses in species diversity, but in other areas losses were almost 40 pp. less severe. These results highlight the importance of exploring

  5. An integrative and applicable phylogenetic footprinting framework for cis-regulatory motifs identification in prokaryotic genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bingqiang; Zhang, Hanyuan; Zhou, Chuan; Li, Guojun; Fennell, Anne; Wang, Guanghui; Kang, Yu; Liu, Qi; Ma, Qin

    2016-08-09

    Phylogenetic footprinting is an important computational technique for identifying cis-regulatory motifs in orthologous regulatory regions from multiple genomes, as motifs tend to evolve slower than their surrounding non-functional sequences. Its application, however, has several difficulties for optimizing the selection of orthologous data and reducing the false positives in motif prediction. Here we present an integrative phylogenetic footprinting framework for accurate motif predictions in prokaryotic genomes (MP(3)). The framework includes a new orthologous data preparation procedure, an additional promoter scoring and pruning method and an integration of six existing motif finding algorithms as basic motif search engines. Specifically, we collected orthologous genes from available prokaryotic genomes and built the orthologous regulatory regions based on sequence similarity of promoter regions. This procedure made full use of the large-scale genomic data and taxonomy information and filtered out the promoters with limited contribution to produce a high quality orthologous promoter set. The promoter scoring and pruning is implemented through motif voting by a set of complementary predicting tools that mine as many motif candidates as possible and simultaneously eliminate the effect of random noise. We have applied the framework to Escherichia coli k12 genome and evaluated the prediction performance through comparison with seven existing programs. This evaluation was systematically carried out at the nucleotide and binding site level, and the results showed that MP(3) consistently outperformed other popular motif finding tools. We have integrated MP(3) into our motif identification and analysis server DMINDA, allowing users to efficiently identify and analyze motifs in 2,072 completely sequenced prokaryotic genomes. The performance evaluation indicated that MP(3) is effective for predicting regulatory motifs in prokaryotic genomes. Its application may enhance

  6. Complete mitochondrial genome of four pheretimoid earthworms (Clitellata: Oligochaeta) and their phylogenetic reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Liangliang; Jiang, Jibao; Dong, Yan; Qiu, Jiangping

    2015-12-15

    Among oligochaetes, the Pheretima complex within the Megascolecidae is a major earthworm group. Recently, however, the systematics of the Pheretima complex based on morphology are challenged by molecular studies. Since little comparative analysis of earthworm complete mitochondrial genomes has been reported yet, we sequenced mitogenomes of four pheretimoid earthworm species to explore their phylogenetic relationships. The general earthworm genomic features are also found in four earthworms: all genes transcribed from the same strand, the same initiation codon ATG for each PCGs, and conserved structures of RNA genes. Interestingly we find an extra potential tRNA-leucine (CUN) in Amynthas longisiphonus. The earthworm mitochondrial ATP8 exhibits the highest evolutionary rate, while the gene CO1 evolves slowest. Phylogenetic analysis based on protein-coding genes (PCGs) strongly supports the monophyly of the Clitellata, Hirudinea, Oligochaeta, Megascolecidae and Pheretima complex. Our analysis, however, reveals non-monophyly within the genara Amynthas and Metaphire. Thus the generic divisions based on morphology in the Pheretima complex should be reconsidered. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Phylogenetic diversity of ceftriaxone resistance and the presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes in the culturable soil resistome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagaling, Eulyn; Gatica, Joao; Yang, Kun; Cytryn, Eddie; Yan, Tao

    2016-09-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the phylogenetic diversity of ceftriaxone resistance and the presence of known extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) genes in culturable soil resistomes. Libraries of soil bacterial isolates resistant to ceftriaxone were established from six physicochemically diverse soils collected in Hawaii (USA) and Israel. The phylogenetic affiliation, ceftriaxone and multidrug resistance levels, and presence of known ESBL genes of the isolates were determined. The soil bacterial isolates were phylogenetically grouped with the Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Ceftriaxone minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) largely followed the phylogeny structure and higher levels of ceftriaxone resistance corresponded to higher multidrug resistance. Three distinct blaTEM variants were detected in soil bacterial isolates belonging to nine different genera. In conclusion, the culturable soil resistomes for ceftriaxone exhibited high phylogenetic diversity and multidrug resistance. blaTEM was the only known ESBL detected in the soil resistomes, and its distribution in different phylogenetic groups suggests its ubiquitous presence and/or possible horizontal gene transfer within the soil microbiomes. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Chemotherapy of Infection and Cancer. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. An improved model for whole genome phylogenetic analysis by Fourier transform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Changchuan; Yau, Stephen S-T

    2015-10-07

    DNA sequence similarity comparison is one of the major steps in computational phylogenetic studies. The sequence comparison of closely related DNA sequences and genomes is usually performed by multiple sequence alignments (MSA). While the MSA method is accurate for some types of sequences, it may produce incorrect results when DNA sequences undergone rearrangements as in many bacterial and viral genomes. It is also limited by its computational complexity for comparing large volumes of data. Previously, we proposed an alignment-free method that exploits the full information contents of DNA sequences by Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), but still with some limitations. Here, we present a significantly improved method for the similarity comparison of DNA sequences by DFT. In this method, we map DNA sequences into 2-dimensional (2D) numerical sequences and then apply DFT to transform the 2D numerical sequences into frequency domain. In the 2D mapping, the nucleotide composition of a DNA sequence is a determinant factor and the 2D mapping reduces the nucleotide composition bias in distance measure, and thus improving the similarity measure of DNA sequences. To compare the DFT power spectra of DNA sequences with different lengths, we propose an improved even scaling algorithm to extend shorter DFT power spectra to the longest length of the underlying sequences. After the DFT power spectra are evenly scaled, the spectra are in the same dimensionality of the Fourier frequency space, then the Euclidean distances of full Fourier power spectra of the DNA sequences are used as the dissimilarity metrics. The improved DFT method, with increased computational performance by 2D numerical representation, can be applicable to any DNA sequences of different length ranges. We assess the accuracy of the improved DFT similarity measure in hierarchical clustering of different DNA sequences including simulated and real datasets. The method yields accurate and reliable phylogenetic trees

  9. Molecular cytogenetic (FISH and genome analysis of diploid wheatgrasses and their phylogenetic relationship.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriella Linc

    Full Text Available This paper reports detailed FISH-based karyotypes for three diploid wheatgrass species Agropyron cristatum (L. Beauv., Thinopyrum bessarabicum (Savul.&Rayss A. Löve, Pseudoroegneria spicata (Pursh A. Löve, the supposed ancestors of hexaploid Thinopyrum intermedium (Host Barkworth & D.R.Dewey, compiled using DNA repeats and comparative genome analysis based on COS markers. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH with repetitive DNA probes proved suitable for the identification of individual chromosomes in the diploid JJ, StSt and PP genomes. Of the seven microsatellite markers tested only the (GAAn trinucleotide sequence was appropriate for use as a single chromosome marker for the P. spicata AS chromosome. Based on COS marker analysis, the phylogenetic relationship between diploid wheatgrasses and the hexaploid bread wheat genomes was established. These findings confirmed that the J and E genomes are in neighbouring clusters.

  10. 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.

  11. The complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic position of the Philippines spurdog, Squalus montalbani.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemper, Jenny M; Naylor, Gavin J P

    2016-11-01

    We present the complete mitochondrial genome sequence (16 555 bp) of the Philippines spurdog, Squalus montalbani, currently listed as Vulnerable due to population declines and fishing pressures. A phylogenetic analysis was carried out on S. montalbani and representative shark mitogenomes. Squalus montalbani was placed within the Squaliformes as a sister taxon to Squalus acanthias and Cirrhigaleus australis.

  12. A Phylogenetic and Phenotypic Analysis of Salmonella enterica Serovar Weltevreden, an Emerging Agent of Diarrheal Disease in Tropical Regions.

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    Carine Makendi

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Salmonella enterica serovar Weltevreden (S. Weltevreden is an emerging cause of diarrheal and invasive disease in humans residing in tropical regions. Despite the regional and international emergence of this Salmonella serovar, relatively little is known about its genetic diversity, genomics or virulence potential in model systems. Here we used whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics analyses to define the phylogenetic structure of a diverse global selection of S. Weltevreden. Phylogenetic analysis of more than 100 isolates demonstrated that the population of S. Weltevreden can be segregated into two main phylogenetic clusters, one associated predominantly with continental Southeast Asia and the other more internationally dispersed. Subcluster analysis suggested the local evolution of S. Weltevreden within specific geographical regions. Four of the isolates were sequenced using long read sequencing to produce high quality reference genomes. Phenotypic analysis in Hep-2 cells and in a murine infection model indicated that S. Weltevreden were significantly attenuated in these models compared to the classical S. Typhimurium reference strain SL1344. Our work outlines novel insights into this important emerging pathogen and provides a baseline understanding for future research studies.

  13. Exceptionally diverse morphotypes and genomes of crenarchaeal hyperthermophilic viruses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Prangishvili, D; Garrett, R A

    2004-01-01

    and Rudiviridae. They all have double-stranded DNA genomes and infect hyperthermophilic crenarchaea of the orders Sulfolobales and Thermoproteales. Representatives of the different viral families share a few homologous ORFs (open reading frames). However, about 90% of all ORFs in the seven sequenced genomes show...... no significant matches to sequences in public databases. This suggests that these hyperthermophilic viruses have exceptional biochemical solutions for biological functions. Specific features of genome organization, as well as strategies for DNA replication, suggest that phylogenetic relationships exist between...... crenarchaeal rudiviruses and the large eukaryal DNA viruses: poxviruses, the African swine fever virus and Chlorella viruses. Sequence patterns at the ends of the linear genome of the lipothrixvirus AFV1 are reminiscent of the telomeric ends of linear eukaryal chromosomes and suggest that a primitive telomeric...

  14. Comparative mitogenomics of Braconidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) and the phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial genomes with special reference to Holometabolous insects

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    Background Animal mitochondrial genomes are potential models for molecular evolution and markers for phylogenetic and population studies. Previous research has shown interesting features in hymenopteran mitochondrial genomes. Here, we conducted a comparative study of mitochondrial genomes of the family Braconidae, one of the largest families of Hymenoptera, and assessed the utility of mitochondrial genomic data for phylogenetic inference at three different hierarchical levels, i.e., Braconidae, Hymenoptera, and Holometabola. Results Seven mitochondrial genomes from seven subfamilies of Braconidae were sequenced. Three of the four sequenced A+T-rich regions are shown to be inverted. Furthermore, all species showed reversal of strand asymmetry, suggesting that inversion of the A+T-rich region might be a synapomorphy of the Braconidae. Gene rearrangement events occurred in all braconid species, but gene rearrangement rates were not taxonomically correlated. Most rearranged genes were tRNAs, except those of Cotesia vestalis, in which 13 protein-coding genes and 14 tRNA genes changed positions or/and directions through three kinds of gene rearrangement events. Remote inversion is posited to be the result of two independent recombination events. Evolutionary rates were lower in species of the cyclostome group than those of noncyclostomes. Phylogenetic analyses based on complete mitochondrial genomes and secondary structure of rrnS supported a sister-group relationship between Aphidiinae and cyclostomes. Many well accepted relationships within Hymenoptera, such as paraphyly of Symphyta and Evaniomorpha, a sister-group relationship between Orussoidea and Apocrita, and monophyly of Proctotrupomorpha, Ichneumonoidea and Aculeata were robustly confirmed. New hypotheses, such as a sister-group relationship between Evanioidea and Aculeata, were generated. Among holometabolous insects, Hymenoptera was shown to be the sister to all other orders. Mecoptera was recovered as the

  15. Comparative mitogenomics of Braconidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera and the phylogenetic utility of mitochondrial genomes with special reference to Holometabolous insects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shi Min

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Animal mitochondrial genomes are potential models for molecular evolution and markers for phylogenetic and population studies. Previous research has shown interesting features in hymenopteran mitochondrial genomes. Here, we conducted a comparative study of mitochondrial genomes of the family Braconidae, one of the largest families of Hymenoptera, and assessed the utility of mitochondrial genomic data for phylogenetic inference at three different hierarchical levels, i.e., Braconidae, Hymenoptera, and Holometabola. Results Seven mitochondrial genomes from seven subfamilies of Braconidae were sequenced. Three of the four sequenced A+T-rich regions are shown to be inverted. Furthermore, all species showed reversal of strand asymmetry, suggesting that inversion of the A+T-rich region might be a synapomorphy of the Braconidae. Gene rearrangement events occurred in all braconid species, but gene rearrangement rates were not taxonomically correlated. Most rearranged genes were tRNAs, except those of Cotesia vestalis, in which 13 protein-coding genes and 14 tRNA genes changed positions or/and directions through three kinds of gene rearrangement events. Remote inversion is posited to be the result of two independent recombination events. Evolutionary rates were lower in species of the cyclostome group than those of noncyclostomes. Phylogenetic analyses based on complete mitochondrial genomes and secondary structure of rrnS supported a sister-group relationship between Aphidiinae and cyclostomes. Many well accepted relationships within Hymenoptera, such as paraphyly of Symphyta and Evaniomorpha, a sister-group relationship between Orussoidea and Apocrita, and monophyly of Proctotrupomorpha, Ichneumonoidea and Aculeata were robustly confirmed. New hypotheses, such as a sister-group relationship between Evanioidea and Aculeata, were generated. Among holometabolous insects, Hymenoptera was shown to be the sister to all other orders

  16. Phylogenetic and genomic characterization of a novel atypical porcine pestivirus in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, H; Wen, W; Hao, G; Hu, Y; Chen, H; Qian, P; Li, X

    2018-02-01

    Atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV) has been considered a novel pestivirus and causative agent of congenital tremor type A-II. An APPV CH-GX2016 strain was characterized from newly born piglets with clinical symptoms of congenital tremor in Guangxi, China. The genome of APPV CH-GX 2016 strain was 11,475 bp in length and encoded a polyprotein composed of the 3,635 amino acids. This genome sequence exhibited 88.0% to 90.8% nucleotide sequence homology with other APPV reference sequences in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis further showed that APPV CH-GX is a novel pestivirus compared with previously described classical pestivirus strains. Therefore, APPV is present in pigs in China. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  17. Relationship between metabolic and genomic diversity in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karlovsky Petr

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Diversity estimates in cultivated plants provide a rationale for conservation strategies and support the selection of starting material for breeding programs. Diversity measures applied to crops usually have been limited to the assessment of genome polymorphism at the DNA level. Occasionally, selected morphological features are recorded and the content of key chemical constituents determined, but unbiased and comprehensive chemical phenotypes have not been included systematically in diversity surveys. Our objective in this study was to assess metabolic diversity in sesame by nontargeted metabolic profiling and elucidate the relationship between metabolic and genome diversity in this crop. Results Ten sesame accessions were selected that represent most of the genome diversity of sesame grown in India, Western Asia, Sudan and Venezuela based on previous AFLP studies. Ethanolic seed extracts were separated by HPLC, metabolites were ionized by positive and negative electrospray and ions were detected with an ion trap mass spectrometer in full-scan mode for m/z from 50 to 1000. Genome diversity was determined by Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP using eight primer pair combinations. The relationship between biodiversity at the genome and at the metabolome levels was assessed by correlation analysis and multivariate statistics. Conclusion Patterns of diversity at the genomic and metabolic levels differed, indicating that selection played a significant role in the evolution of metabolic diversity in sesame. This result implies that when used for the selection of genotypes in breeding and conservation, diversity assessment based on neutral DNA markers should be complemented with metabolic profiles. We hypothesize that this applies to all crops with a long history of domestication that possess commercially relevant traits affected by chemical phenotypes.

  18. Mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic position of the sliteye shark Loxodon macrorhinus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Junjie; Chen, Hao; Lin, Lingling; Ai, Weiming; Chen, Xiao

    2016-11-01

    The sliteye shark Loxodon macrorhinus is the only member of the genus Loxodon in the family Carcharhinidae. In this study, we first present the complete mitochondrial genome of L. macrorhinus and determine its phylogenetic position within Carcharhinidae based on relative mitogenomes. The mitochondrial genome was 16 702 bp in length with the typical gene order in vertebrates. The overall base composition of the H-strand was 31.7% A, 25.8% C, 13.1% G, and 29.4% T. Two start codons (ATG and GTG) and three stop codons (TAG, AGG, and TAA/T) were found in the protein-coding genes. The tRNA genes ranged from 67 bp to 75 bp. Loxodon macrorhinus was placed as sister to the genus Scoliodon in the Bayesian tree.

  19. Genomic Evolution of the Ascomycete Yeasts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Riley, Robert; Haridas, Sajeet; Salamov, Asaf; Boundy-Mills, Kyria; Goker, Markus; Hittinger, Chris; Klenk, Hans-Peter; Lopes, Mariana; Meir-Kolthoff, Jan P.; Rokas, Antonis; Rosa, Carlos; Scheuner, Carmen; Soares, Marco; Stielow, Benjamin; Wisecaver, Jennifer H.; Wolfe, Ken; Blackwell, Meredith; Kurtzman, Cletus; Grigoriev, Igor; Jeffries, Thomas

    2015-03-16

    Yeasts are important for industrial and biotechnological processes and show remarkable metabolic and phylogenetic diversity despite morphological similarities. We have sequenced the genomes of 16 ascomycete yeasts of taxonomic and industrial importance including members of Saccharomycotina and Taphrinomycotina. Phylogenetic analysis of these and previously published yeast genomes helped resolve the placement of species including Saitoella complicata, Babjeviella inositovora, Hyphopichia burtonii, and Metschnikowia bicuspidata. Moreover, we find that alternative nuclear codon usage, where CUG encodes serine instead of leucine, are monophyletic within the Saccharomycotina. Most of the yeasts have compact genomes with a large fraction of single exon genes, and a tendency towards more introns in early-diverging species. Analysis of enzyme phylogeny gives insights into the evolution of metabolic capabilities such as methanol utilization and assimilation of alternative carbon sources.

  20. Genome Size Diversity and Its Impact on the Evolution of Land Plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaume Pellicer

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Genome size is a biodiversity trait that shows staggering diversity across eukaryotes, varying over 64,000-fold. Of all major taxonomic groups, land plants stand out due to their staggering genome size diversity, ranging ca. 2400-fold. As our understanding of the implications and significance of this remarkable genome size diversity in land plants grows, it is becoming increasingly evident that this trait plays not only an important role in shaping the evolution of plant genomes, but also in influencing plant community assemblages at the ecosystem level. Recent advances and improvements in novel sequencing technologies, as well as analytical tools, make it possible to gain critical insights into the genomic and epigenetic mechanisms underpinning genome size changes. In this review we provide an overview of our current understanding of genome size diversity across the different land plant groups, its implications on the biology of the genome and what future directions need to be addressed to fill key knowledge gaps.

  1. Reconstruction of Diverse Verrucomicrobial Genomes from Metagenome Datasets of Freshwater Reservoirs

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    Pedro J. Cabello-Yeves

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The phylum Verrucomicrobia contains freshwater representatives which remain poorly studied at the genomic, taxonomic, and ecological levels. In this work we present eighteen new reconstructed verrucomicrobial genomes from two freshwater reservoirs located close to each other (Tous and Amadorio, Spain. These metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs display a remarkable taxonomic diversity inside the phylum and comprise wide ranges of estimated genome sizes (from 1.8 to 6 Mb. Among all Verrucomicrobia studied we found some of the smallest genomes of the Spartobacteria and Opitutae classes described so far. Some of the Opitutae family MAGs were small, cosmopolitan, with a general heterotrophic metabolism with preference for carbohydrates, and capable of xylan, chitin, or cellulose degradation. Besides, we assembled large copiotroph genomes, which contain a higher number of transporters, polysaccharide degrading pathways and in general more strategies for the uptake of nutrients and carbohydrate-based metabolic pathways in comparison with the representatives with the smaller genomes. The diverse genomes revealed interesting features like green-light absorbing rhodopsins and a complete set of genes involved in nitrogen fixation. The large diversity in genome sizes and physiological properties emphasize the diversity of this clade in freshwaters enlarging even further the already broad eco-physiological range of these microbes.

  2. Large-Scale Genomic Analysis of Codon Usage in Dengue Virus and Evaluation of Its Phylogenetic Dependence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lara-Ramírez, Edgar E.; Salazar, Ma Isabel; López-López, María de Jesús; Salas-Benito, Juan Santiago; Sánchez-Varela, Alejandro

    2014-01-01

    The increasing number of dengue virus (DENV) genome sequences available allows identifying the contributing factors to DENV evolution. In the present study, the codon usage in serotypes 1–4 (DENV1–4) has been explored for 3047 sequenced genomes using different statistics methods. The correlation analysis of total GC content (GC) with GC content at the three nucleotide positions of codons (GC1, GC2, and GC3) as well as the effective number of codons (ENC, ENCp) versus GC3 plots revealed mutational bias and purifying selection pressures as the major forces influencing the codon usage, but with distinct pressure on specific nucleotide position in the codon. The correspondence analysis (CA) and clustering analysis on relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) within each serotype showed similar clustering patterns to the phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences for DENV1–4. These clustering patterns are strongly related to the virus geographic origin. The phylogenetic dependence analysis also suggests that stabilizing selection acts on the codon usage bias. Our analysis of a large scale reveals new feature on DENV genomic evolution. PMID:25136631

  3. Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome of Marshallagia marshalli and phylogenetic implications for the superfamily Trichostrongyloidea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Miao-Miao; Han, Liang; Zhang, Fu-Kai; Zhou, Dong-Hui; Wang, Shu-Qing; Ma, Jun; Zhu, Xing-Quan; Liu, Guo-Hua

    2018-01-01

    Marshallagia marshalli (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae) infection can lead to serious parasitic gastroenteritis in sheep, goat, and wild ruminant, causing significant socioeconomic losses worldwide. Up to now, the study concerning the molecular biology of M. marshalli is limited. Herein, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of M. marshalli and examined its phylogenetic relationship with selected members of the superfamily Trichostrongyloidea using Bayesian inference (BI) based on concatenated mt amino acid sequence datasets. The complete mt genome sequence of M. marshalli is 13,891 bp, including 12 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and 2 ribosomal RNA genes. All protein-coding genes are transcribed in the same direction. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated amino acid sequences of the 12 protein-coding genes supported the monophylies of the families Haemonchidae, Molineidae, and Dictyocaulidae with strong statistical support, but rejected the monophyly of the family Trichostrongylidae. The determination of the complete mt genome sequence of M. marshalli provides novel genetic markers for studying the systematics, population genetics, and molecular epidemiology of M. marshalli and its congeners.

  4. Genomic diversity and versatility of Lactobacillus plantarum, a natural metabolic engineer

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    In the past decade it has become clear that the lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum occupies a diverse range of environmental niches and has an enormous diversity in phenotypic properties, metabolic capacity and industrial applications. In this review, we describe how genome sequencing, comparative genome hybridization and comparative genomics has provided insight into the underlying genomic diversity and versatility of L. plantarum. One of the main features appears to be genomic life-style islands consisting of numerous functional gene cassettes, in particular for carbohydrates utilization, which can be acquired, shuffled, substituted or deleted in response to niche requirements. In this sense, L. plantarum can be considered a “natural metabolic engineer”. PMID:21995294

  5. Community phylogenetic diversity of cyanobacterial mats associated with geothermal springs along a tropical intertidal gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing, Hongmei; Lacap, Donnabella C; Lau, Chui Yim; Pointing, Stephen B

    2006-04-01

    The 16S rRNA gene-defined bacterial diversity of tropical intertidal geothermal vents subject to varying degrees of seawater inundation was investigated. Shannon-Weaver diversity estimates of clone library-derived sequences revealed that the hottest pools located above the mean high-water mark that did not experience seawater inundation were most diverse, followed by those that were permanently submerged below the mean low-water mark. Pools located in the intertidal were the least biodiverse, and this is attributed to the fluctuating conditions caused by periodic seawater inundation rather than physicochemical conditions per se. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that a ubiquitous Oscillatoria-like phylotype accounted for 83% of clones. Synechococcus-like phylotypes were also encountered at each location, whilst others belonging to the Chroococcales, Oscillatoriales, and other non-phototrophic bacteria occurred only at specific locations along the gradient. All cyanobacterial phylotypes displayed highest phylogenetic affinity to terrestrial thermophilic counterparts rather than marine taxa.

  6. Mitochondrial genome of the stonefly Kamimuria wangi (Plecoptera: Perlidae) and phylogenetic position of plecoptera based on mitogenomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu-Han, Qian; Hai-Yan, Wu; Xiao-Yu, Ji; Wei-Wei, Yu; Yu-Zhou, Du

    2014-01-01

    This study determined the mitochondrial genome sequence of the stonefly, Kamimuria wangi. In order to investigate the relatedness of stonefly to other members of Neoptera, a phylogenetic analysis was undertaken based on 13 protein-coding genes of mitochondrial genomes in 13 representative insects. The mitochondrial genome of the stonefly is a circular molecule consisting of 16,179 nucleotides and contains the 37 genes typically found in other insects. A 10-bp poly-T stretch was observed in the A+T-rich region of the K. wangi mitochondrial genome. Downstream of the poly-T stretch, two regions were located with potential ability to form stem-loop structures; these were designated stem-loop 1 (positions 15848-15651) and stem-loop 2 (15965-15998). The arrangement of genes and nucleotide composition of the K. wangi mitogenome are similar to those in Pteronarcys princeps, suggesting a conserved genome evolution within the Plecoptera. Phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference of 13 protein-coding genes supported a novel relationship between the Plecoptera and Ephemeroptera. The results contradict the existence of a monophyletic Plectoptera and Plecoptera as sister taxa to Embiidina, and thus requires further analyses with additional mitogenome sampling at the base of the Neoptera.

  7. Mitochondrial genome of the stonefly Kamimuria wangi (Plecoptera: Perlidae and phylogenetic position of plecoptera based on mitogenomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Yu-Han

    Full Text Available This study determined the mitochondrial genome sequence of the stonefly, Kamimuria wangi. In order to investigate the relatedness of stonefly to other members of Neoptera, a phylogenetic analysis was undertaken based on 13 protein-coding genes of mitochondrial genomes in 13 representative insects. The mitochondrial genome of the stonefly is a circular molecule consisting of 16,179 nucleotides and contains the 37 genes typically found in other insects. A 10-bp poly-T stretch was observed in the A+T-rich region of the K. wangi mitochondrial genome. Downstream of the poly-T stretch, two regions were located with potential ability to form stem-loop structures; these were designated stem-loop 1 (positions 15848-15651 and stem-loop 2 (15965-15998. The arrangement of genes and nucleotide composition of the K. wangi mitogenome are similar to those in Pteronarcys princeps, suggesting a conserved genome evolution within the Plecoptera. Phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference of 13 protein-coding genes supported a novel relationship between the Plecoptera and Ephemeroptera. The results contradict the existence of a monophyletic Plectoptera and Plecoptera as sister taxa to Embiidina, and thus requires further analyses with additional mitogenome sampling at the base of the Neoptera.

  8. The complete mitochondrial genome of Pallisentis celatus (Acanthocephala) with phylogenetic analysis of acanthocephalans and rotifers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Ting Shuang; Nie, Pin

    2013-07-01

    Acanthocephalans are a small group of obligate endoparasites. They and rotifers are recently placed in a group called Syndermata. However, phylogenetic relationships within classes of acanthocephalans, and between them and rotifers, have not been well resolved, possibly due to the lack of molecular data suitable for such analysis. In this study, the mitochondrial (mt) genome was sequenced from Pallisentis celatus (Van Cleave, 1928), an acanthocephalan in the class Eoacanthocephala, an intestinal parasite of rice-field eel, Monopterus albus (Zuiew, 1793), in China. The complete mt genome sequence of P. celatus is 13 855 bp long, containing 36 genes including 12 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) as reported for other acanthocephalan species. All genes are encoded on the same strand and in the same direction. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that acanthocephalans are closely related with a clade containing bdelloids, which then correlates with the clade containing monogononts. The class Eoacanthocephala, containing P. celatus and Paratenuisentis ambiguus (Van Cleave, 1921) was closely related to the Palaeacanthocephala. It is thus indicated that acanthocephalans may be just clustered among groups of rotifers. However, the resolving of phylogenetic relationship among all classes of acanthocephalans and between them and rotifers may require further sampling and more molecular data.

  9. Factors shaping bacterial phylogenetic and functional diversity in coastal waters of the NW Mediterranean Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boras, Julia A.; Vaqué, Dolors; Maynou, Francesc; Sà, Elisabet L.; Weinbauer, Markus G.; Sala, Maria Montserrat

    2015-03-01

    To evaluate the main factors shaping bacterioplankton phylogenetic and functional diversity in marine coastal waters, we carried out a two-year study based on a monthly sampling in Blanes Bay (NW Mediterranean). We expected the key factors driving bacterial diversity to be (1) temperature and nutrient concentration, together with chlorophyll a concentration as an indicator of phytoplankton biomass and, hence, a carbon source for bacteria (here called bottom-up factors), and (2) top-down pressure (virus- and protist-mediated mortality of bacteria). Phylogenetic diversity was analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA. Functional diversity was assessed by using monomeric carbon sources in Biolog EcoPlates and by determining the activity of six extracellular enzymes. Our results indicate that the bacterial phylogenetic and functional diversity in this coastal system is shaped mainly by bottom-up factors. A dendrogram analysis of the DGGE banding patterns revealed three main sample clusters. Two clusters differed significantly in temperature, nitrate and chlorophyll a concentration, and the third was characterized by the highest losses of bacterial production due to viral lysis detected over the whole study period. Protistan grazing had no effect on bacterial functional diversity, since there were no correlations between protist-mediated mortality (PMM) and extracellular enzyme activities, and utilization of only two out of the 31 carbon sources (N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and α-cyclodextrin) was correlated with PMM. In contrast, virus-mediated mortality correlated with changes in the percentage of use of four carbon sources, and also with specific leu-aminopeptidase and β-glucosidase activity. This suggests that viral lysate provides a pool of labile carbon sources, presumably including amino acids and glucose, which may inhibit proteolytic and glucosidic activity. Our results indicate that bottom-up factors play a more important role than

  10. The rhabdoviruses: biodiversity, phylogenetics, and evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuzmin, I V; Novella, I S; Dietzgen, R G; Padhi, A; Rupprecht, C E

    2009-07-01

    Rhabdoviruses (family Rhabdoviridae) include a diversity of important pathogens of animals and plants. They share morphology and genome organization. The understanding of rhabdovirus phylogeny, ecology and evolution has progressed greatly during the last 30 years, due to enhanced surveillance and improved methodologies of molecular characterization. Along with six established genera, several phylogenetic groups at different levels were described within the Rhabdoviridae. However, comparative relationships between viral phylogeny and taxonomy remains incomplete, with multiple representatives awaiting further genetic characterization. The same is true for rhabdovirus evolution. To date, rather simplistic molecular clock models only partially describe the evolutionary dynamics of postulated viral lineages. Ongoing progress in viral evolutionary and ecological investigations will provide the platform for future studies of this diverse family.

  11. Complete Mitochondrial Genome of the Red Fox (Vuples vuples) and Phylogenetic Analysis with Other Canid Species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Hua-Ming; Zhang, Hong-Hai; Sha, Wei-Lai; Zhang, Cheng-De; Chen, Yu-Cai

    2010-04-01

    The whole mitochondrial genome sequence of red fox (Vuples vuples) was determined. It had a total length of 16 723 bp. As in most mammal mitochondrial genome, it contained 13 protein coding genes, two ribosome RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and one control region. The base composition was 31.3% A, 26.1% C, 14.8% G and 27.8% T, respectively. The codon usage of red fox, arctic fox, gray wolf, domestic dog and coyote followed the same pattern except for an unusual ATT start codon, which initiates the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 gene in the red fox. A long tandem repeat rich in AC was found between conserved sequence block 1 and 2 in the control region. In order to confirm the phylogenetic relationships of red fox to other canids, phylogenetic trees were reconstructed by neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony methods using 12 concatenated heavy-strand protein-coding genes. The result indicated that arctic fox was the sister group of red fox and they both belong to the red fox-like clade in family Canidae, while gray wolf, domestic dog and coyote belong to wolf-like clade. The result was in accordance with existing phylogenetic results.

  12. Next-generation sequencing and phylogenetic signal of complete mitochondrial genomes for resolving the evolutionary history of leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Botero-Castro, Fidel; Tilak, Marie-ka; Justy, Fabienne; Catzeflis, François; Delsuc, Frédéric; Douzery, Emmanuel J P

    2013-12-01

    Leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) are one of the most studied groups within the order Chiroptera mainly because of their outstanding species richness and diversity in morphological and ecological traits. Rapid diversification and multiple homoplasies have made the phylogeny of the family difficult to solve using morphological characters. Molecular data have contributed to shed light on the evolutionary history of phyllostomid bats, yet several relationships remain unresolved at the intra-familial level. Complete mitochondrial genomes have proven useful to deal with this kind of situation in other groups of mammals by providing access to a large number of molecular characters. At present, there are only two mitogenomes available for phyllostomid bats hinting at the need for further exploration of the mitogenomic approach in this group. We used both standard Sanger sequencing of PCR products and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of shotgun genomic DNA to obtain new complete mitochondrial genomes from 10 species of phyllostomid bats, including representatives of major subfamilies, plus one outgroup belonging to the closely-related mormoopids. We then evaluated the contribution of mitogenomics to the resolution of the phylogeny of leaf-nosed bats and compared the results to those based on mitochondrial genes and the RAG2 and VWF nuclear makers. Our results demonstrate the advantages of the Illumina NGS approach to efficiently obtain mitogenomes of phyllostomid bats. The phylogenetic signal provided by entire mitogenomes is highly comparable to the one of a concatenation of individual mitochondrial and nuclear markers, and allows increasing both resolution and statistical support for several clades. This enhanced phylogenetic signal is the result of combining markers with heterogeneous evolutionary rates representing a large number of nucleotide sites. Our results illustrate the potential of the NGS mitogenomic approach for resolving the evolutionary history of

  13. Evolution and Diversity of Transposable Elements in Vertebrate Genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sotero-Caio, Cibele G; Platt, Roy N; Suh, Alexander; Ray, David A

    2017-01-01

    Transposable elements (TEs) are selfish genetic elements that mobilize in genomes via transposition or retrotransposition and often make up large fractions of vertebrate genomes. Here, we review the current understanding of vertebrate TE diversity and evolution in the context of recent advances in genome sequencing and assembly techniques. TEs make up 4-60% of assembled vertebrate genomes, and deeply branching lineages such as ray-finned fishes and amphibians generally exhibit a higher TE diversity than the more recent radiations of birds and mammals. Furthermore, the list of taxa with exceptional TE landscapes is growing. We emphasize that the current bottleneck in genome analyses lies in the proper annotation of TEs and provide examples where superficial analyses led to misleading conclusions about genome evolution. Finally, recent advances in long-read sequencing will soon permit access to TE-rich genomic regions that previously resisted assembly including the gigantic, TE-rich genomes of salamanders and lungfishes. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  14. AST: an automated sequence-sampling method for improving the taxonomic diversity of gene phylogenetic trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Chan; Mao, Fenglou; Yin, Yanbin; Huang, Jinling; Gogarten, Johann Peter; Xu, Ying

    2014-01-01

    A challenge in phylogenetic inference of gene trees is how to properly sample a large pool of homologous sequences to derive a good representative subset of sequences. Such a need arises in various applications, e.g. when (1) accuracy-oriented phylogenetic reconstruction methods may not be able to deal with a large pool of sequences due to their high demand in computing resources; (2) applications analyzing a collection of gene trees may prefer to use trees with fewer operational taxonomic units (OTUs), for instance for the detection of horizontal gene transfer events by identifying phylogenetic conflicts; and (3) the pool of available sequences is biased towards extensively studied species. In the past, the creation of subsamples often relied on manual selection. Here we present an Automated sequence-Sampling method for improving the Taxonomic diversity of gene phylogenetic trees, AST, to obtain representative sequences that maximize the taxonomic diversity of the sampled sequences. To demonstrate the effectiveness of AST, we have tested it to solve four problems, namely, inference of the evolutionary histories of the small ribosomal subunit protein S5 of E. coli, 16 S ribosomal RNAs and glycosyl-transferase gene family 8, and a study of ancient horizontal gene transfers from bacteria to plants. Our results show that the resolution of our computational results is almost as good as that of manual inference by domain experts, hence making the tool generally useful to phylogenetic studies by non-phylogeny specialists. The program is available at http://csbl.bmb.uga.edu/~zhouchan/AST.php.

  15. Diversity structure of culturable bacteria isolated from the Fildes Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica): A phylogenetic analysis perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Rocha, Gerardo; Muñoz-Cartes, Gabriel; Canales-Aguirre, Cristian B; Lima, Celia A; Domínguez-Yévenes, Mariana; Bello-Toledo, Helia; Hernández, Cristián E

    2017-01-01

    It has been proposed that Antarctic environments select microorganisms with unique biochemical adaptations, based on the tenet 'Everything is everywhere, but, the environment selects' by Baas-Becking. However, this is a hypothesis that has not been extensively evaluated. This study evaluated the fundamental prediction contained in this hypothesis-in the sense that species are structured in the landscape according to their local habitats-, using as study model the phylogenetic diversity of the culturable bacteria of Fildes Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica). Eighty bacterial strains isolated from 10 different locations in the area, were recovered. Based on phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, the isolates were grouped into twenty-six phylotypes distributed in three main clades, of which only six are exclusive to Antarctica. Results showed that phylotypes do not group significantly by habitat type; however, local habitat types had phylogenetic signal, which support the phylogenetic niche conservatism hypothesis and not a selective role of the environment like the Baas-Becking hypothesis suggests. We propose that, more than habitat selection resulting in new local adaptations and diversity, local historical colonization and species sorting (i.e. differences in speciation and extinction rates that arise by interaction of species level traits with the environment) play a fundamental role on the culturable bacterial diversity in Antarctica.

  16. Genome Analysis of the Biotechnologically Relevant Acidophilic Iron Oxidising Strain JA12 Indicates Phylogenetic and Metabolic Diversity within the Novel Genus "Ferrovum".

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sophie R Ullrich

    Full Text Available Members of the genus "Ferrovum" are ubiquitously distributed in acid mine drainage (AMD waters which are characterised by their high metal and sulfate loads. So far isolation and microbiological characterisation have only been successful for the designated type strain "Ferrovum myxofaciens" P3G. Thus, knowledge about physiological characteristics and the phylogeny of the genus "Ferrovum" is extremely scarce.In order to access the wider genetic pool of the genus "Ferrovum" we sequenced the genome of a "Ferrovum"-containing mixed culture and successfully assembled the almost complete genome sequence of the novel "Ferrovum" strain JA12.The genome-based phylogenetic analysis indicates that strain JA12 and the type strain represent two distinct "Ferrovum" species. "Ferrovum" strain JA12 is characterised by an unusually small genome in comparison to the type strain and other iron oxidising bacteria. The prediction of nutrient assimilation pathways suggests that "Ferrovum" strain JA12 maintains a chemolithoautotrophic lifestyle utilising carbon dioxide and bicarbonate, ammonium and urea, sulfate, phosphate and ferrous iron as carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous and energy sources, respectively.The potential utilisation of urea by "Ferrovum" strain JA12 is moreover remarkable since it may furthermore represent a strategy among extreme acidophiles to cope with the acidic environment. Unlike other acidophilic chemolithoautotrophs "Ferrovum" strain JA12 exhibits a complete tricarboxylic acid cycle, a metabolic feature shared with the closer related neutrophilic iron oxidisers among the Betaproteobacteria including Sideroxydans lithotrophicus and Thiobacillus denitrificans. Furthermore, the absence of characteristic redox proteins involved in iron oxidation in the well-studied acidophiles Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (rusticyanin and Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans (iron oxidase indicates the existence of a modified pathway in "Ferrovum" strain JA12

  17. Phylogenetic analysis of fungal ABC transporters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovalchuk, Andriy; Driessen, Arnold J M

    2010-03-16

    The superfamily of ABC proteins is among the largest known in nature. Its members are mainly, but not exclusively, involved in the transport of a broad range of substrates across biological membranes. Many contribute to multidrug resistance in microbial pathogens and cancer cells. The diversity of ABC proteins in fungi is comparable with those in multicellular animals, but so far fungal ABC proteins have barely been studied. We performed a phylogenetic analysis of the ABC proteins extracted from the genomes of 27 fungal species from 18 orders representing 5 fungal phyla thereby covering the most important groups. Our analysis demonstrated that some of the subfamilies of ABC proteins remained highly conserved in fungi, while others have undergone a remarkable group-specific diversification. Members of the various fungal phyla also differed significantly in the number of ABC proteins found in their genomes, which is especially reduced in the yeast S. cerevisiae and S. pombe. Data obtained during our analysis should contribute to a better understanding of the diversity of the fungal ABC proteins and provide important clues about their possible biological functions.

  18. Draft Genome Sequences of Two Novel Acidimicrobiaceae Members from an Acid Mine Drainage Biofilm Metagenome

    OpenAIRE

    Pinto, Ameet J.; Sharp, Jonathan O.; Yoder, Michael J.; Almstrand, Robert

    2016-01-01

    Bacteria belonging to the family Acidimicrobiaceae are frequently encountered in heavy metal-contaminated acidic environments. However, their phylogenetic and metabolic diversity is poorly resolved. We present draft genome sequences of two novel and phylogenetically distinct Acidimicrobiaceae members assembled from an acid mine drainage biofilm metagenome.

  19. Phylogenetic diversity and biological activity of culturable Actinobacteria isolated from freshwater fish gut microbiota.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jami, Mansooreh; Ghanbari, Mahdi; Kneifel, Wolfgang; Domig, Konrad J

    2015-06-01

    The diversity of Actinobacteria isolated from the gut microbiota of two freshwater fish species namely Schizothorax zarudnyi and Schizocypris altidorsalis was investigated employing classical cultivation techniques, repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR), partial and full 16S rDNA sequencing followed by phylogenetic analysis. A total of 277 isolates were cultured by applying three different agar media. Based on rep-PCR profile analysis a subset of 33 strains was selected for further phylogenetic investigations, antimicrobial activity testing and diversity analysis of secondary-metabolite biosynthetic genes. The identification based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that the isolates belong to eight genera distributed among six families. At the family level, 72% of the 277 isolates belong to the family Streptomycetaceae. Among the non-streptomycetes group, the most dominant group could be allocated to the family of Pseudonocardiaceae followed by the members of Micromonosporaceae. Phylogenetic analysis clearly showed that many of the isolates in the genera Streptomyces, Saccharomonospora, Micromonospora, Nocardiopsis, Arthrobacter, Kocuria, Microbacterium and Agromyces formed a single and distinct cluster with the type strains. Notably, there is no report so far about the occurrence of these Actinobacteria in the microbiota of freshwater fish. Of the 33 isolates, all the strains exhibited antibacterial activity against a set of tested human and fish pathogenic bacteria. Then, to study their associated potential capacity to synthesize diverse bioactive natural products, diversity of genes associated with secondary-metabolite biosynthesis including PKS I, PKS II, NRPS, the enzyme PhzE of the phenazine pathways, the enzyme dTGD of 6-deoxyhexoses glycosylation pathway, the enzyme Halo of halogenation pathway and the enzyme CYP in polyene polyketide biosynthesis were investigated among the isolates. All the strains possess at least two types of the investigated

  20. India, Genomic diversity & Disease susceptibility

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Table of contents. India, Genomic diversity & Disease susceptibility · India, a paradise for Genetic Studies · Involved in earlier stages of Immune response protecting us from Diseases, Responsible for kidney and other transplant rejections Inherited from our parents · PowerPoint Presentation · Slide 5 · Slide 6 · Slide 7.

  1. Phylogenetic relationships of cone snails endemic to Cabo Verde based on mitochondrial genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abalde, Samuel; Tenorio, Manuel J; Afonso, Carlos M L; Uribe, Juan E; Echeverry, Ana M; Zardoya, Rafael

    2017-11-25

    Due to their great species and ecological diversity as well as their capacity to produce hundreds of different toxins, cone snails are of interest to evolutionary biologists, pharmacologists and amateur naturalists alike. Taxonomic identification of cone snails still relies mostly on the shape, color, and banding patterns of the shell. However, these phenotypic traits are prone to homoplasy. Therefore, the consistent use of genetic data for species delimitation and phylogenetic inference in this apparently hyperdiverse group is largely wanting. Here, we reconstruct the phylogeny of the cones endemic to Cabo Verde archipelago, a well-known radiation of the group, using mitochondrial (mt) genomes. The reconstructed phylogeny grouped the analyzed species into two main clades, one including Kalloconus from West Africa sister to Trovaoconus from Cabo Verde and the other with a paraphyletic Lautoconus due to the sister group relationship of Africonus from Cabo Verde and Lautoconus ventricosus from Mediterranean Sea and neighboring Atlantic Ocean to the exclusion of Lautoconus endemic to Senegal (plus Lautoconus guanche from Mauritania, Morocco, and Canary Islands). Within Trovaoconus, up to three main lineages could be distinguished. The clade of Africonus included four main lineages (named I to IV), each further subdivided into two monophyletic groups. The reconstructed phylogeny allowed inferring the evolution of the radula in the studied lineages as well as biogeographic patterns. The number of cone species endemic to Cabo Verde was revised under the light of sequence divergence data and the inferred phylogenetic relationships. The sequence divergence between continental members of the genus Kalloconus and island endemics ascribed to the genus Trovaoconus is low, prompting for synonymization of the latter. The genus Lautoconus is paraphyletic. Lautoconus ventricosus is the closest living sister group of genus Africonus. Diversification of Africonus was in allopatry

  2. Molecular, phylogenetic and comparative genomic analysis of the cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase gene family in the Poaceae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mameaux, Sabine; Cockram, James; Thiel, Thomas; Steuernagel, Burkhard; Stein, Nils; Taudien, Stefan; Jack, Peter; Werner, Peter; Gray, John C; Greenland, Andy J; Powell, Wayne

    2012-01-01

    The genomes of cereals such as wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) are large and therefore problematic for the map-based cloning of agronomicaly important traits. However, comparative approaches within the Poaceae permit transfer of molecular knowledge between species, despite their divergence from a common ancestor sixty million years ago. The finding that null variants of the rice gene cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase 2 (OsCKX2) result in large yield increases provides an opportunity to explore whether similar gains could be achieved in other Poaceae members. Here, phylogenetic, molecular and comparative analyses of CKX families in the sequenced grass species rice, brachypodium, sorghum, maize and foxtail millet, as well as members identified from the transcriptomes/genomes of wheat and barley, are presented. Phylogenetic analyses define four Poaceae CKX clades. Comparative analyses showed that CKX phylogenetic groupings can largely be explained by a combination of local gene duplication, and the whole-genome duplication event that predates their speciation. Full-length OsCKX2 homologues in barley (HvCKX2.1, HvCKX2.2) and wheat (TaCKX2.3, TaCKX2.4, TaCKX2.5) are characterized, with comparative analysis at the DNA, protein and genetic/physical map levels suggesting that true CKX2 orthologs have been identified. Furthermore, our analysis shows CKX2 genes in barley and wheat have undergone a Triticeae-specific gene-duplication event. Finally, by identifying ten of the eleven CKX genes predicted to be present in barley by comparative analyses, we show that next-generation sequencing approaches can efficiently determine the gene space of large-genome crops. Together, this work provides the foundation for future functional investigation of CKX family members within the Poaceae. © 2011 National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB). Plant Biotechnology Journal © 2011 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and Blackwell

  3. Phylogenetic diversity and relationships among species of genus ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Fifty six Nicotiana species were used to construct phylogenetic trees and to asses the genetic relationships between them. Genetic distances estimated from RAPD analysis was used to construct phylogenetic trees using Phylogenetic Inference Package (PHYLIP). Since phylogenetic relationships estimated for closely ...

  4. Genomic and Genetic Diversity within the Pseudomonas fluorescens Complex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Garrido-Sanz

    Full Text Available The Pseudomonas fluorescens complex includes Pseudomonas strains that have been taxonomically assigned to more than fifty different species, many of which have been described as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR with potential applications in biocontrol and biofertilization. So far the phylogeny of this complex has been analyzed according to phenotypic traits, 16S rDNA, MLSA and inferred by whole-genome analysis. However, since most of the type strains have not been fully sequenced and new species are frequently described, correlation between taxonomy and phylogenomic analysis is missing. In recent years, the genomes of a large number of strains have been sequenced, showing important genomic heterogeneity and providing information suitable for genomic studies that are important to understand the genomic and genetic diversity shown by strains of this complex. Based on MLSA and several whole-genome sequence-based analyses of 93 sequenced strains, we have divided the P. fluorescens complex into eight phylogenomic groups that agree with previous works based on type strains. Digital DDH (dDDH identified 69 species and 75 subspecies within the 93 genomes. The eight groups corresponded to clustering with a threshold of 31.8% dDDH, in full agreement with our MLSA. The Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI approach showed inconsistencies regarding the assignment to species and to the eight groups. The small core genome of 1,334 CDSs and the large pan-genome of 30,848 CDSs, show the large diversity and genetic heterogeneity of the P. fluorescens complex. However, a low number of strains were enough to explain most of the CDSs diversity at core and strain-specific genomic fractions. Finally, the identification and analysis of group-specific genome and the screening for distinctive characters revealed a phylogenomic distribution of traits among the groups that provided insights into biocontrol and bioremediation applications as well as their role as

  5. Complete mitochondrial genome of threatened mahseer Tor tor (Hamilton 1822) and its phylogenetic relationship within Cyprinidae family.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavan-Kumar, A; Raman, Sudhanshu; Koringa, Prakash G; Patel, Namrata; Shah, Tejas; Singh, Rajeev K; Krishna, Gopal; Joshi, C G; Gireesh-Babu, P; Chaudhari, Aparna

    2016-12-01

    The mahseers (Tor, Neolissochilus and Naziritor) are an important group of fishes endemic to Asia with the conservation status of most species evaluated as threatened. Conservation plans to revive these declining wild populations are hindered by unstable taxonomy. Molecular phylogeny studies with mitochondrial genome have been successfully used to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree and to resolve taxonomic ambiguity. In the present study, complete mitochondrial genome of Tor tor has been sequenced using ion torrent next-generation sequencing platform with coverage of more than 1000 x. Comparative mitogenome analysis shows higher divergence value at ND1 gene than COI gene. Further, occurrence of a distinct genetic lineage of T. tor is revealed. The phylogenetic relationship among mahseer group has been defined as Neolissochilus hexagonolepis ((T. sinensis (T. putitora, T. tor), (T. khudree, T. tambroides)).

  6. The spectrum of genomic signatures: from dinucleotides to chaos game representation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yingwei; Hill, Kathleen; Singh, Shiva; Kari, Lila

    2005-02-14

    In the post genomic era, access to complete genome sequence data for numerous diverse species has opened multiple avenues for examining and comparing primary DNA sequence organization of entire genomes. Previously, the concept of a genomic signature was introduced with the observation of species-type specific Dinucleotide Relative Abundance Profiles (DRAPs); dinucleotides were identified as the subsequences with the greatest bias in representation in a majority of genomes. Herein, we demonstrate that DRAP is one particular genomic signature contained within a broader spectrum of signatures. Within this spectrum, an alternative genomic signature, Chaos Game Representation (CGR), provides a unique visualization of patterns in sequence organization. A genomic signature is associated with a particular integer order or subsequence length that represents a measure of the resolution or granularity in the analysis of primary DNA sequence organization. We quantitatively explore the organizational information provided by genomic signatures of different orders through different distance measures, including a novel Image Distance. The Image Distance and other existing distance measures are evaluated by comparing the phylogenetic trees they generate for 26 complete mitochondrial genomes from a diversity of species. The phylogenetic tree generated by the Image Distance is compatible with the known relatedness of species. Quantitative evaluation of the spectrum of genomic signatures may be used to ultimately gain insight into the determinants and biological relevance of the genome signatures.

  7. A phylogenetic blueprint for a modern whale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatesy, John; Geisler, Jonathan H; Chang, Joseph; Buell, Carl; Berta, Annalisa; Meredith, Robert W; Springer, Mark S; McGowen, Michael R

    2013-02-01

    The emergence of Cetacea in the Paleogene represents one of the most profound macroevolutionary transitions within Mammalia. The move from a terrestrial habitat to a committed aquatic lifestyle engendered wholesale changes in anatomy, physiology, and behavior. The results of this remarkable transformation are extant whales that include the largest, biggest brained, fastest swimming, loudest, deepest diving mammals, some of which can detect prey with a sophisticated echolocation system (Odontoceti - toothed whales), and others that batch feed using racks of baleen (Mysticeti - baleen whales). A broad-scale reconstruction of the evolutionary remodeling that culminated in extant cetaceans has not yet been based on integration of genomic and paleontological information. Here, we first place Cetacea relative to extant mammalian diversity, and assess the distribution of support among molecular datasets for relationships within Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates, including Cetacea). We then merge trees derived from three large concatenations of molecular and fossil data to yield a composite hypothesis that encompasses many critical events in the evolutionary history of Cetacea. By combining diverse evidence, we infer a phylogenetic blueprint that outlines the stepwise evolutionary development of modern whales. This hypothesis represents a starting point for more detailed, comprehensive phylogenetic reconstructions in the future, and also highlights the synergistic interaction between modern (genomic) and traditional (morphological+paleontological) approaches that ultimately must be exploited to provide a rich understanding of evolutionary history across the entire tree of Life. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Development of novel InDel markers and genetic diversity in Chenopodium quinoa through whole-genome re-sequencing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Tifu; Gu, Minfeng; Liu, Yuhe; Lv, Yuanda; Zhou, Ling; Lu, Haiyan; Liang, Shuaiqiang; Bao, Huabin; Zhao, Han

    2017-09-05

    Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a balanced nutritional crop, but its breeding improvement has been limited by the lack of information on its genetics and genomics. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain knowledge on genomic variation, population structure, and genetic diversity and to develop novel Insertion/Deletion (InDel) markers for quinoa by whole-genome re-sequencing. We re-sequenced 11 quinoa accessions and obtained a coverage depth between approximately 7× to 23× the quinoa genome. Based on the 1453-megabase (Mb) assembly from the reference accession Riobamba, 8,441,022 filtered bi-allelic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 842,783 filtered InDels were identified, with an estimated SNP and InDel density of 5.81 and 0.58 per kilobase (kb). From the genomic InDel variations, 85 dimorphic InDel markers were newly developed and validated. Together with the 62 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers reported, a total of 147 markers were used for genotyping the 129 quinoa accessions. Molecular grouping analysis showed classification into two major groups, the Andean highland (composed of the northern and southern highland subgroups) and Chilean coastal, based on combined STRUCTURE, phylogenetic tree and PCA (Principle Component Analysis) analyses. Further analysis of the genetic diversity exhibited a decreasing tendency from the Chilean coast group to the Andean highland group, and the gene flow between subgroups was more frequent than that between the two subgroups and the Chilean coastal group. The majority of the variations (approximately 70%) were found through an analysis of molecular variation (AMOVA) due to the diversity between the groups. This was congruent with the observation of a highly significant F ST value (0.705) between the groups, demonstrating significant genetic differentiation between the Andean highland type of quinoa and the Chilean coastal type. Moreover, a core set of 16 quinoa germplasms that capture all 362 alleles was

  9. Beyond barcoding: a mitochondrial genomics approach to molecular phylogenetics and diagnostics of blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Leigh A; Lambkin, Christine L; Batterham, Philip; Wallman, James F; Dowton, Mark; Whiting, Michael F; Yeates, David K; Cameron, Stephen L

    2012-12-15

    Members of the Calliphoridae (blowflies) are significant for medical and veterinary management, due to the ability of some species to consume living flesh as larvae, and for forensic investigations due to the ability of others to develop in corpses. Due to the difficulty of accurately identifying larval blowflies to species there is a need for DNA-based diagnostics for this family, however the widely used DNA-barcoding marker, cox1, has been shown to fail for several groups within this family. Additionally, many phylogenetic relationships within the Calliphoridae are still unresolved, particularly deeper level relationships. Sequencing whole mt genomes has been demonstrated both as an effective method for identifying the most informative diagnostic markers and for resolving phylogenetic relationships. Twenty-seven complete, or nearly so, mt genomes were sequenced representing 13 species, seven genera and four calliphorid subfamilies and a member of the related family Tachinidae. PCR and sequencing primers developed for sequencing one calliphorid species could be reused to sequence related species within the same superfamily with success rates ranging from 61% to 100%, demonstrating the speed and efficiency with which an mt genome dataset can be assembled. Comparison of molecular divergences for each of the 13 protein-coding genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes, at a range of taxonomic scales identified novel targets for developing as diagnostic markers which were 117-200% more variable than the markers which have been used previously in calliphorids. Phylogenetic analysis of whole mt genome sequences resulted in much stronger support for family and subfamily-level relationships. The Calliphoridae are polyphyletic, with the Polleninae more closely related to the Tachinidae, and the Sarcophagidae are the sister group of the remaining calliphorids. Within the Calliphoridae, there was strong support for the monophyly of the Chrysomyinae and Luciliinae and for the sister

  10. Nucleotide diversity and phylogenetic relationships among ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Navya

    2 attached at the base of tree as the diverging Iridaceae relative's lineage. Present study revealed that psbA-trnH region are useful in addressing questions of phylogenetic relationships among the Gladiolus cultivars, as these intergenic spacers are more variable and have more phylogenetically informative sites than the ...

  11. OryzaGenome: Genome Diversity Database of Wild Oryza Species

    KAUST Repository

    Ohyanagi, Hajime

    2015-11-18

    The species in the genus Oryza, encompassing nine genome types and 23 species, are a rich genetic resource and may have applications in deeper genomic analyses aiming to understand the evolution of plant genomes. With the advancement of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, a flood of Oryza species reference genomes and genomic variation information has become available in recent years. This genomic information, combined with the comprehensive phenotypic information that we are accumulating in our Oryzabase, can serve as an excellent genotype-phenotype association resource for analyzing rice functional and structural evolution, and the associated diversity of the Oryza genus. Here we integrate our previous and future phenotypic/habitat information and newly determined genotype information into a united repository, named OryzaGenome, providing the variant information with hyperlinks to Oryzabase. The current version of OryzaGenome includes genotype information of 446 O. rufipogon accessions derived by imputation and of 17 accessions derived by imputation-free deep sequencing. Two variant viewers are implemented: SNP Viewer as a conventional genome browser interface and Variant Table as a textbased browser for precise inspection of each variant one by one. Portable VCF (variant call format) file or tabdelimited file download is also available. Following these SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) data, reference pseudomolecules/ scaffolds/contigs and genome-wide variation information for almost all of the closely and distantly related wild Oryza species from the NIG Wild Rice Collection will be available in future releases. All of the resources can be accessed through http://viewer.shigen.info/oryzagenome/.

  12. Cancer Genomics: Diversity and Disparity Across Ethnicity and Geography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Daniel S W; Mok, Tony S K; Rebbeck, Timothy R

    2016-01-01

    Ethnic and geographic differences in cancer incidence, prognosis, and treatment outcomes can be attributed to diversity in the inherited (germline) and somatic genome. Although international large-scale sequencing efforts are beginning to unravel the genomic underpinnings of cancer traits, much remains to be known about the underlying mechanisms and determinants of genomic diversity. Carcinogenesis is a dynamic, complex phenomenon representing the interplay between genetic and environmental factors that results in divergent phenotypes across ethnicities and geography. For example, compared with whites, there is a higher incidence of prostate cancer among Africans and African Americans, and the disease is generally more aggressive and fatal. Genome-wide association studies have identified germline susceptibility loci that may account for differences between the African and non-African patients, but the lack of availability of appropriate cohorts for replication studies and the incomplete understanding of genomic architecture across populations pose major limitations. We further discuss the transformative potential of routine diagnostic evaluation for actionable somatic alterations, using lung cancer as an example, highlighting implications of population disparities, current hurdles in implementation, and the far-reaching potential of clinical genomics in enhancing cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. As we enter the era of precision cancer medicine, a concerted multinational effort is key to addressing population and genomic diversity as well as overcoming barriers and geographical disparities in research and health care delivery. © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  13. Metabolic 'engines' of flight drive genome size reduction in birds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Natalie A; Gregory, T Ryan; Witt, Christopher C

    2014-03-22

    The tendency for flying organisms to possess small genomes has been interpreted as evidence of natural selection acting on the physical size of the genome. Nonetheless, the flight-genome link and its mechanistic basis have yet to be well established by comparative studies within a volant clade. Is there a particular functional aspect of flight such as brisk metabolism, lift production or maneuverability that impinges on the physical genome? We measured genome sizes, wing dimensions and heart, flight muscle and body masses from a phylogenetically diverse set of bird species. In phylogenetically controlled analyses, we found that genome size was negatively correlated with relative flight muscle size and heart index (i.e. ratio of heart to body mass), but positively correlated with body mass and wing loading. The proportional masses of the flight muscles and heart were the most important parameters explaining variation in genome size in multivariate models. Hence, the metabolic intensity of powered flight appears to have driven genome size reduction in birds.

  14. Characteristics of phylogenetic diversity in airborne bacterial populations in China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaudhry, Zahra; Santarpia, Joshua L.; Martins, J. V.

    2011-05-01

    Considering their potential implications for human health, agricultural productivity, and ecosystem stability, surprisingly little is known about the composition or dynamics of the atmosphere's biological aerosols. The few studies that have examined phylogenetic diversity in China focused on a single sampling period, whereas this study spans 3 months and includes over 300 samples. The 300+ samples were categorized by month and direction of their back-trajectory. DNA extraction was carried out on the pooled samples in a quantitative manner to allow for comparison between the amount of extracted material and the amount of initial total aerosol mass. Within an individual month, samples originating from similar land types and approximately equidistant to the sampling location exhibited similar diversity, whereas samples originating from much greater distances and from different land types included phyla unique to that location. Phyla from the same origin also varied from one month to the next. The biological diversity found from the Phylochips reinforces the hypothesis that air samples carry a biological record of their history.

  15. Large-Scale Genomic Analysis of Codon Usage in Dengue Virus and Evaluation of Its Phylogenetic Dependence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edgar E. Lara-Ramírez

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The increasing number of dengue virus (DENV genome sequences available allows identifying the contributing factors to DENV evolution. In the present study, the codon usage in serotypes 1–4 (DENV1–4 has been explored for 3047 sequenced genomes using different statistics methods. The correlation analysis of total GC content (GC with GC content at the three nucleotide positions of codons (GC1, GC2, and GC3 as well as the effective number of codons (ENC, ENCp versus GC3 plots revealed mutational bias and purifying selection pressures as the major forces influencing the codon usage, but with distinct pressure on specific nucleotide position in the codon. The correspondence analysis (CA and clustering analysis on relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU within each serotype showed similar clustering patterns to the phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences for DENV1–4. These clustering patterns are strongly related to the virus geographic origin. The phylogenetic dependence analysis also suggests that stabilizing selection acts on the codon usage bias. Our analysis of a large scale reveals new feature on DENV genomic evolution.

  16. The dnd operon for DNA phosphorothioation modification system in Escherichia coli is located in diverse genomic islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ho, Wing Sze; Ou, Hong-Yu; Yeo, Chew Chieng; Thong, Kwai Lin

    2015-03-17

    Strains of Escherichia coli that are non-typeable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) due to in-gel degradation can influence their molecular epidemiological data. The DNA degradation phenotype (Dnd(+)) is mediated by the dnd operon that encode enzymes catalyzing the phosphorothioation of DNA, rendering the modified DNA susceptible to oxidative cleavage during a PFGE run. In this study, a PCR assay was developed to detect the presence of the dnd operon in Dnd(+) E. coli strains and to improve their typeability. Investigations into the genetic environments of the dnd operon in various E. coli strains led to the discovery that the dnd operon is harboured in various diverse genomic islands. The dndBCDE genes (dnd operon) were detected in all Dnd(+) E. coli strains by PCR. The addition of thiourea improved the typeability of Dnd(+) E. coli strains to 100% using PFGE and the Dnd(+) phenotype can be observed in both clonal and genetically diverse E. coli strains. Genomic analysis of 101 dnd operons from genome sequences of Enterobacteriaceae revealed that the dnd operons of the same bacterial species were generally clustered together in the phylogenetic tree. Further analysis of dnd operons of 52 E. coli genomes together with their respective immediate genetic environments revealed a total of 7 types of genetic organizations, all of which were found to be associated with genomic islands designated dnd-encoding GIs. The dnd-encoding GIs displayed mosaic structure and the genomic context of the 7 islands (with 1 representative genome from each type of genetic organization) were also highly variable, suggesting multiple recombination events. This is also the first report where two dnd operons were found within a strain although the biological implication is unknown. Surprisingly, dnd operons were frequently found in pathogenic E. coli although their link with virulence has not been explored. Genomic islands likely play an important role in facilitating the horizontal

  17. Genomic Diversity and Evolution of the Fish Pathogen Flavobacterium psychrophilum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Duchaud

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Flavobacterium psychrophilum, the etiological agent of rainbow trout fry syndrome and bacterial cold-water disease in salmonid fish, is currently one of the main bacterial pathogens hampering the productivity of salmonid farming worldwide. In this study, the genomic diversity of the F. psychrophilum species is analyzed using a set of 41 genomes, including 30 newly sequenced isolates. These were selected on the basis of available MLST data with the two-fold objective of maximizing the coverage of the species diversity and of allowing a focus on the main clonal complex (CC-ST10 infecting farmed rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss worldwide. The results reveal a bacterial species harboring a limited genomic diversity both in terms of nucleotide diversity, with ~0.3% nucleotide divergence inside CDSs in pairwise genome comparisons, and in terms of gene repertoire, with the core genome accounting for ~80% of the genes in each genome. The pan-genome seems nevertheless “open” according to the scaling exponent of a power-law fitted on the rate of new gene discovery when genomes are added one-by-one. Recombination is a key component of the evolutionary process of the species as seen in the high level of apparent homoplasy in the core genome. Using a Hidden Markov Model to delineate recombination tracts in pairs of closely related genomes, the average recombination tract length was estimated to ~4.0 Kbp and the typical ratio of the contributions of recombination and mutations to nucleotide-level differentiation (r/m was estimated to ~13. Within CC-ST10, evolutionary distances computed on non-recombined regions and comparisons between 22 isolates sampled up to 27 years apart suggest a most recent common ancestor in the second half of the nineteenth century in North America with subsequent diversification and transmission of this clonal complex coinciding with the worldwide expansion of rainbow trout farming. With the goal to promote the development of

  18. Phylogenetic and structural diversity in the feline leukemia virus env gene.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shinya Watanabe

    Full Text Available Feline leukemia virus (FeLV belongs to the genus Gammaretrovirus, and causes a variety of neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases in cats. Alteration of viral env sequences is thought to be associated with disease specificity, but the way in which genetic diversity of FeLV contributes to the generation of such variants in nature is poorly understood. We isolated FeLV env genes from naturally infected cats in Japan and analyzed the evolutionary dynamics of these genes. Phylogenetic reconstructions separated our FeLV samples into three distinct genetic clusters, termed Genotypes I, II, and III. Genotype I is a major genetic cluster and can be further classified into Clades 1-7 in Japan. Genotypes were correlated with geographical distribution; Genotypes I and II were distributed within Japan, whilst FeLV samples from outside Japan belonged to Genotype III. These results may be due to geographical isolation of FeLVs in Japan. The observed structural diversity of the FeLV env gene appears to be caused primarily by mutation, deletion, insertion and recombination, and these variants may be generated de novo in individual cats. FeLV interference assay revealed that FeLV genotypes did not correlate with known FeLV receptor subgroups. We have identified the genotypes which we consider to be reliable for evaluating phylogenetic relationships of FeLV, which embrace the high structural diversity observed in our sample. Overall, these findings extend our understanding of Gammaretrovirus evolutionary patterns in the field, and may provide a useful basis for assessing the emergence of novel strains and understanding the molecular mechanisms of FeLV transmission in cats.

  19. Evolution and Diversity in Human Herpes Simplex Virus Genomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gatherer, Derek; Ochoa, Alejandro; Greenbaum, Benjamin; Dolan, Aidan; Bowden, Rory J.; Enquist, Lynn W.; Legendre, Matthieu; Davison, Andrew J.

    2014-01-01

    Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) causes a chronic, lifelong infection in >60% of adults. Multiple recent vaccine trials have failed, with viral diversity likely contributing to these failures. To understand HSV-1 diversity better, we comprehensively compared 20 newly sequenced viral genomes from China, Japan, Kenya, and South Korea with six previously sequenced genomes from the United States, Europe, and Japan. In this diverse collection of passaged strains, we found that one-fifth of the newly sequenced members share a gene deletion and one-third exhibit homopolymeric frameshift mutations (HFMs). Individual strains exhibit genotypic and potential phenotypic variation via HFMs, deletions, short sequence repeats, and single-nucleotide polymorphisms, although the protein sequence identity between strains exceeds 90% on average. In the first genome-scale analysis of positive selection in HSV-1, we found signs of selection in specific proteins and residues, including the fusion protein glycoprotein H. We also confirmed previous results suggesting that recombination has occurred with high frequency throughout the HSV-1 genome. Despite this, the HSV-1 strains analyzed clustered by geographic origin during whole-genome distance analysis. These data shed light on likely routes of HSV-1 adaptation to changing environments and will aid in the selection of vaccine antigens that are invariant worldwide. PMID:24227835

  20. Genome-wide analysis of the diversity and ancestry of Korean dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Bong Hwan; Wijayananda, Hasini I; Lee, Soo Hyun; Lee, Doo Ho; Kim, Jong Seok; Oh, Seok Il; Park, Eung Woo; Lee, Cheul Koo; Lee, Seung Hwan

    2017-01-01

    There are various hypotheses on dog domestication based on archeological and genetic studies. Although many studies have been conducted on the origin of dogs, the existing literature about the ancestry, diversity, and population structure of Korean dogs is sparse. Therefore, this study is focused on the origin, diversity and population structure of Korean dogs. The study sample comprised four major categories, including non-dogs (coyotes and wolves), ancient, modern and Korean dogs. Selected samples were genotyped using an Illumina CanineHD array containing 173,662 single nucleotide polymorphisms. The genome-wide data were filtered using quality control parameters in PLINK 1.9. Only autosomal chromosomes were used for further analysis. The negative off-diagonal variance of the genetic relationship matrix analysis depicted, the variability of samples in each population. FIS (inbreeding rate within a population) values indicated, a low level of inbreeding within populations, and the patterns were in concordance with the results of Nei's genetic distance analysis. The lowest FST (inbreeding rate between populations) values among Korean and Chinese breeds, using a phylogenetic tree, multi-dimensional scaling, and a TreeMix likelihood tree showed Korean breeds are highly related to Chinese breeds. The Korean breeds possessed a unique and large diversity of admixtures compared with other breeds. The highest and lowest effective population sizes were observed in Korean Jindo Black (485) and Korean Donggyeong White (109), respectively. The historical effective population size of all Korean dogs showed declining trend from the past to present. It is important to take immediate action to protect the Korean dog population while conserving their diversity. Furthermore, this study suggests that Korean dogs have unique diversity and are one of the basal lineages of East Asian dogs, originating from China.

  1. Genome-wide analysis of the diversity and ancestry of Korean dogs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bong Hwan Choi

    Full Text Available There are various hypotheses on dog domestication based on archeological and genetic studies. Although many studies have been conducted on the origin of dogs, the existing literature about the ancestry, diversity, and population structure of Korean dogs is sparse. Therefore, this study is focused on the origin, diversity and population structure of Korean dogs. The study sample comprised four major categories, including non-dogs (coyotes and wolves, ancient, modern and Korean dogs. Selected samples were genotyped using an Illumina CanineHD array containing 173,662 single nucleotide polymorphisms. The genome-wide data were filtered using quality control parameters in PLINK 1.9. Only autosomal chromosomes were used for further analysis. The negative off-diagonal variance of the genetic relationship matrix analysis depicted, the variability of samples in each population. FIS (inbreeding rate within a population values indicated, a low level of inbreeding within populations, and the patterns were in concordance with the results of Nei's genetic distance analysis. The lowest FST (inbreeding rate between populations values among Korean and Chinese breeds, using a phylogenetic tree, multi-dimensional scaling, and a TreeMix likelihood tree showed Korean breeds are highly related to Chinese breeds. The Korean breeds possessed a unique and large diversity of admixtures compared with other breeds. The highest and lowest effective population sizes were observed in Korean Jindo Black (485 and Korean Donggyeong White (109, respectively. The historical effective population size of all Korean dogs showed declining trend from the past to present. It is important to take immediate action to protect the Korean dog population while conserving their diversity. Furthermore, this study suggests that Korean dogs have unique diversity and are one of the basal lineages of East Asian dogs, originating from China.

  2. Genome Analysis and Phylogenetic Relatedness of Gallibacterium anatis Strains from Poultry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Timothy J.; Danzeisen, Jessica L.; Trampel, Darrell; Nolan, Lisa K.; Seemann, Torsten; Bager, Ragnhild J.; Bojesen, Anders M.

    2013-01-01

    Peritonitis is the major disease problem of laying hens in commercial table egg and parent stock operations. Despite its importance, the etiology and pathogenesis of this disease have not been completely clarified. Although avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) isolates have been incriminated as the causative agent of laying hen peritonitis, Gallibacterium anatis are frequently isolated from peritonitis lesions. Despite recent studies suggesting a role for G. anatis in the pathogenesis of peritonitis, little is known about the organism’s virulence mechanisms, genomic composition and population dynamics. Here, we compared the genome sequences of three G. anatis isolates in an effort to understand its virulence mechanisms and identify novel antigenic traits. A multilocus sequence typing method was also established for G. anatis and used to characterize the genotypic relatedness of 71 isolates from commercial laying hens in Iowa and 18 international reference isolates. Genomic comparisons suggest that G. anatis is a highly diverse bacterial species, with some strains possessing previously described and potential virulence factors, but with a core genome containing several antigenic candidates. Multilocus sequence typing effectively distinguished 82 sequence types and several clonal complexes of G. anatis, and some clones seemed to predominate among G. anatis populations from commercial layers in Iowa. Biofilm formation and resistance to antimicrobial agents was also observed in several clades. Overall, the genomic diversity of G. anatis suggests that multiple lineages exist with differing pathogenic potential towards birds. PMID:23359626

  3. Genome analysis and phylogenetic relatedness of Gallibacterium anatis strains from poultry.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy J Johnson

    Full Text Available Peritonitis is the major disease problem of laying hens in commercial table egg and parent stock operations. Despite its importance, the etiology and pathogenesis of this disease have not been completely clarified. Although avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC isolates have been incriminated as the causative agent of laying hen peritonitis, Gallibacterium anatis are frequently isolated from peritonitis lesions. Despite recent studies suggesting a role for G. anatis in the pathogenesis of peritonitis, little is known about the organism's virulence mechanisms, genomic composition and population dynamics. Here, we compared the genome sequences of three G. anatis isolates in an effort to understand its virulence mechanisms and identify novel antigenic traits. A multilocus sequence typing method was also established for G. anatis and used to characterize the genotypic relatedness of 71 isolates from commercial laying hens in Iowa and 18 international reference isolates. Genomic comparisons suggest that G. anatis is a highly diverse bacterial species, with some strains possessing previously described and potential virulence factors, but with a core genome containing several antigenic candidates. Multilocus sequence typing effectively distinguished 82 sequence types and several clonal complexes of G. anatis, and some clones seemed to predominate among G. anatis populations from commercial layers in Iowa. Biofilm formation and resistance to antimicrobial agents was also observed in several clades. Overall, the genomic diversity of G. anatis suggests that multiple lineages exist with differing pathogenic potential towards birds.

  4. Analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes from extinct and extant rhinoceroses reveals lack of phylogenetic resolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willerslev, Eske; Gilbert, M Thomas P; Binladen, Jonas; Ho, Simon YW; Campos, Paula F; Ratan, Aakrosh; Tomsho, Lynn P; da Fonseca, Rute R; Sher, Andrei; Kuznetsova, Tatanya V; Nowak-Kemp, Malgosia; Roth, Terri L; Miller, Webb; Schuster, Stephan C

    2009-01-01

    Background The scientific literature contains many examples where DNA sequence analyses have been used to provide definitive answers to phylogenetic problems that traditional (non-DNA based) approaches alone have failed to resolve. One notable example concerns the rhinoceroses, a group for which several contradictory phylogenies were proposed on the basis of morphology, then apparently resolved using mitochondrial DNA fragments. Results In this study we report the first complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the extinct ice-age woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and the threatened Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus), Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis), and black (Diceros bicornis) rhinoceroses. In combination with the previously published mitochondrial genomes of the white (Ceratotherium simum) and Indian (Rhinoceros unicornis) rhinoceroses, this data set putatively enables reconstruction of the rhinoceros phylogeny. While the six species cluster into three strongly supported sister-pairings: (i) The black/white, (ii) the woolly/Sumatran, and (iii) the Javan/Indian, resolution of the higher-level relationships has no statistical support. The phylogenetic signal from individual genes is highly diffuse, with mixed topological support from different genes. Furthermore, the choice of outgroup (horse vs tapir) has considerable effect on reconstruction of the phylogeny. The lack of resolution is suggestive of a hard polytomy at the base of crown-group Rhinocerotidae, and this is supported by an investigation of the relative branch lengths. Conclusion Satisfactory resolution of the rhinoceros phylogeny may not be achievable without additional analyses of substantial amounts of nuclear DNA. This study provides a compelling demonstration that, in spite of substantial sequence length, there are significant limitations with single-locus phylogenetics. We expect further examples of this to appear as next-generation, large-scale sequencing of complete mitochondrial

  5. Analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes from extinct and extant rhinoceroses reveals lack of phylogenetic resolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nowak-Kemp Malgosia

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The scientific literature contains many examples where DNA sequence analyses have been used to provide definitive answers to phylogenetic problems that traditional (non-DNA based approaches alone have failed to resolve. One notable example concerns the rhinoceroses, a group for which several contradictory phylogenies were proposed on the basis of morphology, then apparently resolved using mitochondrial DNA fragments. Results In this study we report the first complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the extinct ice-age woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis, and the threatened Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus, Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, and black (Diceros bicornis rhinoceroses. In combination with the previously published mitochondrial genomes of the white (Ceratotherium simum and Indian (Rhinoceros unicornis rhinoceroses, this data set putatively enables reconstruction of the rhinoceros phylogeny. While the six species cluster into three strongly supported sister-pairings: (i The black/white, (ii the woolly/Sumatran, and (iii the Javan/Indian, resolution of the higher-level relationships has no statistical support. The phylogenetic signal from individual genes is highly diffuse, with mixed topological support from different genes. Furthermore, the choice of outgroup (horse vs tapir has considerable effect on reconstruction of the phylogeny. The lack of resolution is suggestive of a hard polytomy at the base of crown-group Rhinocerotidae, and this is supported by an investigation of the relative branch lengths. Conclusion Satisfactory resolution of the rhinoceros phylogeny may not be achievable without additional analyses of substantial amounts of nuclear DNA. This study provides a compelling demonstration that, in spite of substantial sequence length, there are significant limitations with single-locus phylogenetics. We expect further examples of this to appear as next-generation, large-scale sequencing of complete

  6. HLA diversity in the 1000 genomes dataset.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre-Antoine Gourraud

    Full Text Available The 1000 Genomes Project aims to provide a deep characterization of human genome sequence variation by sequencing at a level that should allow the genome-wide detection of most variants with frequencies as low as 1%. However, in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC, only the top 10 most frequent haplotypes are in the 1% frequency range whereas thousands of haplotypes are present at lower frequencies. Given the limitation of both the coverage and the read length of the sequences generated by the 1000 Genomes Project, the highly variable positions that define HLA alleles may be difficult to identify. We used classical Sanger sequencing techniques to type the HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 genes in the available 1000 Genomes samples and combined the results with the 103,310 variants in the MHC region genotyped by the 1000 Genomes Project. Using pairwise identity-by-descent distances between individuals and principal component analysis, we established the relationship between ancestry and genetic diversity in the MHC region. As expected, both the MHC variants and the HLA phenotype can identify the major ancestry lineage, informed mainly by the most frequent HLA haplotypes. To some extent, regions of the genome with similar genetic or similar recombination rate have similar properties. An MHC-centric analysis underlines departures between the ancestral background of the MHC and the genome-wide picture. Our analysis of linkage disequilibrium (LD decay in these samples suggests that overestimation of pairwise LD occurs due to a limited sampling of the MHC diversity. This collection of HLA-specific MHC variants, available on the dbMHC portal, is a valuable resource for future analyses of the role of MHC in population and disease studies.

  7. Comparative Genomics of Methanopyrus sp. SNP6 and KOL6 Revealing Genomic Regions of Plasticity Implicated in Extremely Thermophilic Profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhiliang Yu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Methanopyrus spp. are usually isolated from harsh niches, such as high osmotic pressure and extreme temperature. However, the molecular mechanisms for their environmental adaption are poorly understood. Archaeal species is commonly considered as primitive organism. The evolutional placement of archaea is a fundamental and intriguing scientific question. We sequenced the genomes of Methanopyrus strains SNP6 and KOL6 isolated from the Atlantic and Iceland, respectively. Comparative genomic analysis revealed genetic diversity and instability implicated in niche adaption, including a number of transporter- and integrase/transposase-related genes. Pan-genome analysis also defined the gene pool of Methanopyrus spp., in addition of ~120-Kb genomic region of plasticity impacting cognate genomic architecture. We believe that Methanopyrus genomics could facilitate efficient investigation/recognition of archaeal phylogenetic diverse patterns, as well as improve understanding of biological roles and significance of these versatile microbes.

  8. The origin and evolution of Basigin(BSG) gene: A comparative genomic and phylogenetic analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Xinyan; Wang, Shenglan; Shao, Mingjie; Yan, Jie; Liu, Fei

    2017-07-01

    Basigin (BSG), also known as extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) or cluster of differentiation 147 (CD147), plays various fundamental roles in the intercellular recognition involved in immunologic phenomena, differentiation, and development. In this study, we aimed to compare the similarities and differences of BSG among organisms and explore possible evolutionary relationships based on the comparison result. We used the extensive BLAST tool to search the metazoan genomes, N-glycosylation sites, the transmembrane region and other functional sites. We then identified BSG homologs from genomic sequences and analyzed their phylogenetic relationships. We identified that BSG genes exist not only in the vertebrate metazoans but also in the invertebrate metazoans such as Amphioxus B. floridae, D. melanogaster, A. mellifera, S. japonicum, C. gigas, and T. patagoniensis. After sequence analysis, we confirmed that only vertebrate metazoans and Cephalochordate (amphioxus B. floridae) have the classic structure (a signal peptide, two Ig-like domains (IgC2 and IgI), a transmembrane region, and an intracellular domain). The invertebrate metazoans (excluding amphioxus B. floridae) lack the N-terminal signal peptides and IgC2 domain. We then generated a phylogenetic tree, genome organization comparison, and chromosomal disposition analysis based on the biological information obtained from the NCBI and Ensembl databases. Finally, we established the possible evolutionary scenario of the BSG gene, which showed the restricted exon rearrangement that has occurred during evolution, forming the present-day BSG gene. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Microbial diversity and activity in the Nematostella vectensis holobiont: insights from 16S rRNA gene sequencing, isolate genomes, and a pilot-scale survey of gene expression

    OpenAIRE

    Har, Jia Y.; Helbig, Tim; Lim, Ju H.; Fernando, Samodha C.; Reitzel, Adam M.; Penn, Kevin; Thompson, Janelle R.

    2015-01-01

    We have characterized the molecular and genomic diversity of the microbiota of the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, a cnidarian model for comparative developmental and functional biology and a year-round inhabitant of temperate salt marshes. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries revealed four ribotypes associated with N. vectensis at multiple locations and times. These associates include two novel ribotypes within the ε-Proteobacterial order Campylobacter...

  10. The Cladistic Basis for the Phylogenetic Diversity (PD Measure Links Evolutionary Features to Environmental Gradients and Supports Broad Applications of Microbial Ecology’s “Phylogenetic Beta Diversity” Framework

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rob Knight

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available The PD measure of phylogenetic diversity interprets branch lengths cladistically to make inferences about feature diversity. PD calculations extend conventional specieslevel ecological indices to the features level. The “phylogenetic beta diversity” framework developed by microbial ecologists calculates PD-dissimilarities between community localities. Interpretation of these PD-dissimilarities at the feature level explains the framework’s success in producing ordinations revealing environmental gradients. An example gradients space using PD-dissimilarities illustrates how evolutionary features form unimodal response patterns to gradients. This features model supports new application of existing species-level methods that are robust to unimodal responses, plus novel applications relating to climate change, commercial products discovery, and community assembly.

  11. Complete genome sequence and phylogenetic analyses of an aquabirnavirus isolated from a diseased marbled eel culture in Taiwan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Chiu-Ming

    2017-08-01

    An aquabirnavirus was isolated from diseased marbled eels (Anguilla marmorata; MEIPNV1310) with gill haemorrhages and associated mortality. Its genome segment sequences were obtained through next-generation sequencing and compared with published aquabirnavirus sequences. The results indicated that the genome sequence of MEIPNV1310 contains segment A (3099 nucleotides) and segment B (2789 nucleotides). Phylogenetic analysis showed that MEIPNV1310 is closely related to the infectious pancreatic necrosis Ab strain within genogroup II. This genome sequence is beneficial for studying the geographic distribution and evolution of aquabirnaviruses.

  12. Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Evolution of Tibetan Sheep Based on mtDNA D-Loop Sequences.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianbin Liu

    Full Text Available The molecular and population genetic evidence of the phylogenetic status of the Tibetan sheep (Ovis aries is not well understood, and little is known about this species' genetic diversity. This knowledge gap is partly due to the difficulty of sample collection. This is the first work to address this question. Here, the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship of 636 individual Tibetan sheep from fifteen populations were assessed using 642 complete sequences of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop. Samples were collected from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau area in China, and reference data were obtained from the six reference breed sequences available in GenBank. The length of the sequences varied considerably, between 1031 and 1259 bp. The haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were 0.992±0.010 and 0.019±0.001, respectively. The average number of nucleotide differences was 19.635. The mean nucleotide composition of the 350 haplotypes was 32.961% A, 29.708% T, 22.892% C, 14.439% G, 62.669% A+T, and 37.331% G+C. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all four previously defined haplogroups (A, B, C, and D were found in the 636 individuals of the fifteen Tibetan sheep populations but that only the D haplogroup was found in Linzhou sheep. Further, the clustering analysis divided the fifteen Tibetan sheep populations into at least two clusters. The estimation of the demographic parameters from the mismatch analyses showed that haplogroups A, B, and C had at least one demographic expansion in Tibetan sheep. These results contribute to the knowledge of Tibetan sheep populations and will help inform future conservation programs about the Tibetan sheep native to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

  13. phylo-node: A molecular phylogenetic toolkit using Node.js.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Halloran, Damien M

    2017-01-01

    Node.js is an open-source and cross-platform environment that provides a JavaScript codebase for back-end server-side applications. JavaScript has been used to develop very fast and user-friendly front-end tools for bioinformatic and phylogenetic analyses. However, no such toolkits are available using Node.js to conduct comprehensive molecular phylogenetic analysis. To address this problem, I have developed, phylo-node, which was developed using Node.js and provides a stable and scalable toolkit that allows the user to perform diverse molecular and phylogenetic tasks. phylo-node can execute the analysis and process the resulting outputs from a suite of software options that provides tools for read processing and genome alignment, sequence retrieval, multiple sequence alignment, primer design, evolutionary modeling, and phylogeny reconstruction. Furthermore, phylo-node enables the user to deploy server dependent applications, and also provides simple integration and interoperation with other Node modules and languages using Node inheritance patterns, and a customized piping module to support the production of diverse pipelines. phylo-node is open-source and freely available to all users without sign-up or login requirements. All source code and user guidelines are openly available at the GitHub repository: https://github.com/dohalloran/phylo-node.

  14. SWPhylo - A Novel Tool for Phylogenomic Inferences by Comparison of Oligonucleotide Patterns and Integration of Genome-Based and Gene-Based Phylogenetic Trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Xiaoyu; Reva, Oleg N

    2018-01-01

    Modern phylogenetic studies may benefit from the analysis of complete genome sequences of various microorganisms. Evolutionary inferences based on genome-scale analysis are believed to be more accurate than the gene-based alternative. However, the computational complexity of current phylogenomic procedures, inappropriateness of standard phylogenetic tools to process genome-wide data, and lack of reliable substitution models which correlates with alignment-free phylogenomic approaches deter microbiologists from using these opportunities. For example, the super-matrix and super-tree approaches of phylogenomics use multiple integrated genomic loci or individual gene-based trees to infer an overall consensus tree. However, these approaches potentially multiply errors of gene annotation and sequence alignment not mentioning the computational complexity and laboriousness of the methods. In this article, we demonstrate that the annotation- and alignment-free comparison of genome-wide tetranucleotide frequencies, termed oligonucleotide usage patterns (OUPs), allowed a fast and reliable inference of phylogenetic trees. These were congruent to the corresponding whole genome super-matrix trees in terms of tree topology when compared with other known approaches including 16S ribosomal RNA and GyrA protein sequence comparison, complete genome-based MAUVE, and CVTree methods. A Web-based program to perform the alignment-free OUP-based phylogenomic inferences was implemented at http://swphylo.bi.up.ac.za/. Applicability of the tool was tested on different taxa from subspecies to intergeneric levels. Distinguishing between closely related taxonomic units may be enforced by providing the program with alignments of marker protein sequences, eg, GyrA.

  15. A Closer Look at Bacteroides: Phylogenetic Relationship and Genomic Implications of a Life in the Human Gut

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karlsson, Fredrik H.; Ussery, David; Nielsen, Jens

    2011-01-01

    The human gut is extremely densely inhabited by bacteria mainly from two phyla, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes, and there is a great interest in analyzing whole-genome sequences for these species because of their relation to human health and disease. Here, we do whole-genome comparison of 105...... of extracytoplasmic function σ factors (ECF σ factors) and two component systems for extracellular signal transduction compared to other Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi species. A whole-genome phylogenetic analysis shows a very little difference between the Parabacteroides and Bacteroides genera. Further analysis shows...... of members of the Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi phylum by whole genome comparison. Gut living Bacteroides have an enriched set of glycan, vitamin, and cofactor enzymes important for diet digestion....

  16. Report of the second Human Genome Diversity workshop

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1992-12-31

    The Second Human Genome Diversity Workshop was successfully held at Penn State University from October 29--31, 1992. The Workshop was essentially organized around 7 groups, each comprising approximately 10 participants, representing the sampling issues in different regions of the world. These groups worked independently, using a common format provided by the organizers; this was adjusted as needed by the individual groups. The Workshop began with a presentation of the mandate to the participants, and of the procedures to be followed during the workshop. Dr. Feldman presented a summary of the results from the First Workshop. He and the other organizers also presented brief comments giving their perspective on the objectives of the Second Workshop. Dr. Julia Bodmer discussed the study of European genetic diversity, especially in the context of the HLA experience there, and of plans to extend such studies in the coming years. She also discussed surveys of world HLA laboratories in regard to resources related to Human Genome Diversity. Dr. Mark Weiss discussed the relevance of nonhuman primate studies for understanding how demographic processes, such as mate exchange between local groups, affected the local dispersion of genetic variation. Primate population geneticists have some relevant experience in interpreting variation at this local level, in particular, with various DNA fingerprinting methods. This experience may be relevant to the Human Genome Diversity Project, in terms of practical and statistical issues.

  17. High genetic diversity of equine infectious anaemia virus strains from Slovenia revealed upon phylogenetic analysis of the p15 gag gene region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhar, U; Malovrh, T

    2016-03-01

    The equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV), which belongs to the Retroviridae family, infects equids almost worldwide. Every year, sporadic EIAV cases are detected in Slovenia. To characterise the Slovenian EIAV strains in the p15 gag gene region phylogenetically in order to compare the Slovenian EIAV strains with EIAV strains from abroad, especially with the recently published European strains. Cross-sectional study using material derived from post mortem examination. In total, 29 EIAV serologically positive horses from 18 different farms were examined in this study. Primers were designed to amplify the p15 gag gene region. Amplicons of 28 PCRs were subjected to direct DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Altogether, 28 EIAV sequences were obtained from 17 different farms and were distributed between 4 separate monophyletic groups and 9 branches upon phylogenetic analysis. Among EIAV strains from abroad, the closest relatives to Slovenian EIAV strains were European EIAV strains from Italy. Phylogenetic analysis also showed that some animals from distantly located farms were most probably infected with the same EIAV strains, as well as animals from the same farm and animals from farms located in the same geographical region. This is the first report of such high genetic diversity of EIAV strains from one country. This led to speculation that there is a potential virus reservoir among the populations of riding horses, horses kept for pleasure and horses for meat production, with some farmers or horse-owners not following legislation, thus enabling the spread of infection with EIAV. The low sensitivity of the agar gel immunodiffusion test may also contribute to the spread of infection with EIAV, because some infected horses might have escaped detection. The results of the phylogenetic analysis also provide additional knowledge about the highly heterogeneous nature of the EIAV genome. © 2015 EVJ Ltd.

  18. Comparative evolutionary diversity and phylogenetic structure across multiple forest dynamics plots: a mega-phylogeny approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erickson, David L.; Jones, Frank A.; Swenson, Nathan G.; Pei, Nancai; Bourg, Norman A.; Chen, Wenna; Davies, Stuart J.; Ge, Xue-jun; Hao, Zhanqing; Howe, Robert W.; Huang, Chun-Lin; Larson, Andrew J.; Lum, Shawn K. Y.; Lutz, James A.; Ma, Keping; Meegaskumbura, Madhava; Mi, Xiangcheng; Parker, John D.; Fang-Sun, I.; Wright, S. Joseph; Wolf, Amy T.; Ye, W.; Xing, Dingliang; Zimmerman, Jess K.; Kress, W. John

    2014-01-01

    Forest dynamics plots, which now span longitudes, latitudes, and habitat types across the globe, offer unparalleled insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine how species are assembled into communities. Understanding phylogenetic relationships among species in a community has become an important component of assessing assembly processes. However, the application of evolutionary information to questions in community ecology has been limited in large part by the lack of accurate estimates of phylogenetic relationships among individual species found within communities, and is particularly limiting in comparisons between communities. Therefore, streamlining and maximizing the information content of these community phylogenies is a priority. To test the viability and advantage of a multi-community phylogeny, we constructed a multi-plot mega-phylogeny of 1347 species of trees across 15 forest dynamics plots in the ForestGEO network using DNA barcode sequence data (rbcL, matK, and psbA-trnH) and compared community phylogenies for each individual plot with respect to support for topology and branch lengths, which affect evolutionary inference of community processes. The levels of taxonomic differentiation across the phylogeny were examined by quantifying the frequency of resolved nodes throughout. In addition, three phylogenetic distance (PD) metrics that are commonly used to infer assembly processes were estimated for each plot [PD, Mean Phylogenetic Distance (MPD), and Mean Nearest Taxon Distance (MNTD)]. Lastly, we examine the partitioning of phylogenetic diversity among community plots through quantification of inter-community MPD and MNTD. Overall, evolutionary relationships were highly resolved across the DNA barcode-based mega-phylogeny, and phylogenetic resolution for each community plot was improved when estimated within the context of the mega-phylogeny. Likewise, when compared with phylogenies for individual plots, estimates of

  19. Genomic landscape of human diversity across Madagascar

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierron, Denis; Heiske, Margit; Razafindrazaka, Harilanto; Rakoto, Ignace; Rabetokotany, Nelly; Ravololomanga, Bodo; Rakotozafy, Lucien M.-A.; Rakotomalala, Mireille Mialy; Razafiarivony, Michel; Rasoarifetra, Bako; Raharijesy, Miakabola Andriamampianina; Razafindralambo, Lolona; Ramilisonina; Fanony, Fulgence; Lejamble, Sendra; Thomas, Olivier; Mohamed Abdallah, Ahmed; Rocher, Christophe; Arachiche, Amal; Tonaso, Laure; Pereda-loth, Veronica; Schiavinato, Stéphanie; Brucato, Nicolas; Ricaut, Francois-Xavier; Kusuma, Pradiptajati; Sudoyo, Herawati; Ni, Shengyu; Boland, Anne; Deleuze, Jean-Francois; Beaujard, Philippe; Grange, Philippe; Adelaar, Sander; Stoneking, Mark; Rakotoarisoa, Jean-Aimé; Radimilahy, Chantal; Letellier, Thierry

    2017-01-01

    Although situated ∼400 km from the east coast of Africa, Madagascar exhibits cultural, linguistic, and genetic traits from both Southeast Asia and Eastern Africa. The settlement history remains contentious; we therefore used a grid-based approach to sample at high resolution the genomic diversity (including maternal lineages, paternal lineages, and genome-wide data) across 257 villages and 2,704 Malagasy individuals. We find a common Bantu and Austronesian descent for all Malagasy individuals with a limited paternal contribution from Europe and the Middle East. Admixture and demographic growth happened recently, suggesting a rapid settlement of Madagascar during the last millennium. However, the distribution of African and Asian ancestry across the island reveals that the admixture was sex biased and happened heterogeneously across Madagascar, suggesting independent colonization of Madagascar from Africa and Asia rather than settlement by an already admixed population. In addition, there are geographic influences on the present genomic diversity, independent of the admixture, showing that a few centuries is sufficient to produce detectable genetic structure in human populations. PMID:28716916

  20. An arctic community of symbiotic fungi assembled by long-distance dispersers: phylogenetic diversity of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes in Svalbard based on soil and sporocarp DNA

    Science.gov (United States)

    J. Geml; I. Timling; C.H. Robinson; N. Lennon; H.C. Nusbaum; C. Brochmann; M.E. Noordeloos; D.L. Taylor

    2011-01-01

    Current evidence from temperate studies suggests that ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi require overland routes for migration because of their obligate symbiotic associations with woody plants. Despite their key roles in arctic ecosystems, the phylogenetic diversity and phylogeography of arctic ECM fungi remains little known. Here we assess the phylogenetic diversity of ECM...

  1. The complete mitochondrial genome of Somanniathelphusa boyangensis and phylogenetic analysis of Genus Somanniathelphusa (Crustacea: Decapoda: Parathelphusidae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin-Nan Jia

    Full Text Available In this study, the authors first obtained the mitochondrial genome of Somanniathelphusa boyangensis. The results showed that the mitochondrial genome is 17,032bp in length, included 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs genes, 22 tRNAs genes and 1 putative control region, and it has the characteristics of the metazoan mitochondrial genome A+T bias. All tRNA genes display the typical clover-leaf secondary structure except tRNASer(AGN, which has lost the dihydroxyuridine arm. The GenBank database contains the mitochondrial genomes of representatives of approximately 22 families of Brachyura, comprising 56 species, including 4 species of freshwater crab. The authors established the phylogenetic relationships using the maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods. The phylogenetic relationship indicated that the molecular taxonomy of S. boyangensis is consistent with current morphological classification, and Parathelphusidae and Potamidae are derived within the freshwater clade or as part of it. In addition, the authors used the COX1 sequence of Somanniathelphusa in GenBank and the COX1 sequence of S. boyangensis to estimated the divergence time of this genus. The result displayed that the divergence time of Somanniathelphusa qiongshanensis is consistent with the separation of Hainan Island from mainland China in the Beibu Gulf, and the divergence time for Somanniathelphusa taiwanensis and Somanniathelphusa amoyensis is consistent with the separation of Taiwan Province from Mainland China at Fujian Province. These data indicate that geologic events influenced speciation of the genus Somanniathelphusa.

  2. Draft genome and sequence variant data of the oomycete Pythium insidiosum strain Pi45 from the phylogenetically-distinct Clade-III

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weerayuth Kittichotirat

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Pythium insidiosum is a unique oomycete microorganism, capable of infecting humans and animals. The organism can be phylogenetically categorized into three distinct clades: Clade-I (strains from the Americas; Clade-II (strains from Asia and Australia, and Clade–III (strains from Thailand and the United States. Two draft genomes of the P. insidiosum Clade-I strain CDC-B5653 and Clade-II strain Pi-S are available in the public domain. The genome of P. insidiosum from the distinct Clade-III, which is distantly-related to the other two clades, is lacking. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of the P. insidiosum strain Pi45 (also known as MCC13; isolated from a Thai patient with pythiosis; accession numbers BCFM01000001-BCFM01017277 as a representative strain of the phylogenetically-distinct Clade-III. We also report a genome-scale data set of sequence variants (i.e., SNPs and INDELs found in P. insidiosum (accessible online at the Mendeley database: http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/r75799jy6c.1. Keywords: Pythium insidiosum, Pythiosis, Draft genome, Sequence variant

  3. Environmental quality of a stream can be better predicted by phylogenetic than by taxonomic diversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koperski Paweł

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Different indices of taxonomic diversity (TD and phylogenetic diversity (PD of the macrobenthos were compared to determine the efficient predictors of environmental quality (EQ in different types of watercourses in Poland. Archived data of 864 samples of benthic invertebrates identified to the family level were analysed on the basis of linear and non-linear multiply regression. The strengths of the correlations between two measures of EQ:BMWPpl (British Monitoring Working Party score system, Polish modification and MMI (Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index and the values of taxonomic richness and three well-known TD indices: Shannon, Margalef and J' Evenness were compared to those for values of three PD indices, based on taxonomic distinctness. Taxonomic richness and all PD indices correlated more strongly with both measures of EQ than all TD indices. Correlations with both types of diversity indices were visibly stronger for BMWPpl when compared with MMI. We suggest that analysed indices of PD, especially MDis (mean phylogenetic distance between families in a sample, are related with EQ strongly enough to be taken into account as potential metrics in selection procedures of biological assessment.

  4. House spider genome uncovers evolutionary shifts in the diversity and expression of black widow venom proteins associated with extreme toxicity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gendreau, Kerry L; Haney, Robert A; Schwager, Evelyn E; Wierschin, Torsten; Stanke, Mario; Richards, Stephen; Garb, Jessica E

    2017-02-16

    Black widow spiders are infamous for their neurotoxic venom, which can cause extreme and long-lasting pain. This unusual venom is dominated by latrotoxins and latrodectins, two protein families virtually unknown outside of the black widow genus Latrodectus, that are difficult to study given the paucity of spider genomes. Using tissue-, sex- and stage-specific expression data, we analyzed the recently sequenced genome of the house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum), a close relative of black widows, to investigate latrotoxin and latrodectin diversity, expression and evolution. We discovered at least 47 latrotoxin genes in the house spider genome, many of which are tandem-arrayed. Latrotoxins vary extensively in predicted structural domains and expression, implying their significant functional diversification. Phylogenetic analyses show latrotoxins have substantially duplicated after the Latrodectus/Parasteatoda split and that they are also related to proteins found in endosymbiotic bacteria. Latrodectin genes are less numerous than latrotoxins, but analyses show their recruitment for venom function from neuropeptide hormone genes following duplication, inversion and domain truncation. While latrodectins and other peptides are highly expressed in house spider and black widow venom glands, latrotoxins account for a far smaller percentage of house spider venom gland expression. The house spider genome sequence provides novel insights into the evolution of venom toxins once considered unique to black widows. Our results greatly expand the size of the latrotoxin gene family, reinforce its narrow phylogenetic distribution, and provide additional evidence for the lateral transfer of latrotoxins between spiders and bacterial endosymbionts. Moreover, we strengthen the evidence for the evolution of latrodectin venom genes from the ecdysozoan Ion Transport Peptide (ITP)/Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormone (CHH) neuropeptide superfamily. The lower expression of latrotoxins in

  5. Complete mitochondrial genome of Bugula neritina (Bryozoa, Gymnolaemata, Cheilostomata: phylogenetic position of Bryozoa and phylogeny of lophophorates within the Lophotrochozoa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jang Kuem

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The phylogenetic position of Bryozoa is one of the most controversial issues in metazoan phylogeny. In an attempt to address this issue, the first bryozoan mitochondrial genome from Flustrellidra hispida (Gymnolaemata, Ctenostomata was recently sequenced and characterized. Unfortunately, it has extensive gene translocation and extremely reduced size. In addition, the phylogenies obtained from the result were conflicting, so they failed to assign a reliable phylogenetic position to Bryozoa or to clarify lophophorate phylogeny. Thus, it is necessary to characterize further mitochondrial genomes from slowly-evolving bryozoans to obtain a more credible lophophorate phylogeny. Results The complete mitochondrial genome (15,433 bp of Bugula neritina (Bryozoa, Gymnolaemata, Cheilostomata, one of the most widely distributed cheliostome bryozoans, is sequenced. This second bryozoan mitochondrial genome contains the set of 37 components generally observed in other metazoans, differing from that of F. hispida (Bryozoa, Gymnolaemata, Ctenostomata, which has only 36 components with loss of tRNAser(ucn genes. The B. neritina mitochondrial genome possesses 27 multiple noncoding regions. The gene order is more similar to those of the two remaining lophophorate phyla (Brachiopoda and Phoronida and a chiton Katharina tunicate than to that of F. hispida. Phylogenetic analyses based on the nucleotide sequences or amino acid residues of 12 protein-coding genes showed consistently that, within the Lophotrochozoa, the monophyly of the bryozoan class Gymnolaemata (B. neritina and F. hispida was strongly supported and the bryozoan clade was grouped with brachiopods. Echiura appeared as a subtaxon of Annelida, and Entoprocta as a sister taxon of Phoronida. The clade of Bryozoa + Brachiopoda was clustered with either the clade of Annelida-Echiura or that of Phoronida + Entoprocta. Conclusion This study presents the complete mitochondrial genome of a

  6. Comparative genomics of the lactic acid bacteria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makarova, K.; Slesarev, A.; Wolf, Y.; Sorokin, A.; Mirkin, B.; Koonin, E.; Pavlov, A.; Pavlova, N.; Karamychev, V.; Polouchine, N.; Shakhova, V.; Grigoriev, I.; Lou, Y.; Rokhsar, D.; Lucas, S.; Huang, K.; Goodstein, D. M.; Hawkins, T.; Plengvidhya, V.; Welker, D.; Hughes, J.; Goh, Y.; Benson, A.; Baldwin, K.; Lee, J. -H.; Diaz-Muniz, I.; Dosti, B.; Smeianov, V; Wechter, W.; Barabote, R.; Lorca, G.; Altermann, E.; Barrangou, R.; Ganesan, B.; Xie, Y.; Rawsthorne, H.; Tamir, D.; Parker, C.; Breidt, F.; Broadbent, J.; Hutkins, R.; O' Sullivan, D.; Steele, J.; Unlu, G.; Saier, M.; Klaenhammer, T.; Richardson, P.; Kozyavkin, S.; Weimer, B.; Mills, D.

    2006-06-01

    Lactic acid-producing bacteria are associated with various plant and animal niches and play a key role in the production of fermented foods and beverages. We report nine genome sequences representing the phylogenetic and functional diversity of these bacteria. The small genomes of lactic acid bacteria encode a broad repertoire of transporters for efficient carbon and nitrogen acquisition from the nutritionally rich environments they inhabit and reflect a limited range of biosynthetic capabilities that indicate both prototrophic and auxotrophic strains. Phylogenetic analyses, comparison of gene content across the group, and reconstruction of ancestral gene sets indicate a combination of extensive gene loss and key gene acquisitions via horizontal gene transfer during the coevolution of lactic acid bacteria with their habitats.

  7. Analysis of complete mitochondrial genome sequences increases phylogenetic resolution of bears (Ursidae, a mammalian family that experienced rapid speciation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryder Oliver A

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite the small number of ursid species, bear phylogeny has long been a focus of study due to their conservation value, as all bear genera have been classified as endangered at either the species or subspecies level. The Ursidae family represents a typical example of rapid evolutionary radiation. Previous analyses with a single mitochondrial (mt gene or a small number of mt genes either provide weak support or a large unresolved polytomy for ursids. We revisit the contentious relationships within Ursidae by analyzing complete mt genome sequences and evaluating the performance of both entire mt genomes and constituent mtDNA genes in recovering a phylogeny of extremely recent speciation events. Results This mitochondrial genome-based phylogeny provides strong evidence that the spectacled bear diverged first, while within the genus Ursus, the sloth bear is the sister taxon of all the other five ursines. The latter group is divided into the brown bear/polar bear and the two black bears/sun bear assemblages. These findings resolve the previous conflicts between trees using partial mt genes. The ability of different categories of mt protein coding genes to recover the correct phylogeny is concordant with previous analyses for taxa with deep divergence times. This study provides a robust Ursidae phylogenetic framework for future validation by additional independent evidence, and also has significant implications for assisting in the resolution of other similarly difficult phylogenetic investigations. Conclusion Identification of base composition bias and utilization of the combined data of whole mitochondrial genome sequences has allowed recovery of a strongly supported phylogeny that is upheld when using multiple alternative outgroups for the Ursidae, a mammalian family that underwent a rapid radiation since the mid- to late Pliocene. It remains to be seen if the reliability of mt genome analysis will hold up in studies of other

  8. Phylogenetic diversity does not capture body size variation at risk in the world's mammals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fritz, Susanne A; Purvis, Andy

    2010-01-01

    Mammals contribute to important ecosystem processes and services, but many mammalian species are threatened with extinction. We compare how global patterns in three measures of mammalian diversity--species richness, phylogenetic diversity (PD) and body mass variance (BMV)--would change if all...... currently threatened species were lost. Given that many facets of species' ecology and life history scale predictably with body mass, the BMV in a region roughly reflects the diversity of species' roles within ecosystems and so is a simple proxy for functional diversity (FD). PD is also often considered...... more BMV than under random extinction, while only 11 per cent would lose significantly more PD. Ecosystem consequences of these selective losses may be profound, especially throughout the tropics, but are not captured by PD. This low surrogacy stresses a need for conservation prioritization based...

  9. Comparing Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes using genome topology networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jianping; Gu, Jianlei; Zhang, Liang; Zhang, Chenyi; Deng, Xiao; Dou, Tonghai; Zhao, Guoping; Zhou, Yan

    2015-02-14

    Over the last decade, emerging research methods, such as comparative genomic analysis and phylogenetic study, have yielded new insights into genotypes and phenotypes of closely related bacterial strains. Several findings have revealed that genomic structural variations (SVs), including gene gain/loss, gene duplication and genome rearrangement, can lead to different phenotypes among strains, and an investigation of genes affected by SVs may extend our knowledge of the relationships between SVs and phenotypes in microbes, especially in pathogenic bacteria. In this work, we introduce a 'Genome Topology Network' (GTN) method based on gene homology and gene locations to analyze genomic SVs and perform phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, the concept of 'unfixed ortholog' has been proposed, whose members are affected by SVs in genome topology among close species. To improve the precision of 'unfixed ortholog' recognition, a strategy to detect annotation differences and complete gene annotation was applied. To assess the GTN method, a set of thirteen complete M. tuberculosis genomes was analyzed as a case study. GTNs with two different gene homology-assigning methods were built, the Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG) method and the orthoMCL clustering method, and two phylogenetic trees were constructed accordingly, which may provide additional insights into whole genome-based phylogenetic analysis. We obtained 24 unfixable COG groups, of which most members were related to immunogenicity and drug resistance, such as PPE-repeat proteins (COG5651) and transcriptional regulator TetR gene family members (COG1309). The GTN method has been implemented in PERL and released on our website. The tool can be downloaded from http://homepage.fudan.edu.cn/zhouyan/gtn/ , and allows re-annotating the 'lost' genes among closely related genomes, analyzing genes affected by SVs, and performing phylogenetic analysis. With this tool, many immunogenic-related and drug resistance-related genes

  10. Pan-genome and phylogeny of Bacillus cereus sensu lato.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazinet, Adam L

    2017-08-02

    Bacillus cereus sensu lato (s. l.) is an ecologically diverse bacterial group of medical and agricultural significance. In this study, I use publicly available genomes and novel bioinformatic workflows to characterize the B. cereus s. l. pan-genome and perform the largest phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of this group to date in terms of the number of genes and taxa included. With these fundamental data in hand, I identify genes associated with particular phenotypic traits (i.e., "pan-GWAS" analysis), and quantify the degree to which taxa sharing common attributes are phylogenetically clustered. A rapid k-mer based approach (Mash) was used to create reduced representations of selected Bacillus genomes, and a fast distance-based phylogenetic analysis of this data (FastME) was performed to determine which species should be included in B. cereus s. l. The complete genomes of eight B. cereus s. l. species were annotated de novo with Prokka, and these annotations were used by Roary to produce the B. cereus s. l. pan-genome. Scoary was used to associate gene presence and absence patterns with various phenotypes. The orthologous protein sequence clusters produced by Roary were filtered and used to build HaMStR databases of gene models that were used in turn to construct phylogenetic data matrices. Phylogenetic analyses used RAxML, DendroPy, ClonalFrameML, PAUP*, and SplitsTree. Bayesian model-based population genetic analysis assigned taxa to clusters using hierBAPS. The genealogical sorting index was used to quantify the phylogenetic clustering of taxa sharing common attributes. The B. cereus s. l. pan-genome currently consists of ≈60,000 genes, ≈600 of which are "core" (common to at least 99% of taxa sampled). Pan-GWAS analysis revealed genes associated with phenotypes such as isolation source, oxygen requirement, and ability to cause diseases such as anthrax or food poisoning. Extensive phylogenetic analyses using an unprecedented amount of data

  11. Diversity and Genome Analysis of Australian and Global Oilseed Brassica napus L. Germplasm Using Transcriptomics and Whole Genome Re-sequencing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Michelle Malmberg

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Intensive breeding of Brassica napus has resulted in relatively low diversity, such that B. napus would benefit from germplasm improvement schemes that sustain diversity. As such, samples representative of global germplasm pools need to be assessed for existing population structure, diversity and linkage disequilibrium (LD. Complexity reduction genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS methods, including GBS-transcriptomics (GBS-t, enable cost-effective screening of a large number of samples, while whole genome re-sequencing (WGR delivers the ability to generate large numbers of unbiased genomic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, and identify structural variants (SVs. Furthermore, the development of genomic tools based on whole genomes representative of global oilseed diversity and orientated by the reference genome has substantial industry relevance and will be highly beneficial for canola breeding. As recent studies have focused on European and Chinese varieties, a global diversity panel as well as a substantial number of Australian spring types were included in this study. Focusing on industry relevance, 633 varieties were initially genotyped using GBS-t to examine population structure using 61,037 SNPs. Subsequently, 149 samples representative of global diversity were selected for WGR and both data sets used for a side-by-side evaluation of diversity and LD. The WGR data was further used to develop genomic resources consisting of a list of 4,029,750 high-confidence SNPs annotated using SnpEff, and SVs in the form of 10,976 deletions and 2,556 insertions. These resources form the basis of a reliable and repeatable system allowing greater integration between canola genomics studies, with a strong focus on breeding germplasm and industry applicability.

  12. Genomic diversity of Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus strains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Yi-Peng; Cheng, Ruo-Lin; Xi, Yu; Zhang, Chuan-Xi

    2013-07-01

    Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a baculovirus that selectively infects the domestic silkworm. In this study, six BmNPV strains were compared at the whole genome level. We found that the number of bro genes and the composition of the homologous regions (hrs) are the two primary areas of divergence within these genomes. When we compared the ORFs of these BmNPV variants, we noticed a high degree of sequence divergence in the ORFs that are not baculovirus core genes. This result is consistent with the results derived from phylogenetic trees and evolutionary pressure analyses of these ORFs, indicating that ORFs that are not core genes likely play important roles in the evolution of BmNPV strains. The evolutionary relationships of these BmNPV strains might be explained by their geographic origins or those of their hosts. In addition, the total number of hr palindromes seems to affect viral DNA replication in Bm5 cells. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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    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

  14. Integrating Taxonomic, Functional and Phylogenetic Beta Diversities: Interactive Effects with the Biome and Land Use across Taxa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corbelli, Julian Martin; Zurita, Gustavo Andres; Filloy, Julieta; Galvis, Juan Pablo; Vespa, Natalia Isabel; Bellocq, Isabel

    2015-01-01

    The spatial distribution of species, functional traits and phylogenetic relationships at both the regional and local scales provide complementary approaches to study patterns of biodiversity and help to untangle the mechanisms driving community assembly. Few studies have simultaneously considered the taxonomic (TBD), functional (FBD) and phylogenetic (PBD) facets of beta diversity. Here we analyze the associations between TBD, FBD, and PBD with the biome (representing different regional species pools) and land use, and investigate whether TBD, FBD and PBD were correlated. In the study design we considered two widely used indicator taxa (birds and ants) from two contrasting biomes (subtropical forest and grassland) and land uses (tree plantations and cropfields) in the southern Neotropics. Non-metric multidimensional scaling showed that taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic distances were associated to biome and land use; study sites grouped into four groups on the bi-dimensional space (cropfields in forest and grassland, and tree plantations in forest and grassland), and that was consistent across beta diversity facets and taxa. Mantel and PERMANOVA tests showed that TBD, FBD and PBD were positively correlated for both bird and ant assemblages; in general, partial correlations were also significant. Some of the functional traits considered here were conserved along phylogeny. Our results will contribute to the development of sound land use planning and beta diversity conservation.

  15. Integrating Taxonomic, Functional and Phylogenetic Beta Diversities: Interactive Effects with the Biome and Land Use across Taxa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corbelli, Julian Martin; Zurita, Gustavo Andres; Filloy, Julieta; Galvis, Juan Pablo; Vespa, Natalia Isabel; Bellocq, Isabel

    2015-01-01

    The spatial distribution of species, functional traits and phylogenetic relationships at both the regional and local scales provide complementary approaches to study patterns of biodiversity and help to untangle the mechanisms driving community assembly. Few studies have simultaneously considered the taxonomic (TBD), functional (FBD) and phylogenetic (PBD) facets of beta diversity. Here we analyze the associations between TBD, FBD, and PBD with the biome (representing different regional species pools) and land use, and investigate whether TBD, FBD and PBD were correlated. In the study design we considered two widely used indicator taxa (birds and ants) from two contrasting biomes (subtropical forest and grassland) and land uses (tree plantations and cropfields) in the southern Neotropics. Non-metric multidimensional scaling showed that taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic distances were associated to biome and land use; study sites grouped into four groups on the bi-dimensional space (cropfields in forest and grassland, and tree plantations in forest and grassland), and that was consistent across beta diversity facets and taxa. Mantel and PERMANOVA tests showed that TBD, FBD and PBD were positively correlated for both bird and ant assemblages; in general, partial correlations were also significant. Some of the functional traits considered here were conserved along phylogeny. Our results will contribute to the development of sound land use planning and beta diversity conservation. PMID:25978319

  16. Integrating Taxonomic, Functional and Phylogenetic Beta Diversities: Interactive Effects with the Biome and Land Use across Taxa.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julian Martin Corbelli

    Full Text Available The spatial distribution of species, functional traits and phylogenetic relationships at both the regional and local scales provide complementary approaches to study patterns of biodiversity and help to untangle the mechanisms driving community assembly. Few studies have simultaneously considered the taxonomic (TBD, functional (FBD and phylogenetic (PBD facets of beta diversity. Here we analyze the associations between TBD, FBD, and PBD with the biome (representing different regional species pools and land use, and investigate whether TBD, FBD and PBD were correlated. In the study design we considered two widely used indicator taxa (birds and ants from two contrasting biomes (subtropical forest and grassland and land uses (tree plantations and cropfields in the southern Neotropics. Non-metric multidimensional scaling showed that taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic distances were associated to biome and land use; study sites grouped into four groups on the bi-dimensional space (cropfields in forest and grassland, and tree plantations in forest and grassland, and that was consistent across beta diversity facets and taxa. Mantel and PERMANOVA tests showed that TBD, FBD and PBD were positively correlated for both bird and ant assemblages; in general, partial correlations were also significant. Some of the functional traits considered here were conserved along phylogeny. Our results will contribute to the development of sound land use planning and beta diversity conservation.

  17. SWPhylo – A Novel Tool for Phylogenomic Inferences by Comparison of Oligonucleotide Patterns and Integration of Genome-Based and Gene-Based Phylogenetic Trees

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Xiaoyu; Reva, Oleg N

    2018-01-01

    Modern phylogenetic studies may benefit from the analysis of complete genome sequences of various microorganisms. Evolutionary inferences based on genome-scale analysis are believed to be more accurate than the gene-based alternative. However, the computational complexity of current phylogenomic procedures, inappropriateness of standard phylogenetic tools to process genome-wide data, and lack of reliable substitution models which correlates with alignment-free phylogenomic approaches deter microbiologists from using these opportunities. For example, the super-matrix and super-tree approaches of phylogenomics use multiple integrated genomic loci or individual gene-based trees to infer an overall consensus tree. However, these approaches potentially multiply errors of gene annotation and sequence alignment not mentioning the computational complexity and laboriousness of the methods. In this article, we demonstrate that the annotation- and alignment-free comparison of genome-wide tetranucleotide frequencies, termed oligonucleotide usage patterns (OUPs), allowed a fast and reliable inference of phylogenetic trees. These were congruent to the corresponding whole genome super-matrix trees in terms of tree topology when compared with other known approaches including 16S ribosomal RNA and GyrA protein sequence comparison, complete genome-based MAUVE, and CVTree methods. A Web-based program to perform the alignment-free OUP-based phylogenomic inferences was implemented at http://swphylo.bi.up.ac.za/. Applicability of the tool was tested on different taxa from subspecies to intergeneric levels. Distinguishing between closely related taxonomic units may be enforced by providing the program with alignments of marker protein sequences, eg, GyrA. PMID:29511354

  18. Using Whole Genome Analysis to Examine Recombination across Diverse Sequence Types of Staphylococcus aureus.

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    Elizabeth M Driebe

    Full Text Available Staphylococcus aureus is an important clinical pathogen worldwide and understanding this organism's phylogeny and, in particular, the role of recombination, is important both to understand the overall spread of virulent lineages and to characterize outbreaks. To further elucidate the phylogeny of S. aureus, 35 diverse strains were sequenced using whole genome sequencing. In addition, 29 publicly available whole genome sequences were included to create a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP-based phylogenetic tree encompassing 11 distinct lineages. All strains of a particular sequence type fell into the same clade with clear groupings of the major clonal complexes of CC8, CC5, CC30, CC45 and CC1. Using a novel analysis method, we plotted the homoplasy density and SNP density across the whole genome and found evidence of recombination throughout the entire chromosome, but when we examined individual clonal lineages we found very little recombination. However, when we analyzed three branches of multiple lineages, we saw intermediate and differing levels of recombination between them. These data demonstrate that in S. aureus, recombination occurs across major lineages that subsequently expand in a clonal manner. Estimated mutation rates for the CC8 and CC5 lineages were different from each other. While the CC8 lineage rate was similar to previous studies, the CC5 lineage was 100-fold greater. Fifty known virulence genes were screened in all genomes in silico to determine their distribution across major clades. Thirty-three genes were present variably across clades, most of which were not constrained by ancestry, indicating horizontal gene transfer or gene loss.

  19. Penicillium arizonense, a new, genome sequenced fungal species, reveals a high chemical diversity in secreted metabolites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grijseels, Sietske; Nielsen, Jens Christian; Randelovic, Milica; Nielsen, Jens; Nielsen, Kristian Fog; Workman, Mhairi; Frisvad, Jens Christian

    2016-01-01

    A new soil-borne species belonging to the Penicillium section Canescentia is described, Penicillium arizonense sp. nov. (type strain CBS 141311T = IBT 12289T). The genome was sequenced and assembled into 33.7 Mb containing 12,502 predicted genes. A phylogenetic assessment based on marker genes confirmed the grouping of P. arizonense within section Canescentia. Compared to related species, P. arizonense proved to encode a high number of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, in particular hemicellulases. Mining the genome for genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis resulted in the identification of 62 putative biosynthetic gene clusters. Extracts of P. arizonense were analysed for secondary metabolites and austalides, pyripyropenes, tryptoquivalines, fumagillin, pseurotin A, curvulinic acid and xanthoepocin were detected. A comparative analysis against known pathways enabled the proposal of biosynthetic gene clusters in P. arizonense responsible for the synthesis of all detected compounds except curvulinic acid. The capacity to produce biomass degrading enzymes and the identification of a high chemical diversity in secreted bioactive secondary metabolites, offers a broad range of potential industrial applications for the new species P. arizonense. The description and availability of the genome sequence of P. arizonense, further provides the basis for biotechnological exploitation of this species. PMID:27739446

  20. Expanding the Diversity of Mycobacteriophages: Insights into Genome Architecture and Evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pope, Welkin H.; Jacobs-Sera, Deborah; Russell, Daniel A.; Peebles, Craig L.; Al-Atrache, Zein; Alcoser, Turi A.; Alexander, Lisa M.; Alfano, Matthew B.; Alford, Samantha T.; Amy, Nichols E.; Anderson, Marie D.; Anderson, Alexander G.; Ang, Andrew A. S.; Ares, Manuel; Barber, Amanda J.; Barker, Lucia P.; Barrett, Jonathan M.; Barshop, William D.; Bauerle, Cynthia M.; Bayles, Ian M.; Belfield, Katherine L.; Best, Aaron A.; Borjon, Agustin; Bowman, Charles A.; Boyer, Christine A.; Bradley, Kevin W.; Bradley, Victoria A.; Broadway, Lauren N.; Budwal, Keshav; Busby, Kayla N.; Campbell, Ian W.; Campbell, Anne M.; Carey, Alyssa; Caruso, Steven M.; Chew, Rebekah D.; Cockburn, Chelsea L.; Cohen, Lianne B.; Corajod, Jeffrey M.; Cresawn, Steven G.; Davis, Kimberly R.; Deng, Lisa; Denver, Dee R.; Dixon, Breyon R.; Ekram, Sahrish; Elgin, Sarah C. R.; Engelsen, Angela E.; English, Belle E. V.; Erb, Marcella L.; Estrada, Crystal; Filliger, Laura Z.; Findley, Ann M.; Forbes, Lauren; Forsyth, Mark H.; Fox, Tyler M.; Fritz, Melissa J.; Garcia, Roberto; George, Zindzi D.; Georges, Anne E.; Gissendanner, Christopher R.; Goff, Shannon; Goldstein, Rebecca; Gordon, Kobie C.; Green, Russell D.; Guerra, Stephanie L.; Guiney-Olsen, Krysta R.; Guiza, Bridget G.; Haghighat, Leila; Hagopian, Garrett V.; Harmon, Catherine J.; Harmson, Jeremy S.; Hartzog, Grant A.; Harvey, Samuel E.; He, Siping; He, Kevin J.; Healy, Kaitlin E.; Higinbotham, Ellen R.; Hildebrandt, Erin N.; Ho, Jason H.; Hogan, Gina M.; Hohenstein, Victoria G.; Holz, Nathan A.; Huang, Vincent J.; Hufford, Ericka L.; Hynes, Peter M.; Jackson, Arrykka S.; Jansen, Erica C.; Jarvik, Jonathan; Jasinto, Paul G.; Jordan, Tuajuanda C.; Kasza, Tomas; Katelyn, Murray A.; Kelsey, Jessica S.; Kerrigan, Larisa A.; Khaw, Daryl; Kim, Junghee; Knutter, Justin Z.; Ko, Ching-Chung; Larkin, Gail V.; Laroche, Jennifer R.; Latif, Asma; Leuba, Kohana D.; Leuba, Sequoia I.; Lewis, Lynn O.; Loesser-Casey, Kathryn E.; Long, Courtney A.; Lopez, A. Javier; Lowery, Nicholas; Lu, Tina Q.; Mac, Victor; Masters, Isaac R.; McCloud, Jazmyn J.; McDonough, Molly J.; Medenbach, Andrew J.; Menon, Anjali; Miller, Rachel; Morgan, Brandon K.; Ng, Patrick C.; Nguyen, Elvis; Nguyen, Katrina T.; Nguyen, Emilie T.; Nicholson, Kaylee M.; Parnell, Lindsay A.; Peirce, Caitlin E.; Perz, Allison M.; Peterson, Luke J.; Pferdehirt, Rachel E.; Philip, Seegren V.; Pogliano, Kit; Pogliano, Joe; Polley, Tamsen; Puopolo, Erica J.; Rabinowitz, Hannah S.; Resiss, Michael J.; Rhyan, Corwin N.; Robinson, Yetta M.; Rodriguez, Lauren L.; Rose, Andrew C.; Rubin, Jeffrey D.; Ruby, Jessica A.; Saha, Margaret S.; Sandoz, James W.; Savitskaya, Judith; Schipper, Dale J.; Schnitzler, Christine E.; Schott, Amanda R.; Segal, J. Bradley; Shaffer, Christopher D.; Sheldon, Kathryn E.; Shepard, Erica M.; Shepardson, Jonathan W.; Shroff, Madav K.; Simmons, Jessica M.; Simms, Erika F.; Simpson, Brandy M.; Sinclair, Kathryn M.; Sjoholm, Robert L.; Slette, Ingrid J.; Spaulding, Blaire C.; Straub, Clark L.; Stukey, Joseph; Sughrue, Trevor; Tang, Tin-Yun; Tatyana, Lyons M.; Taylor, Stephen B.; Taylor, Barbara J.; Temple, Louise M.; Thompson, Jasper V.; Tokarz, Michael P.; Trapani, Stephanie E.; Troum, Alexander P.; Tsay, Jonathan; Tubbs, Anthony T.; Walton, Jillian M.; Wang, Danielle H.; Wang, Hannah; Warner, John R.; Weisser, Emilie G.; Wendler, Samantha C.; Weston-Hafer, Kathleen A.; Whelan, Hilary M.; Williamson, Kurt E.; Willis, Angelica N.; Wirtshafter, Hannah S.; Wong, Theresa W.; Wu, Phillip; Yang, Yun jeong; Yee, Brandon C.; Zaidins, David A.; Zhang, Bo; Zúniga, Melina Y.; Hendrix, Roger W.; Hatfull, Graham F.

    2011-01-01

    Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All mycobacteriophages characterized to date are dsDNA tailed phages, and have either siphoviral or myoviral morphotypes. However, their genetic diversity is considerable, and although sixty-two genomes have been sequenced and comparatively analyzed, these likely represent only a small portion of the diversity of the mycobacteriophage population at large. Here we report the isolation, sequencing and comparative genomic analysis of 18 new mycobacteriophages isolated from geographically distinct locations within the United States. Although no clear correlation between location and genome type can be discerned, these genomes expand our knowledge of mycobacteriophage diversity and enhance our understanding of the roles of mobile elements in viral evolution. Expansion of the number of mycobacteriophages grouped within Cluster A provides insights into the basis of immune specificity in these temperate phages, and we also describe a novel example of apparent immunity theft. The isolation and genomic analysis of bacteriophages by freshman college students provides an example of an authentic research experience for novice scientists. PMID:21298013

  1. Expanding the diversity of mycobacteriophages: insights into genome architecture and evolution.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Welkin H Pope

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All mycobacteriophages characterized to date are dsDNA tailed phages, and have either siphoviral or myoviral morphotypes. However, their genetic diversity is considerable, and although sixty-two genomes have been sequenced and comparatively analyzed, these likely represent only a small portion of the diversity of the mycobacteriophage population at large. Here we report the isolation, sequencing and comparative genomic analysis of 18 new mycobacteriophages isolated from geographically distinct locations within the United States. Although no clear correlation between location and genome type can be discerned, these genomes expand our knowledge of mycobacteriophage diversity and enhance our understanding of the roles of mobile elements in viral evolution. Expansion of the number of mycobacteriophages grouped within Cluster A provides insights into the basis of immune specificity in these temperate phages, and we also describe a novel example of apparent immunity theft. The isolation and genomic analysis of bacteriophages by freshman college students provides an example of an authentic research experience for novice scientists.

  2. Comparative genomic analysis of multidrug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pan F

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Fen Pan,1 Hong Zhang,1 Xiaoyan Dong,2 Weixing Ye,3 Ping He,4 Shulin Zhang,4 Jeff Xianchao Zhu,5 Nanbert Zhong1,2,6 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shanghai Children’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China; 2Department of Respiratory, Shanghai Children’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China; 3Shanghai Personal Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Shanghai, China; 4Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; 5Zhejiang Bioruida Biotechnology co. Ltd, Zhejiang, China; 6New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NY, USA Introduction: Multidrug resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae has emerged as a serious problem to public health. A further understanding of the genetic diversity in antibiotic-resistant S. pneumoniae isolates is needed. Methods: We conducted whole-genome resequencing for 25 pneumococcal strains isolated from children with different antimicrobial resistance profiles. Comparative analysis focus on detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and insertions and deletions (indels was conducted. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis was applied to investigate the genetic relationship among these strains. Results: The genome size of the isolates was ~2.1 Mbp, covering >90% of the total estimated size of the reference genome. The overall G+C% content was ~39.5%, and there were 2,200–2,400 open reading frames. All isolates with different drug resistance profiles harbored many indels (range 131–171 and SNPs (range 16,103–28,128. Genetic diversity analysis showed that the variation of different genes were associated with specific antibiotic resistance. Known antibiotic resistance genes (pbps, murMN, ciaH, rplD, sulA, and dpr were identified, and new genes (regR, argH, trkH, and PTS-EII closely related with antibiotic resistance were found, although these genes were primarily annotated

  3. Why and how might genetic and phylogenetic diversity be reflected in the identification of key biodiversity areas?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, T M; Cuttelod, A; Faith, D P; Garcia-Moreno, J; Langhammer, P; Pérez-Espona, S

    2015-02-19

    'Key biodiversity areas' are defined as sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. The identification of these sites builds from existing approaches based on measures of species and ecosystem diversity and process. Here, we therefore build from the work of Sgró et al. (2011 Evol. Appl. 4, 326-337. (doi:10.1111/j.1752-4571.2010.00157.x)) to extend a framework for how components of genetic diversity might be considered in the identification of key biodiversity areas. We make three recommendations to inform the ongoing process of consolidating a key biodiversity areas standard: (i) thresholds for the threatened species criterion currently consider a site's share of a threatened species' population; expand these to include the proportion of the species' genetic diversity unique to a site; (ii) expand criterion for 'threatened species' to consider 'threatened taxa' and (iii) expand the centre of endemism criterion to identify as key biodiversity areas those sites holding a threshold proportion of the compositional or phylogenetic diversity of species (within a taxonomic group) whose restricted ranges collectively define a centre of endemism. We also recommend consideration of occurrence of EDGE species (i.e. threatened phylogenetic diversity) in key biodiversity areas to prioritize species-specific conservation actions among sites.

  4. Pan-Genome Analysis of Human Gastric Pathogen H. pylori: Comparative Genomics and Pathogenomics Approaches to Identify Regions Associated with Pathogenicity and Prediction of Potential Core Therapeutic Targets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ali, Amjad; Naz, Anam; Soares, Siomar C.

    2015-01-01

    -genome approach; the predicted conserved gene families (1,193) constitute similar to 77% of the average H. pylori genome and 45% of the global gene repertoire of the species. Reverse vaccinology strategies have been adopted to identify and narrow down the potential core-immunogenic candidates. Total of 28 nonhost....... Pan-genome analyses of the global representative H. pylori isolates consisting of 39 complete genomes are presented in this paper. Phylogenetic analyses have revealed close relationships among geographically diverse strains of H. pylori. The conservation among these genomes was further analyzed by pan...

  5. Whole mitochondrial genome sequencing of domestic horses reveals incorporation of extensive wild horse diversity during domestication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lippold Sebastian

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background DNA target enrichment by micro-array capture combined with high throughput sequencing technologies provides the possibility to obtain large amounts of sequence data (e.g. whole mitochondrial DNA genomes from multiple individuals at relatively low costs. Previously, whole mitochondrial genome data for domestic horses (Equus caballus were limited to only a few specimens and only short parts of the mtDNA genome (especially the hypervariable region were investigated for larger sample sets. Results In this study we investigated whole mitochondrial genomes of 59 domestic horses from 44 breeds and a single Przewalski horse (Equus przewalski using a recently described multiplex micro-array capture approach. We found 473 variable positions within the domestic horses, 292 of which are parsimony-informative, providing a well resolved phylogenetic tree. Our divergence time estimate suggests that the mitochondrial genomes of modern horse breeds shared a common ancestor around 93,000 years ago and no later than 38,000 years ago. A Bayesian skyline plot (BSP reveals a significant population expansion beginning 6,000-8,000 years ago with an ongoing exponential growth until the present, similar to other domestic animal species. Our data further suggest that a large sample of wild horse diversity was incorporated into the domestic population; specifically, at least 46 of the mtDNA lineages observed in domestic horses (73% already existed before the beginning of domestication about 5,000 years ago. Conclusions Our study provides a window into the maternal origins of extant domestic horses and confirms that modern domestic breeds present a wide sample of the mtDNA diversity found in ancestral, now extinct, wild horse populations. The data obtained allow us to detect a population expansion event coinciding with the beginning of domestication and to estimate both the minimum number of female horses incorporated into the domestic gene pool and the

  6. Unrealistic phylogenetic trees may improve phylogenetic footprinting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nettling, Martin; Treutler, Hendrik; Cerquides, Jesus; Grosse, Ivo

    2017-06-01

    The computational investigation of DNA binding motifs from binding sites is one of the classic tasks in bioinformatics and a prerequisite for understanding gene regulation as a whole. Due to the development of sequencing technologies and the increasing number of available genomes, approaches based on phylogenetic footprinting become increasingly attractive. Phylogenetic footprinting requires phylogenetic trees with attached substitution probabilities for quantifying the evolution of binding sites, but these trees and substitution probabilities are typically not known and cannot be estimated easily. Here, we investigate the influence of phylogenetic trees with different substitution probabilities on the classification performance of phylogenetic footprinting using synthetic and real data. For synthetic data we find that the classification performance is highest when the substitution probability used for phylogenetic footprinting is similar to that used for data generation. For real data, however, we typically find that the classification performance of phylogenetic footprinting surprisingly increases with increasing substitution probabilities and is often highest for unrealistically high substitution probabilities close to one. This finding suggests that choosing realistic model assumptions might not always yield optimal predictions in general and that choosing unrealistically high substitution probabilities close to one might actually improve the classification performance of phylogenetic footprinting. The proposed PF is implemented in JAVA and can be downloaded from https://github.com/mgledi/PhyFoo. : martin.nettling@informatik.uni-halle.de. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  7. Complete mitochondrial genomes elucidate phylogenetic relationships of the deep-sea octocoral families Coralliidae and Paragorgiidae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueroa, Diego F.; Baco, Amy R.

    2014-01-01

    In the past decade, molecular phylogenetic analyses of octocorals have shown that the current morphological taxonomic classification of these organisms needs to be revised. The latest phylogenetic analyses show that most octocorals can be divided into three main clades. One of these clades contains the families Coralliidae and Paragorgiidae. These families share several taxonomically important characters and it has been suggested that they may not be monophyletic; with the possibility of the Coralliidae being a derived branch of the Paragorgiidae. Uncertainty exists not only in the relationship of these two families, but also in the classification of the two genera that make up the Coralliidae, Corallium and Paracorallium. Molecular analyses suggest that the genus Corallium is paraphyletic, and it can be divided into two main clades, with the Paracorallium as members of one of these clades. In this study we sequenced the whole mitochondrial genome of five species of Paragorgia and of five species of Corallium to use in a phylogenetic analysis to achieve two main objectives; the first to elucidate the phylogenetic relationship between the Paragorgiidae and Coralliidae and the second to determine whether the genera Corallium and Paracorallium are monophyletic. Our results show that other members of the Coralliidae share the two novel mitochondrial gene arrangements found in a previous study in Corallium konojoi and Paracorallium japonicum; and that the Corallium konojoi arrangement is also found in the Paragorgiidae. Our phylogenetic reconstruction based on all the protein coding genes and ribosomal RNAs of the mitochondrial genome suggest that the Coralliidae are not a derived branch of the Paragorgiidae, but rather a monophyletic sister branch to the Paragorgiidae. While our manuscript was in review a study was published using morphological data and several fragments from mitochondrial genes to redefine the taxonomy of the Coralliidae. Paracorallium was subsumed

  8. Genome Analysis of the Biotechnologically Relevant Acidophilic Iron Oxidising Strain JA12 Indicates Phylogenetic and Metabolic Diversity within the Novel Genus “Ferrovum”

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ullrich, Sophie R.; Poehlein, Anja; Tischler, Judith S.; González, Carolina; Ossandon, Francisco J.; Daniel, Rolf; Holmes, David S.; Schlömann, Michael; Mühling, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Background Members of the genus “Ferrovum” are ubiquitously distributed in acid mine drainage (AMD) waters which are characterised by their high metal and sulfate loads. So far isolation and microbiological characterisation have only been successful for the designated type strain “Ferrovum myxofaciens” P3G. Thus, knowledge about physiological characteristics and the phylogeny of the genus “Ferrovum” is extremely scarce. Objective In order to access the wider genetic pool of the genus “Ferrovum” we sequenced the genome of a “Ferrovum”-containing mixed culture and successfully assembled the almost complete genome sequence of the novel “Ferrovum” strain JA12. Phylogeny and Lifestyle The genome-based phylogenetic analysis indicates that strain JA12 and the type strain represent two distinct “Ferrovum” species. “Ferrovum” strain JA12 is characterised by an unusually small genome in comparison to the type strain and other iron oxidising bacteria. The prediction of nutrient assimilation pathways suggests that “Ferrovum” strain JA12 maintains a chemolithoautotrophic lifestyle utilising carbon dioxide and bicarbonate, ammonium and urea, sulfate, phosphate and ferrous iron as carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous and energy sources, respectively. Unique Metabolic Features The potential utilisation of urea by “Ferrovum” strain JA12 is moreover remarkable since it may furthermore represent a strategy among extreme acidophiles to cope with the acidic environment. Unlike other acidophilic chemolithoautotrophs “Ferrovum” strain JA12 exhibits a complete tricarboxylic acid cycle, a metabolic feature shared with the closer related neutrophilic iron oxidisers among the Betaproteobacteria including Sideroxydans lithotrophicus and Thiobacillus denitrificans. Furthermore, the absence of characteristic redox proteins involved in iron oxidation in the well-studied acidophiles Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (rusticyanin) and Acidithiobacillus

  9. Comparative genome analysis of Basidiomycete fungi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Riley, Robert; Salamov, Asaf; Henrissat, Bernard; Nagy, Laszlo; Brown, Daren; Held, Benjamin; Baker, Scott; Blanchette, Robert; Boussau, Bastien; Doty, Sharon L.; Fagnan, Kirsten; Floudas, Dimitris; Levasseur, Anthony; Manning, Gerard; Martin, Francis; Morin, Emmanuelle; Otillar, Robert; Pisabarro, Antonio; Walton, Jonathan; Wolfe, Ken; Hibbett, David; Grigoriev, Igor

    2013-08-07

    Fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota (basidiomycetes), make up some 37percent of the described fungi, and are important in forestry, agriculture, medicine, and bioenergy. This diverse phylum includes symbionts, pathogens, and saprotrophs including the majority of wood decaying and ectomycorrhizal species. To better understand the genetic diversity of this phylum we compared the genomes of 35 basidiomycetes including 6 newly sequenced genomes. These genomes span extremes of genome size, gene number, and repeat content. Analysis of core genes reveals that some 48percent of basidiomycete proteins are unique to the phylum with nearly half of those (22percent) found in only one organism. Correlations between lifestyle and certain gene families are evident. Phylogenetic patterns of plant biomass-degrading genes in Agaricomycotina suggest a continuum rather than a dichotomy between the white rot and brown rot modes of wood decay. Based on phylogenetically-informed PCA analysis of wood decay genes, we predict that that Botryobasidium botryosum and Jaapia argillacea have properties similar to white rot species, although neither has typical ligninolytic class II fungal peroxidases (PODs). This prediction is supported by growth assays in which both fungi exhibit wood decay with white rot-like characteristics. Based on this, we suggest that the white/brown rot dichotomy may be inadequate to describe the full range of wood decaying fungi. Analysis of the rate of discovery of proteins with no or few homologs suggests the value of continued sequencing of basidiomycete fungi.

  10. Complete Plastid Genome Sequencing of Four Tilia Species (Malvaceae: A Comparative Analysis and Phylogenetic Implications.

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    Jie Cai

    Full Text Available Tilia is an ecologically and economically important genus in the family Malvaceae. However, there is no complete plastid genome of Tilia sequenced to date, and the taxonomy of Tilia is difficult owing to frequent hybridization and polyploidization. A well-supported interspecific relationships of this genus is not available due to limited informative sites from the commonly used molecular markers. We report here the complete plastid genome sequences of four Tilia species determined by the Illumina technology. The Tilia plastid genome is 162,653 bp to 162,796 bp in length, encoding 113 unique genes and a total number of 130 genes. The gene order and organization of the Tilia plastid genome exhibits the general structure of angiosperms and is very similar to other published plastid genomes of Malvaceae. As other long-lived tree genera, the sequence divergence among the four Tilia plastid genomes is very low. And we analyzed the nucleotide substitution patterns and the evolution of insertions and deletions in the Tilia plastid genomes. Finally, we build a phylogeny of the four sampled Tilia species with high supports using plastid phylogenomics, suggesting that it is an efficient way to resolve the phylogenetic relationships of this genus.

  11. Exploring the Genomic Traits of Non-toxigenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strains Isolated in Southern Chile

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    Daniel Castillo

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the leading cause of seafood-borne gastroenteritis worldwide. As reported in other countries, after the rise and fall of the pandemic strain in Chile, other post-pandemic strains have been associated with clinical cases, including strains lacking the major toxins TDH and TRH. Since the presence or absence of tdh and trh genes has been used for diagnostic purposes and as a proxy of the virulence of V. parahaemolyticus isolates, the understanding of virulence in V. parahaemolyticus strains lacking toxins is essential to detect these strains present in water and marine products to avoid possible food-borne infection. In this study, we characterized the genome of four environmental and two clinical non-toxigenic strains (tdh-, trh-, and T3SS2-. Using whole-genome sequencing, phylogenetic, and comparative genome analysis, we identified the core and pan-genome of V. parahaemolyticus of strains of southern Chile. The phylogenetic tree based on the core genome showed low genetic diversity but the analysis of the pan-genome revealed that all strains harbored genomic islands carrying diverse virulence and fitness factors or prophage-like elements that encode toxins like Zot and RTX. Interestingly, the three strains carrying Zot-like toxin have a different sequence, although the alignment showed some conserved areas with the zot sequence found in V. cholerae. In addition, we identified an unexpected diversity in the genetic architecture of the T3SS1 gene cluster and the presence of the T3SS2 gene cluster in a non-pandemic environmental strain. Our study sheds light on the diversity of V. parahaemolyticus strains from the southern Pacific which increases our current knowledge regarding the global diversity of this organism.

  12. Prokaryotic diversity, composition structure, and phylogenetic analysis of microbial communities in leachate sediment ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jingjing; Wu, Weixiang; Chen, Chongjun; Sun, Faqian; Chen, Yingxu

    2011-09-01

    In order to obtain insight into the prokaryotic diversity and community in leachate sediment, a culture-independent DNA-based molecular phylogenetic approach was performed with archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA gene clone libraries derived from leachate sediment of an aged landfill. A total of 59 archaeal and 283 bacterial rDNA phylotypes were identified in 425 archaeal and 375 bacterial analyzed clones. All archaeal clones distributed within two archaeal phyla of the Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota, and well-defined methanogen lineages, especially Methanosaeta spp., are the most numerically dominant species of the archaeal community. Phylogenetic analysis of the bacterial library revealed a variety of pollutant-degrading and biotransforming microorganisms, including 18 distinct phyla. A substantial fraction of bacterial clones showed low levels of similarity with any previously documented sequences and thus might be taxonomically new. Chemical characteristics and phylogenetic inferences indicated that (1) ammonium-utilizing bacteria might form consortia to alleviate or avoid the negative influence of high ammonium concentration on other microorganisms, and (2) members of the Crenarchaeota found in the sediment might be involved in ammonium oxidation. This study is the first to report the composition of the microbial assemblages and phylogenetic characteristics of prokaryotic populations extant in leachate sediment. Additional work on microbial activity and contaminant biodegradation remains to be explored.

  13. Structural and sequence diversity of the transposon Galileo in the Drosophila willistoni genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonçalves, Juliana W; Valiati, Victor Hugo; Delprat, Alejandra; Valente, Vera L S; Ruiz, Alfredo

    2014-09-13

    Galileo is one of three members of the P superfamily of DNA transposons. It was originally discovered in Drosophila buzzatii, in which three segregating chromosomal inversions were shown to have been generated by ectopic recombination between Galileo copies. Subsequently, Galileo was identified in six of 12 sequenced Drosophila genomes, indicating its widespread distribution within this genus. Galileo is strikingly abundant in Drosophila willistoni, a neotropical species that is highly polymorphic for chromosomal inversions, suggesting a role for this transposon in the evolution of its genome. We carried out a detailed characterization of all Galileo copies present in the D. willistoni genome. A total of 191 copies, including 133 with two terminal inverted repeats (TIRs), were classified according to structure in six groups. The TIRs exhibited remarkable variation in their length and structure compared to the most complete copy. Three copies showed extended TIRs due to internal tandem repeats, the insertion of other transposable elements (TEs), or the incorporation of non-TIR sequences into the TIRs. Phylogenetic analyses of the transposase (TPase)-encoding and TIR segments yielded two divergent clades, which we termed Galileo subfamilies V and W. Target-site duplications (TSDs) in D. willistoni Galileo copies were 7- or 8-bp in length, with the consensus sequence GTATTAC. Analysis of the region around the TSDs revealed a target site motif (TSM) with a 15-bp palindrome that may give rise to a stem-loop secondary structure. There is a remarkable abundance and diversity of Galileo copies in the D. willistoni genome, although no functional copies were found. The TIRs in particular have a dynamic structure and extend in different ways, but their ends (required for transposition) are more conserved than the rest of the element. The D. willistoni genome harbors two Galileo subfamilies (V and W) that diverged ~9 million years ago and may have descended from an ancestral

  14. Accurate phylogenetic classification of DNA fragments based onsequence composition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McHardy, Alice C.; Garcia Martin, Hector; Tsirigos, Aristotelis; Hugenholtz, Philip; Rigoutsos, Isidore

    2006-05-01

    Metagenome studies have retrieved vast amounts of sequenceout of a variety of environments, leading to novel discoveries and greatinsights into the uncultured microbial world. Except for very simplecommunities, diversity makes sequence assembly and analysis a verychallenging problem. To understand the structure a 5 nd function ofmicrobial communities, a taxonomic characterization of the obtainedsequence fragments is highly desirable, yet currently limited mostly tothose sequences that contain phylogenetic marker genes. We show that forclades at the rank of domain down to genus, sequence composition allowsthe very accurate phylogenetic 10 characterization of genomic sequence.We developed a composition-based classifier, PhyloPythia, for de novophylogenetic sequence characterization and have trained it on adata setof 340 genomes. By extensive evaluation experiments we show that themethodis accurate across all taxonomic ranks considered, even forsequences that originate fromnovel organisms and are as short as 1kb.Application to two metagenome datasets 15 obtained from samples ofphosphorus-removing sludge showed that the method allows the accurateclassification at genus level of most sequence fragments from thedominant populations, while at the same time correctly characterizingeven larger parts of the samples at higher taxonomic levels.

  15. Analysis of genotype diversity and evolution of Dengue virus serotype 2 using complete genomes

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    Vaishali P. Waman

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Background Dengue is one of the most common arboviral diseases prevalent worldwide and is caused by Dengue viruses (genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. There are four serotypes of Dengue Virus (DENV-1 to DENV-4, each of which is further subdivided into distinct genotypes. DENV-2 is frequently associated with severe dengue infections and epidemics. DENV-2 consists of six genotypes such as Asian/American, Asian I, Asian II, Cosmopolitan, American and sylvatic. Comparative genomic study was carried out to infer population structure of DENV-2 and to analyze the role of evolutionary and spatiotemporal factors in emergence of diversifying lineages. Methods Complete genome sequences of 990 strains of DENV-2 were analyzed using Bayesian-based population genetics and phylogenetic approaches to infer genetically distinct lineages. The role of spatiotemporal factors, genetic recombination and selection pressure in the evolution of DENV-2 is examined using the sequence-based bioinformatics approaches. Results DENV-2 genetic structure is complex and consists of fifteen subpopulations/lineages. The Asian/American genotype is observed to be diversified into seven lineages. The Asian I, Cosmopolitan and sylvatic genotypes were found to be subdivided into two lineages, each. The populations of American and Asian II genotypes were observed to be homogeneous. Significant evidence of episodic positive selection was observed in all the genes, except NS4A. Positive selection operational on a few codons in envelope gene confers antigenic and lineage diversity in the American strains of Asian/American genotype. Selection on codons of non-structural genes was observed to impact diversification of lineages in Asian I, cosmopolitan and sylvatic genotypes. Evidence of intra/inter-genotype recombination was obtained and the uncertainty in classification of recombinant strains was resolved using the population genetics approach. Discussion Complete genome-based analysis

  16. Wild emmer genome architecture and diversity elucidate wheat evolution and domestication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avni, Raz; Nave, Moran; Barad, Omer; Baruch, Kobi; Twardziok, Sven O; Gundlach, Heidrun; Hale, Iago; Mascher, Martin; Spannagl, Manuel; Wiebe, Krystalee; Jordan, Katherine W; Golan, Guy; Deek, Jasline; Ben-Zvi, Batsheva; Ben-Zvi, Gil; Himmelbach, Axel; MacLachlan, Ron P; Sharpe, Andrew G; Fritz, Allan; Ben-David, Roi; Budak, Hikmet; Fahima, Tzion; Korol, Abraham; Faris, Justin D; Hernandez, Alvaro; Mikel, Mark A; Levy, Avraham A; Steffenson, Brian; Maccaferri, Marco; Tuberosa, Roberto; Cattivelli, Luigi; Faccioli, Primetta; Ceriotti, Aldo; Kashkush, Khalil; Pourkheirandish, Mohammad; Komatsuda, Takao; Eilam, Tamar; Sela, Hanan; Sharon, Amir; Ohad, Nir; Chamovitz, Daniel A; Mayer, Klaus F X; Stein, Nils; Ronen, Gil; Peleg, Zvi; Pozniak, Curtis J; Akhunov, Eduard D; Distelfeld, Assaf

    2017-07-07

    Wheat ( Triticum spp.) is one of the founder crops that likely drove the Neolithic transition to sedentary agrarian societies in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago. Identifying genetic modifications underlying wheat's domestication requires knowledge about the genome of its allo-tetraploid progenitor, wild emmer ( T. turgidum ssp. dicoccoides ). We report a 10.1-gigabase assembly of the 14 chromosomes of wild tetraploid wheat, as well as analyses of gene content, genome architecture, and genetic diversity. With this fully assembled polyploid wheat genome, we identified the causal mutations in Brittle Rachis 1 ( TtBtr1 ) genes controlling shattering, a key domestication trait. A study of genomic diversity among wild and domesticated accessions revealed genomic regions bearing the signature of selection under domestication. This reference assembly will serve as a resource for accelerating the genome-assisted improvement of modern wheat varieties. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  17. MBGD update 2013: the microbial genome database for exploring the diversity of microbial world.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uchiyama, Ikuo; Mihara, Motohiro; Nishide, Hiroyo; Chiba, Hirokazu

    2013-01-01

    The microbial genome database for comparative analysis (MBGD, available at http://mbgd.genome.ad.jp/) is a platform for microbial genome comparison based on orthology analysis. As its unique feature, MBGD allows users to conduct orthology analysis among any specified set of organisms; this flexibility allows MBGD to adapt to a variety of microbial genomic study. Reflecting the huge diversity of microbial world, the number of microbial genome projects now becomes several thousands. To efficiently explore the diversity of the entire microbial genomic data, MBGD now provides summary pages for pre-calculated ortholog tables among various taxonomic groups. For some closely related taxa, MBGD also provides the conserved synteny information (core genome alignment) pre-calculated using the CoreAligner program. In addition, efficient incremental updating procedure can create extended ortholog table by adding additional genomes to the default ortholog table generated from the representative set of genomes. Combining with the functionalities of the dynamic orthology calculation of any specified set of organisms, MBGD is an efficient and flexible tool for exploring the microbial genome diversity.

  18. Biodiversity assessment among two Nebraska prairies: a comparison between traditional and phylogenetic diversity indices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aust, Shelly K; Ahrendsen, Dakota L; Kellar, P Roxanne

    2015-01-01

    Conservation of the evolutionary diversity among organisms should be included in the selection of priority regions for preservation of Earth's biodiversity. Traditionally, biodiversity has been determined from an assessment of species richness (S), abundance, evenness, rarity, etc. of organisms but not from variation in species' evolutionary histories. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) measures evolutionary differences between taxa in a community and is gaining acceptance as a biodiversity assessment tool. However, with the increase in the number of ways to calculate PD, end-users and decision-makers are left wondering how metrics compare and what data are needed to calculate various metrics. In this study, we used massively parallel sequencing to generate over 65,000 DNA characters from three cellular compartments for over 60 species in the asterid clade of flowering plants. We estimated asterid phylogenies from character datasets of varying nucleotide quantities, and then assessed the effect of varying character datasets on resulting PD metric values. We also compared multiple PD metrics with traditional diversity indices (including S) among two endangered grassland prairies in Nebraska (U.S.A.). Our results revealed that PD metrics varied based on the quantity of genes used to infer the phylogenies; therefore, when comparing PD metrics between sites, it is vital to use comparable datasets. Additionally, various PD metrics and traditional diversity indices characterize biodiversity differently and should be chosen depending on the research question. Our study provides empirical results that reveal the value of measuring PD when considering sites for conservation, and it highlights the usefulness of using PD metrics in combination with other diversity indices when studying community assembly and ecosystem functioning. Ours is just one example of the types of investigations that need to be conducted across the tree of life and across varying ecosystems in order to build

  19. In Depth Characterization of Repetitive DNA in 23 Plant Genomes Reveals Sources of Genome Size Variation in the Legume Tribe Fabeae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macas, Jiří; Novák, Petr; Pellicer, Jaume; Čížková, Jana; Koblížková, Andrea; Neumann, Pavel; Fuková, Iva; Doležel, Jaroslav; Kelly, Laura J; Leitch, Ilia J

    2015-01-01

    The differential accumulation and elimination of repetitive DNA are key drivers of genome size variation in flowering plants, yet there have been few studies which have analysed how different types of repeats in related species contribute to genome size evolution within a phylogenetic context. This question is addressed here by conducting large-scale comparative analysis of repeats in 23 species from four genera of the monophyletic legume tribe Fabeae, representing a 7.6-fold variation in genome size. Phylogenetic analysis and genome size reconstruction revealed that this diversity arose from genome size expansions and contractions in different lineages during the evolution of Fabeae. Employing a combination of low-pass genome sequencing with novel bioinformatic approaches resulted in identification and quantification of repeats making up 55-83% of the investigated genomes. In turn, this enabled an analysis of how each major repeat type contributed to the genome size variation encountered. Differential accumulation of repetitive DNA was found to account for 85% of the genome size differences between the species, and most (57%) of this variation was found to be driven by a single lineage of Ty3/gypsy LTR-retrotransposons, the Ogre elements. Although the amounts of several other lineages of LTR-retrotransposons and the total amount of satellite DNA were also positively correlated with genome size, their contributions to genome size variation were much smaller (up to 6%). Repeat analysis within a phylogenetic framework also revealed profound differences in the extent of sequence conservation between different repeat types across Fabeae. In addition to these findings, the study has provided a proof of concept for the approach combining recent developments in sequencing and bioinformatics to perform comparative analyses of repetitive DNAs in a large number of non-model species without the need to assemble their genomes.

  20. In Depth Characterization of Repetitive DNA in 23 Plant Genomes Reveals Sources of Genome Size Variation in the Legume Tribe Fabeae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiří Macas

    Full Text Available The differential accumulation and elimination of repetitive DNA are key drivers of genome size variation in flowering plants, yet there have been few studies which have analysed how different types of repeats in related species contribute to genome size evolution within a phylogenetic context. This question is addressed here by conducting large-scale comparative analysis of repeats in 23 species from four genera of the monophyletic legume tribe Fabeae, representing a 7.6-fold variation in genome size. Phylogenetic analysis and genome size reconstruction revealed that this diversity arose from genome size expansions and contractions in different lineages during the evolution of Fabeae. Employing a combination of low-pass genome sequencing with novel bioinformatic approaches resulted in identification and quantification of repeats making up 55-83% of the investigated genomes. In turn, this enabled an analysis of how each major repeat type contributed to the genome size variation encountered. Differential accumulation of repetitive DNA was found to account for 85% of the genome size differences between the species, and most (57% of this variation was found to be driven by a single lineage of Ty3/gypsy LTR-retrotransposons, the Ogre elements. Although the amounts of several other lineages of LTR-retrotransposons and the total amount of satellite DNA were also positively correlated with genome size, their contributions to genome size variation were much smaller (up to 6%. Repeat analysis within a phylogenetic framework also revealed profound differences in the extent of sequence conservation between different repeat types across Fabeae. In addition to these findings, the study has provided a proof of concept for the approach combining recent developments in sequencing and bioinformatics to perform comparative analyses of repetitive DNAs in a large number of non-model species without the need to assemble their genomes.

  1. Genome analysis of E. coli isolated from Crohn's disease patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakitina, Daria V; Manolov, Alexander I; Kanygina, Alexandra V; Garushyants, Sofya K; Baikova, Julia P; Alexeev, Dmitry G; Ladygina, Valentina G; Kostryukova, Elena S; Larin, Andrei K; Semashko, Tatiana A; Karpova, Irina Y; Babenko, Vladislav V; Ismagilova, Ruzilya K; Malanin, Sergei Y; Gelfand, Mikhail S; Ilina, Elena N; Gorodnichev, Roman B; Lisitsyna, Eugenia S; Aleshkin, Gennady I; Scherbakov, Petr L; Khalif, Igor L; Shapina, Marina V; Maev, Igor V; Andreev, Dmitry N; Govorun, Vadim M

    2017-07-19

    Escherichia coli (E. coli) has been increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD). The phylogeny of E. coli isolated from Crohn's disease patients (CDEC) was controversial, and while genotyping results suggested heterogeneity, the sequenced strains of E. coli from CD patients were closely related. We performed the shotgun genome sequencing of 28 E. coli isolates from ten CD patients and compared genomes from these isolates with already published genomes of CD strains and other pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. CDEC was shown to belong to A, B1, B2 and D phylogenetic groups. The plasmid and several operons from the reference CD-associated E. coli strain LF82 were demonstrated to be more often present in CDEC genomes belonging to different phylogenetic groups than in genomes of commensal strains. The operons include carbon-source induced invasion GimA island, prophage I, iron uptake operons I and II, capsular assembly pathogenetic island IV and propanediol and galactitol utilization operons. Our findings suggest that CDEC are phylogenetically diverse. However, some strains isolated from independent sources possess highly similar chromosome or plasmids. Though no CD-specific genes or functional domains were present in all CD-associated strains, some genes and operons are more often found in the genomes of CDEC than in commensal E. coli. They are principally linked to gut colonization and utilization of propanediol and other sugar alcohols.

  2. Tales of diversity: Genomic and morphological characteristics of forty-six Arthrobacter phages.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karen K Klyczek

    Full Text Available The vast bacteriophage population harbors an immense reservoir of genetic information. Almost 2000 phage genomes have been sequenced from phages infecting hosts in the phylum Actinobacteria, and analysis of these genomes reveals substantial diversity, pervasive mosaicism, and novel mechanisms for phage replication and lysogeny. Here, we describe the isolation and genomic characterization of 46 phages from environmental samples at various geographic locations in the U.S. infecting a single Arthrobacter sp. strain. These phages include representatives of all three virion morphologies, and Jasmine is the first sequenced podovirus of an actinobacterial host. The phages also span considerable sequence diversity, and can be grouped into 10 clusters according to their nucleotide diversity, and two singletons each with no close relatives. However, the clusters/singletons appear to be genomically well separated from each other, and relatively few genes are shared between clusters. Genome size varies from among the smallest of siphoviral phages (15,319 bp to over 70 kbp, and G+C contents range from 45-68%, compared to 63.4% for the host genome. Although temperate phages are common among other actinobacterial hosts, these Arthrobacter phages are primarily lytic, and only the singleton Galaxy is likely temperate.

  3. Tales of diversity: Genomic and morphological characteristics of forty-six Arthrobacter phages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klyczek, Karen K; Bonilla, J Alfred; Jacobs-Sera, Deborah; Adair, Tamarah L; Afram, Patricia; Allen, Katherine G; Archambault, Megan L; Aziz, Rahat M; Bagnasco, Filippa G; Ball, Sarah L; Barrett, Natalie A; Benjamin, Robert C; Blasi, Christopher J; Borst, Katherine; Braun, Mary A; Broomell, Haley; Brown, Conner B; Brynell, Zachary S; Bue, Ashley B; Burke, Sydney O; Casazza, William; Cautela, Julia A; Chen, Kevin; Chimalakonda, Nitish S; Chudoff, Dylan; Connor, Jade A; Cross, Trevor S; Curtis, Kyra N; Dahlke, Jessica A; Deaton, Bethany M; Degroote, Sarah J; DeNigris, Danielle M; DeRuff, Katherine C; Dolan, Milan; Dunbar, David; Egan, Marisa S; Evans, Daniel R; Fahnestock, Abby K; Farooq, Amal; Finn, Garrett; Fratus, Christopher R; Gaffney, Bobby L; Garlena, Rebecca A; Garrigan, Kelly E; Gibbon, Bryan C; Goedde, Michael A; Guerrero Bustamante, Carlos A; Harrison, Melinda; Hartwell, Megan C; Heckman, Emily L; Huang, Jennifer; Hughes, Lee E; Hyduchak, Kathryn M; Jacob, Aswathi E; Kaku, Machika; Karstens, Allen W; Kenna, Margaret A; Khetarpal, Susheel; King, Rodney A; Kobokovich, Amanda L; Kolev, Hannah; Konde, Sai A; Kriese, Elizabeth; Lamey, Morgan E; Lantz, Carter N; Lapin, Jonathan S; Lawson, Temiloluwa O; Lee, In Young; Lee, Scott M; Lee-Soety, Julia Y; Lehmann, Emily M; London, Shawn C; Lopez, A Javier; Lynch, Kelly C; Mageeney, Catherine M; Martynyuk, Tetyana; Mathew, Kevin J; Mavrich, Travis N; McDaniel, Christopher M; McDonald, Hannah; McManus, C Joel; Medrano, Jessica E; Mele, Francis E; Menninger, Jennifer E; Miller, Sierra N; Minick, Josephine E; Nabua, Courtney T; Napoli, Caroline K; Nkangabwa, Martha; Oates, Elizabeth A; Ott, Cassandra T; Pellerino, Sarah K; Pinamont, William J; Pirnie, Ross T; Pizzorno, Marie C; Plautz, Emilee J; Pope, Welkin H; Pruett, Katelyn M; Rickstrew, Gabbi; Rimple, Patrick A; Rinehart, Claire A; Robinson, Kayla M; Rose, Victoria A; Russell, Daniel A; Schick, Amelia M; Schlossman, Julia; Schneider, Victoria M; Sells, Chloe A; Sieker, Jeremy W; Silva, Morgan P; Silvi, Marissa M; Simon, Stephanie E; Staples, Amanda K; Steed, Isabelle L; Stowe, Emily L; Stueven, Noah A; Swartz, Porter T; Sweet, Emma A; Sweetman, Abigail T; Tender, Corrina; Terry, Katrina; Thomas, Chrystal; Thomas, Daniel S; Thompson, Allison R; Vanderveen, Lorianna; Varma, Rohan; Vaught, Hannah L; Vo, Quynh D; Vonberg, Zachary T; Ware, Vassie C; Warrad, Yasmene M; Wathen, Kaitlyn E; Weinstein, Jonathan L; Wyper, Jacqueline F; Yankauskas, Jakob R; Zhang, Christine; Hatfull, Graham F

    2017-01-01

    The vast bacteriophage population harbors an immense reservoir of genetic information. Almost 2000 phage genomes have been sequenced from phages infecting hosts in the phylum Actinobacteria, and analysis of these genomes reveals substantial diversity, pervasive mosaicism, and novel mechanisms for phage replication and lysogeny. Here, we describe the isolation and genomic characterization of 46 phages from environmental samples at various geographic locations in the U.S. infecting a single Arthrobacter sp. strain. These phages include representatives of all three virion morphologies, and Jasmine is the first sequenced podovirus of an actinobacterial host. The phages also span considerable sequence diversity, and can be grouped into 10 clusters according to their nucleotide diversity, and two singletons each with no close relatives. However, the clusters/singletons appear to be genomically well separated from each other, and relatively few genes are shared between clusters. Genome size varies from among the smallest of siphoviral phages (15,319 bp) to over 70 kbp, and G+C contents range from 45-68%, compared to 63.4% for the host genome. Although temperate phages are common among other actinobacterial hosts, these Arthrobacter phages are primarily lytic, and only the singleton Galaxy is likely temperate.

  4. Assessing the relationships between phylogenetic and functional singularities in sharks (Chondrichthyes).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cachera, Marie; Le Loc'h, François

    2017-08-01

    The relationships between diversity and ecosystem functioning have become a major focus of science. A crucial issue is to estimate functional diversity, as it is intended to impact ecosystem dynamics and stability. However, depending on the ecosystem, it may be challenging or even impossible to directly measure ecological functions and thus functional diversity. Phylogenetic diversity was recently under consideration as a proxy for functional diversity. Phylogenetic diversity is indeed supposed to match functional diversity if functions are conservative traits along evolution. However, in case of adaptive radiation and/or evolutive convergence, a mismatch may appear between species phylogenetic and functional singularities. Using highly threatened taxa, sharks, this study aimed to explore the relationships between phylogenetic and functional diversities and singularities. Different statistical computations were used in order to test both methodological issue (phylogenetic reconstruction) and overall a theoretical questioning: the predictive power of phylogeny for function diversity. Despite these several methodological approaches, a mismatch between phylogeny and function was highlighted. This mismatch revealed that (i) functions are apparently nonconservative in shark species, and (ii) phylogenetic singularity is not a proxy for functional singularity. Functions appeared to be not conservative along the evolution of sharks, raising the conservational challenge to identify and protect both phylogenetic and functional singular species. Facing the current rate of species loss, it is indeed of major importance to target phylogenetically singular species to protect genetic diversity and also functionally singular species in order to maintain particular functions within ecosystem.

  5. Phylogenetic diversity in the core group of Peziza inferred from ITS sequences and morphology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, K.; Læssøe, Thomas; Pfister, D.H.

    2002-01-01

    Species delimitation within the core group of Peziza is highly controversial. The group, typified by P. vesiculosa, is morphologically coherent and in previous analyses of LSU rDNA sequences it formed a highly supported clade. Phylogenetic diversity and species limits were investigated within......), shallowly cup- to disc-shaped apothecia (A) and large (up to 15 cm), deeply cup-shaped to expanded apothecia (B). The overall exciple structure (a stratified or non-stratified medullary layer) and to some degree spore surface relief, likewise support the groupings. Clade A contains taxa with smooth...... that populations on a diverse array of substrates may be closely related, or indeed, conspecific....

  6. Pan-genome and phylogeny of Bacillus cereus sensu lato

    OpenAIRE

    Bazinet, Adam

    2017-01-01

    Background: Bacillus cereus sensu lato ( s . l .) is an ecologically diverse bacterial group of medical and agricultural significance. In this study, I use publicly available genomes to characterize the B. cereus s. l. pan-genome and perform the largest phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of this group to date in terms of the number of genes and taxa included. With these fundamental data in hand, I identify genes associated with particular phenotypic traits (i.e., "pan-GWAS" analysis...

  7. Pan-genome and phylogeny of Bacillus cereus sensu lato

    OpenAIRE

    Bazinet, Adam L.

    2017-01-01

    Background Bacillus cereus sensu lato (s. l.) is an ecologically diverse bacterial group of medical and agricultural significance. In this study, I use publicly available genomes and novel bioinformatic workflows to characterize the B. cereus s. l. pan-genome and perform the largest phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of this group to date in terms of the number of genes and taxa included. With these fundamental data in hand, I identify genes associated with particular phenotypic tra...

  8. The mean and variance of phylogenetic diversity under rarefaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nipperess, David A; Matsen, Frederick A

    2013-06-01

    Phylogenetic diversity (PD) depends on sampling depth, which complicates the comparison of PD between samples of different depth. One approach to dealing with differing sample depth for a given diversity statistic is to rarefy, which means to take a random subset of a given size of the original sample. Exact analytical formulae for the mean and variance of species richness under rarefaction have existed for some time but no such solution exists for PD.We have derived exact formulae for the mean and variance of PD under rarefaction. We confirm that these formulae are correct by comparing exact solution mean and variance to that calculated by repeated random (Monte Carlo) subsampling of a dataset of stem counts of woody shrubs of Toohey Forest, Queensland, Australia. We also demonstrate the application of the method using two examples: identifying hotspots of mammalian diversity in Australasian ecoregions, and characterising the human vaginal microbiome.There is a very high degree of correspondence between the analytical and random subsampling methods for calculating mean and variance of PD under rarefaction, although the Monte Carlo method requires a large number of random draws to converge on the exact solution for the variance.Rarefaction of mammalian PD of ecoregions in Australasia to a common standard of 25 species reveals very different rank orderings of ecoregions, indicating quite different hotspots of diversity than those obtained for unrarefied PD. The application of these methods to the vaginal microbiome shows that a classical score used to quantify bacterial vaginosis is correlated with the shape of the rarefaction curve.The analytical formulae for the mean and variance of PD under rarefaction are both exact and more efficient than repeated subsampling. Rarefaction of PD allows for many applications where comparisons of samples of different depth is required.

  9. Complete mitochondrial genome and phylogeny of Pleistocene mammoth Mammuthus primigenius.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evgeny I Rogaev

    2006-03-01

    Full Text Available Phylogenetic relationships between the extinct woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius, and the Asian (Elephas maximus and African savanna (Loxodonta africana elephants remain unresolved. Here, we report the sequence of the complete mitochondrial genome (16,842 base pairs of a woolly mammoth extracted from permafrost-preserved remains from the Pleistocene epoch--the oldest mitochondrial genome sequence determined to date. We demonstrate that well-preserved mitochondrial genome fragments, as long as approximately 1,600-1700 base pairs, can be retrieved from pre-Holocene remains of an extinct species. Phylogenetic reconstruction of the Elephantinae clade suggests that M. primigenius and E. maximus are sister species that diverged soon after their common ancestor split from the L. africana lineage. Low nucleotide diversity found between independently determined mitochondrial genomic sequences of woolly mammoths separated geographically and in time suggests that north-eastern Siberia was occupied by a relatively homogeneous population of M. primigenius throughout the late Pleistocene.

  10. Next-Generation Sequencing Reveals the Impact of Repetitive DNA Across Phylogenetically Closely Related Genomes of Orobanchaceae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piednoël, Mathieu; Aberer, Andre J.; Schneeweiss, Gerald M.; Macas, Jiri; Novak, Petr; Gundlach, Heidrun; Temsch, Eva M.; Renner, Susanne S.

    2013-01-01

    We used next-generation sequencing to characterize the genomes of nine species of Orobanchaceae of known phylogenetic relationships, different life forms, and including a polyploid species. The study species are the autotrophic, nonparasitic Lindenbergia philippensis, the hemiparasitic Schwalbea americana, and seven nonphotosynthetic parasitic species of Orobanche (Orobanche crenata, Orobanche cumana, Orobanche gracilis (tetraploid), and Orobanche pancicii) and Phelipanche (Phelipanche lavandulacea, Phelipanche purpurea, and Phelipanche ramosa). Ty3/Gypsy elements comprise 1.93%–28.34% of the nine genomes and Ty1/Copia elements comprise 8.09%–22.83%. When compared with L. philippensis and S. americana, the nonphotosynthetic species contain higher proportions of repetitive DNA sequences, perhaps reflecting relaxed selection on genome size in parasitic organisms. Among the parasitic species, those in the genus Orobanche have smaller genomes but higher proportions of repetitive DNA than those in Phelipanche, mostly due to a diversification of repeats and an accumulation of Ty3/Gypsy elements. Genome downsizing in the tetraploid O. gracilis probably led to sequence loss across most repeat types. PMID:22723303

  11. LifePrint: a novel k-tuple distance method for construction of phylogenetic trees

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabián Reyes-Prieto

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Fabián Reyes-Prieto1, Adda J García-Chéquer1, Hueman Jaimes-Díaz1, Janet Casique-Almazán1, Juana M Espinosa-Lara1, Rosaura Palma-Orozco2, Alfonso Méndez-Tenorio1, Rogelio Maldonado-Rodríguez1, Kenneth L Beattie31Laboratory of Biotechnology and Genomic Bioinformatics, Department of Biochemistry, National School of Biological Sciences, 2Superior School of Computer Sciences, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, Mexico; 3Amerigenics Inc, Crossville, Tennessee, USAPurpose: Here we describe LifePrint, a sequence alignment-independent k-tuple distance method to estimate relatedness between complete genomes.Methods: We designed a representative sample of all possible DNA tuples of length 9 (9-tuples. The final sample comprises 1878 tuples (called the LifePrint set of 9-tuples; LPS9 that are distinct from each other by at least two internal and noncontiguous nucleotide differences. For validation of our k-tuple distance method, we analyzed several real and simulated viroid genomes. Using different distance metrics, we scrutinized diverse viroid genomes to estimate the k-tuple distances between these genomic sequences. Then we used the estimated genomic k-tuple distances to construct phylogenetic trees using the neighbor-joining algorithm. A comparison of the accuracy of LPS9 and the previously reported 5-tuple method was made using symmetric differences between the trees estimated from each method and a simulated “true” phylogenetic tree.Results: The identified optimal search scheme for LPS9 allows only up to two nucleotide differences between each 9-tuple and the scrutinized genome. Similarity search results of simulated viroid genomes indicate that, in most cases, LPS9 is able to detect single-base substitutions between genomes efficiently. Analysis of simulated genomic variants with a high proportion of base substitutions indicates that LPS9 is able to discern relationships between genomic variants with up to 40% of nucleotide

  12. Comparative genomics of Mycoplasma: analysis of conserved essential genes and diversity of the pan-genome.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Liu

    Full Text Available Mycoplasma, the smallest self-replicating organism with a minimal metabolism and little genomic redundancy, is expected to be a close approximation to the minimal set of genes needed to sustain bacterial life. This study employs comparative evolutionary analysis of twenty Mycoplasma genomes to gain an improved understanding of essential genes. By analyzing the core genome of mycoplasmas, we finally revealed the conserved essential genes set for mycoplasma survival. Further analysis showed that the core genome set has many characteristics in common with experimentally identified essential genes. Several key genes, which are related to DNA replication and repair and can be disrupted in transposon mutagenesis studies, may be critical for bacteria survival especially over long period natural selection. Phylogenomic reconstructions based on 3,355 homologous groups allowed robust estimation of phylogenetic relatedness among mycoplasma strains. To obtain deeper insight into the relative roles of molecular evolution in pathogen adaptation to their hosts, we also analyzed the positive selection pressures on particular sites and lineages. There appears to be an approximate correlation between the divergence of species and the level of positive selection detected in corresponding lineages.

  13. Spatial Patterns of Species Diversity and Phylogenetic Structure of Plant Communities in the Tianshan Mountains, Arid Central Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong-Xiang Zhang

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The Tianshan Mountains, located in arid Central Asia, have a humid climate and are biodiversity hotspots. Here, we aimed to clarify whether the pattern of species diversity and the phylogenetic structure of plant communities is affected by environmental variables and glacial refugia. In this study, plant community assemblies of 17 research sites with a total of 35 sample plots were investigated at the grassland/woodland boundaries on the Tianshan Mountains. Community phylogeny of these plant communities was constructed based on two plant DNA barcode regions. The indices of phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic community structure were calculated for these sample plots. We first estimated the correlation coefficients between species richness (SR and environmental variables as well as the presence of glacial refugia. We then mapped the significant values of indices of community phylogeny (PD, RPD, NRI, and NTI to investigate the correlation between community phylogeny and environmental structure or macrozones in the study area. The results showed that a significantly higher value of SR was obtained for the refugial groups than for the colonizing groups (P < 0.05; presence of refugia and environmental variables were highly correlated to the pattern of variation in SR. Indices of community phylogeny were not significantly different between refugial and colonizing regions. Comparison with the humid western part showed that plant communities in the arid eastern part of the Tianshan Mountains tended to display more significant phylogenetic overdispersion. The variation tendency of the PhyloSor index showed that the increase in macro-geographical and environmental distance did not influence obvious phylogenetic dissimilarities between different sample plots. In conclusion, glacial refugia and environmental factors profoundly influenced the pattern of SR, but community phylogenetic structure was not affected by glacial refugia among different plant

  14. Phylogenetic analysis of vitamin B12-related metabolism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Douglas B. Young

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Comparison of genome sequences from clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with phylogenetically-related pathogens Mycobacterium marinum, Mycobacterium kansasii and Mycobacterium leprae reveals diversity amongst genes associated with vitamin B12-related metabolism. Diversity is generated by gene deletion events, differential acquisition of genes by horizontal transfer, and single nucleotide polymorphisms with predicted impact on protein function and transcriptional regulation. Differences in the B12 synthesis pathway, methionine biosynthesis, fatty acid catabolism, and DNA repair and replication are consistent with adaptations to different environmental niches and pathogenic lifestyles. While there is no evidence of further gene acquisition during expansion of the M. tuberculosis complex, the emergence of other forms of genetic diversity provides insights into continuing host-pathogen co-evolution and has the potential to identify novel targets for disease intervention.

  15. Population diversity of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae) in China based on whole mitochondrial genome sequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Fengnian; Jiang, Hongyan; Beattie, G Andrew C; Holford, Paul; Chen, Jianchi; Wallis, Christopher M; Zheng, Zheng; Deng, Xiaoling; Cen, Yijing

    2018-04-24

    Diaphorina citri (Asian citrus psyllid; ACP) transmits 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' associated with citrus Huanglongbing (HLB). ACP has been reported in 11 provinces/regions in China, yet its population diversity remains unclear. In this study, we evaluated ACP population diversity in China using representative whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequences. Additional mitogenome sequences outside China were also acquired and evaluated. The sizes of the 27 ACP mitogenome sequences ranged from 14 986 to 15 030 bp. Along with three previously published mitogenome sequences, the 30 sequences formed three major mitochondrial groups (MGs): MG1, present in southwestern China and occurring at elevations above 1000 m; MG2, present in southeastern China and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam) and occurring at elevations below 180 m; and MG3, present in the USA and Pakistan. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in five genes (cox2, atp8, nad3, nad1 and rrnL) contributed mostly in the ACP diversity. Among these genes, rrnL had the most variation. Mitogenome sequences analyses revealed two major phylogenetic groups of ACP present in China as well as a possible unique group present currently in Pakistan and the USA. The information could have significant implications for current ACP control and HLB management. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

  16. The effects of habitat management on the species, phylogenetic and functional diversity of bees are modified by the environmental context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sydenham, Markus A K; Moe, Stein R; Stanescu-Yadav, Diana N; Totland, Ørjan; Eldegard, Katrine

    2016-02-01

    Anthropogenic landscape elements, such as roadsides, hedgerows, field edges, and power line clearings, can be managed to provide important habitats for wild bees. However, the effects of habitat improvement schemes in power line clearings on components of diversity are poorly studied. We conducted a large-scale experiment to test the effects of different management practices on the species, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of wild bees in power line clearings (n = 19 sites across southeastern Norway) and explored whether any treatment effects were modified by the environmental context. At each site, we conducted the following treatments: (1) Cut: all trees cut and left to decay in the clearing; (2) Cut + Remove: all trees cut and removed from the plot; and (3) Uncut: uncleared. The site-specific environmental context (i.e., elevation and floral diversity) influenced the species, phylogenetic, and functional diversity within bee species assemblages. The largest number of species was found in the Cut + Remove treatment in plots with a high forb species richness, indicating that the outcome of management practices depends on the environmental context. Clearing of treatment plots with many forb species also appeared to alter the phylogenetic composition of bee species assemblages, that is, more closely related species were found in the Cut and the Cut + Remove plots than in the Uncut plots. Synthesis and applications: Our experimental simulation of management practices in power line clearings influenced the species, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of bee species assemblages. Frequent clearing and removal of the woody debris at low elevations with a high forb species richness can increase the value of power line clearings for solitary bees. It is therefore important for managers to consider the environmental context when designing habitat improvement schemes for solitary bees.

  17. Integrated analysis of whole genome and transcriptome sequencing reveals diverse transcriptomic aberrations driven by somatic genomic changes in liver cancers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuichi Shiraishi

    Full Text Available Recent studies applying high-throughput sequencing technologies have identified several recurrently mutated genes and pathways in multiple cancer genomes. However, transcriptional consequences from these genomic alterations in cancer genome remain unclear. In this study, we performed integrated and comparative analyses of whole genomes and transcriptomes of 22 hepatitis B virus (HBV-related hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs and their matched controls. Comparison of whole genome sequence (WGS and RNA-Seq revealed much evidence that various types of genomic mutations triggered diverse transcriptional changes. Not only splice-site mutations, but also silent mutations in coding regions, deep intronic mutations and structural changes caused splicing aberrations. HBV integrations generated diverse patterns of virus-human fusion transcripts depending on affected gene, such as TERT, CDK15, FN1 and MLL4. Structural variations could drive over-expression of genes such as WNT ligands, with/without creating gene fusions. Furthermore, by taking account of genomic mutations causing transcriptional aberrations, we could improve the sensitivity of deleterious mutation detection in known cancer driver genes (TP53, AXIN1, ARID2, RPS6KA3, and identified recurrent disruptions in putative cancer driver genes such as HNF4A, CPS1, TSC1 and THRAP3 in HCCs. These findings indicate genomic alterations in cancer genome have diverse transcriptomic effects, and integrated analysis of WGS and RNA-Seq can facilitate the interpretation of a large number of genomic alterations detected in cancer genome.

  18. Evolution of species diversity in the genus Chamaecostus (Costaceae): molecular phylogenetics and morphometric approaches

    OpenAIRE

    Andre, Thiago; Specht, Chelsea; Salzman, Shayla; Palma-Silva, Clarisse [UNESP; Wendt, Tania

    2015-01-01

    While most species within the genus Chamaecostus (Costaceae) are well defined, the broad geographic range and long list of synonyms associated with Chamaecostus subsessilis led us to believe there may be some cryptic species within the complex. We thus investigate the phylogenetic relationships of species in the Chamaecostus lineage and specifically test the monophyly and diversity of the Chamaecostus subsessilis species complex from a population perspective by analyzing molecular sequence da...

  19. Diversity of 23S rRNA genes within individual prokaryotic genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Pei

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The concept of ribosomal constraints on rRNA genes is deduced primarily based on the comparison of consensus rRNA sequences between closely related species, but recent advances in whole-genome sequencing allow evaluation of this concept within organisms with multiple rRNA operons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using the 23S rRNA gene as an example, we analyzed the diversity among individual rRNA genes within a genome. Of 184 prokaryotic species containing multiple 23S rRNA genes, diversity was observed in 113 (61.4% genomes (mean 0.40%, range 0.01%-4.04%. Significant (1.17%-4.04% intragenomic variation was found in 8 species. In 5 of the 8 species, the diversity in the primary structure had only minimal effect on the secondary structure (stem versus loop transition. In the remaining 3 species, the diversity significantly altered local secondary structure, but the alteration appears minimized through complex rearrangement. Intervening sequences (IVS, ranging between 9 and 1471 nt in size, were found in 7 species. IVS in Deinococcus radiodurans and Nostoc sp. encode transposases. T. tengcongensis was the only species in which intragenomic diversity >3% was observed among 4 paralogous 23S rRNA genes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings indicate tight ribosomal constraints on individual 23S rRNA genes within a genome. Although classification using primary 23S rRNA sequences could be erroneous, significant diversity among paralogous 23S rRNA genes was observed only once in the 184 species analyzed, indicating little overall impact on the mainstream of 23S rRNA gene-based prokaryotic taxonomy.

  20. Comparative evolutionary diversity and phylogenetic structure across multiple forest dynamics plots: a mega-phylogeny approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Lee Erickson

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Forest dynamics plots, which now span longitudes, latitudes, and habitat types across the globe, offer unparalleled insights into the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine how species are assembled into communities. Understanding phylogenetic relationships among species in a community has become an important component of assessing assembly processes. However, the application of evolutionary information to questions in community ecology has been limited in large part by the lack of accurate estimates of phylogenetic relationships among individual species found within communities, and is particularly limiting in comparisons between communities. Therefore, streamlining and maximizing the information content of these community phylogenies is a priority. To test the viability and advantage of a multi-community phylogeny, we constructed a multi-plot mega-phylogeny of 1,347 species of trees across 15 forest dynamics plots in the ForestGEO network using DNA barcode sequence data (rbcL, matK and psbA-trnH and compared community phylogenies for each individual plot with respect to support for topology and branch lengths, which affect evolutionary inference of community processes. The levels of taxonomic differentiation across the phylogeny were examined by quantifying the frequency of resolved nodes throughout. In addition, three phylogenetic distance metrics that are commonly used to infer assembly processes were estimated for each plot (Phylogenetic Distance [PD], Mean Phylogenetic Distance [MPD], and Mean Nearest Taxon Distance [MNTD]. Lastly, we examine the partitioning of phylogenetic diversity among community plots through quantification of inter-community MPD and MNTD. Overall, evolutionary relationships were highly resolved across the DNA barcode-based mega-phylogeny, and phylogenetic resolution for each community plot was improved when estimated within the context of the mega-phylogeny. Likewise, when compared with phylogenies for

  1. Some Like it High! Phylogenetic Diversity of High-Elevation Cyanobacterial Community from Biological Soil Crusts of Western Himalaya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Čapková, Kateřina; Hauer, Tomáš; Řeháková, Klára; Doležal, Jiří

    2016-01-01

    The environment of high-altitudinal cold deserts of Western Himalaya is characterized by extensive development of biological soil crusts, with cyanobacteria as dominant component. The knowledge of their taxonomic composition and dependency on soil chemistry and elevation is still fragmentary. We studied the abundance and the phylogenetic diversity of the culturable cyanobacteria and eukaryotic microalgae in soil crusts along altitudinal gradients (4600-5900 m) at two sites in the dry mountains of Ladakh (SW Tibetan Plateau and Eastern Karakoram), using both microscopic and molecular approaches. The effects of environmental factors (altitude, mountain range, and soil physico-chemical parameters) on the composition and biovolume of phototrophs were tested by multivariate redundancy analysis and variance partitioning. Both phylogenetic diversity and composition of morphotypes were similar between Karakorum and Tibetan Plateau. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene revealed strains belonging to at least five genera. Besides clusters of common soil genera, e.g., Microcoleus, Nodosilinea, or Nostoc, two distinct clades of simple trichal taxa were newly discovered. The most abundant cyanobacterial orders were Oscillatoriales and Nostacales, whose biovolume increased with increasing elevation, while that of Chroococales decreased. Cyanobacterial species richness was low in that only 15 morphotypes were detected. The environmental factors accounted for 52 % of the total variability in microbial data, 38.7 % of which was explained solely by soil chemical properties, 14.5 % by altitude, and 8.4 % by mountain range. The elevation, soil phosphate, and magnesium were the most important predictors of soil phototrophic communities in both mountain ranges despite their different bedrocks and origin. The present investigation represents a first record on phylogenetic diversity of the cyanobacterial community of biological soil crusts from Western Himalayas and first record

  2. Genetic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in Serbia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savic, Bozidar; Milicevic, Vesna; Jakic-Dimic, Dobrila; Bojkovski, Jovan; Prodanovic, Radisa; Kureljusic, Branislav; Potkonjak, Aleksandar; Savic, Borivoje

    2012-01-01

    Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the main causative agent of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). To characterize and determine the genetic diversity of PCV2 in the porcine population of Serbia, nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the open reading frame 2 (ORF2) of PCV2 collected from the tissues of pigs that either had died as a result of PMWS or did not exhibit disease symptoms were analyzed. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed considerable diversity among PCV2 ORF2 sequences and the existence of two main PCV2 genotypes, PCV2b and PCV2a, with at least three clusters, 1A/B, 1C and 2D. In order to provide further proof that the 1C strain is circulating in the porcine population, the whole viral genome of one PCV2 isolate was sequenced. Genotyping and phylogenetic analysis using the entire viral genome sequences confirmed that there was a PMWS-associated 1C strain emerging in Serbia. Our analysis also showed that PCV2b is dominant in the porcine population, and that it is exclusively associated with PMWS occurrences in the country. These data constitute a useful basis for further epidemiological studies regarding the heterogeneity of PCV2 strains on the European continent.

  3. Lampreys as Diverse Model Organisms in the Genomics Era.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCauley, David W; Docker, Margaret F; Whyard, Steve; Li, Weiming

    2015-11-01

    Lampreys, one of the two surviving groups of ancient vertebrates, have become important models for study in diverse fields of biology. Lampreys (of which there are approximately 40 species) are being studied, for example, (a) to control pest sea lamprey in the North American Great Lakes and to restore declining populations of native species elsewhere; (b) in biomedical research, focusing particularly on the regenerative capability of lampreys; and (c) by developmental biologists studying the evolution of key vertebrate characters. Although a lack of genetic resources has hindered research on the mechanisms regulating many aspects of lamprey life history and development, formerly intractable questions are now amenable to investigation following the recent publication of the sea lamprey genome. Here, we provide an overview of the ways in which genomic tools are currently being deployed to tackle diverse research questions and suggest several areas that may benefit from the availability of the sea lamprey genome.

  4. Phylogenetic structure in tropical hummingbird communities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Graham, Catherine H; Parra, Juan L; Rahbek, Carsten

    2009-01-01

    How biotic interactions, current and historical environment, and biogeographic barriers determine community structure is a fundamental question in ecology and evolution, especially in diverse tropical regions. To evaluate patterns of local and regional diversity, we quantified the phylogenetic...... composition of 189 hummingbird communities in Ecuador. We assessed how species and phylogenetic composition changed along environmental gradients and across biogeographic barriers. We show that humid, low-elevation communities are phylogenetically overdispersed (coexistence of distant relatives), a pattern...... that is consistent with the idea that competition influences the local composition of hummingbirds. At higher elevations communities are phylogenetically clustered (coexistence of close relatives), consistent with the expectation of environmental filtering, which may result from the challenge of sustaining...

  5. Trophic phylogenetics: evolutionary influences on body size, feeding, and species associations in grassland arthropods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lind, Eric M; Vincent, John B; Weiblen, George D; Cavender-Bares, Jeannine; Borer, Elizabeth T

    2015-04-01

    Contemporary animal-plant interactions such as herbivory are widely understood to be shaped by evolutionary history. Yet questions remain about the role of plant phylogenetic diversity in generating and maintaining herbivore diversity, and whether evolutionary relatedness of producers might predict the composition of consumer communities. We tested for evidence of evolutionary associations among arthropods and the plants on which they were found, using phylogenetic analysis of naturally occurring arthropod assemblages sampled from a plant-diversity manipulation experiment. Considering phylogenetic relationships among more than 900 arthropod consumer taxa and 29 plant species in the experiment, we addressed several interrelated questions. First, our results support the hypothesis that arthropod functional traits such as body size and trophic role are phylogenetically conserved in community ecological samples. Second, herbivores tended to cooccur with closer phylogenetic relatives than would be expected at random, whereas predators and parasitoids did not show phylogenetic association patterns. Consumer specialization, as measured by association through time with monocultures of particular host plant species, showed significant phylogenetic signal, although the. strength of this association varied among plant species. Polycultures of phylogenetically dissimilar plant species supported more phylogenetically dissimilar consumer communities than did phylogenetically similar polycultures. Finally, we separated the effects of plant species richness and relatedness in predicting the phylogenetic distribution of the arthropod assemblages in this experiment. The phylogenetic diversity of plant communities predicted the phylogenetic diversity of herbivore communities even after accounting for plant species richness. The phylogenetic diversity of secondary consumers differed by guild, with predator phylogenetic diversity responding to herbivore relatedness, while parasitoid

  6. Prokaryotic phylogenetic diversity of Hungarian deep subsurface geothermal well waters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Németh, Andrea; Szirányi, Barbara; Krett, Gergely; Janurik, Endre; Kosáros, Tünde; Pekár, Ferenc; Márialigeti, Károly; Borsodi, Andrea K

    2014-09-01

    Geothermal wells characterized by thermal waters warmer than 30°C can be found in more than 65% of the area of Hungary. The examined thermal wells located nearby Szarvas are used for heating industrial and agricultural facilities because of their relatively high hydrocarbon content. The aim of this study was to reveal the prokaryotic community structure of the water of SZR18, K87 and SZR21 geothermal wells using molecular cloning methods and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE). Water samples from the outflow pipes were collected in 2012 and 2013. The phylogenetic distribution of archaeal molecular clones was very similar in each sample, the most abundant groups belonged to the genera Methanosaeta, Methanothermobacter and Thermofilum. In contrast, the distribution of bacterial molecular clones was very diverse. Many of them showed the closest sequence similarities to uncultured clone sequences from similar thermal environments. From the water of the SZR18 well, phylotypes closely related to genera Fictibacillus and Alicyclobacillus (Firmicutes) were only revealed, while the bacterial diversity of the K87 well water was much higher. Here, the members of the phyla Thermodesulfobacteria, Proteobacteria, Nitrospira, Chlorobi, OP1 and OPB7 were also detected besides Firmicutes.

  7. Natural selection shaped the rise and fall of passenger pigeon genomic diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murray, Gemma G R; Soares, André E R; Novak, Ben J; Schaefer, Nathan K; Cahill, James A; Baker, Allan J; Demboski, John R; Doll, Andrew; Da Fonseca, Rute R; Fulton, Tara L; Gilbert, M Thomas P; Heintzman, Peter D; Letts, Brandon; McIntosh, George; O'Connell, Brendan L; Peck, Mark; Pipes, Marie-Lorraine; Rice, Edward S; Santos, Kathryn M; Sohrweide, A Gregory; Vohr, Samuel H; Corbett-Detig, Russell B; Green, Richard E; Shapiro, Beth

    2017-11-17

    The extinct passenger pigeon was once the most abundant bird in North America, and possibly the world. Although theory predicts that large populations will be more genetically diverse, passenger pigeon genetic diversity was surprisingly low. To investigate this disconnect, we analyzed 41 mitochondrial and 4 nuclear genomes from passenger pigeons and 2 genomes from band-tailed pigeons, which are passenger pigeons' closest living relatives. Passenger pigeons' large population size appears to have allowed for faster adaptive evolution and removal of harmful mutations, driving a huge loss in their neutral genetic diversity. These results demonstrate the effect that selection can have on a vertebrate genome and contradict results that suggested that population instability contributed to this species's surprisingly rapid extinction. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  8. Description of new mitochondrial genomes (Spodoptera litura, Noctuoidea and Cnaphalocrocis medinalis, Pyraloidea) and phylogenetic reconstruction of Lepidoptera with the comment on optimization schemes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Xinlong; Kim, Min Jee; Kim, Iksoo

    2013-11-01

    We newly sequenced mitochondrial genomes of Spodoptera litura and Cnaphalocrocis medinalis belonging to Lepidoptera to obtain further insight into mitochondrial genome evolution in this group and investigated the influence of optimal strategies on phylogenetic reconstruction of Lepidoptera. Estimation of p-distances of each mitochondrial gene for available taxonomic levels has shown the highest value in ND6, whereas the lowest values in COI and COII at the nucleotide level, suggesting different utility of each gene for different hierarchical group when individual genes are utilized for phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic analyses mainly yielded the relationships (((((Bombycoidea + Geometroidea) + Noctuoidea) + Pyraloidea) + Papilionoidea) + Tortricoidea), evidencing the polyphyly of Macrolepidoptera. The Noctuoidea concordantly recovered the familial relationships (((Arctiidae + Lymantriidae) + Noctuidae) + Notodontidae). The tests of optimality strategies, such as exclusion of third codon positions, inclusion of rRNA and tRNA genes, data partitioning, RY recoding approach, and recoding nucleotides into amino acids suggested that the majority of the strategies did not substantially alter phylogenetic topologies or nodal supports, except for the sister relationship between Lycaenidae and Pieridae only in the amino acid dataset, which was in contrast to the sister relationship between Lycaenidae and Nymphalidae in Papilionoidea in the remaining datasets.

  9. Two Tales of Prokaryotic Genomic Diversity: Escherichia coli and Halophiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lejla Pašić

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Prokaryotes are generally characterized by vast genomic diversity that has been shaped by mutations, horizontal gene transfer, bacteriocins and phage predation. Enormous genetic diversity has developed as a result of stresses imposed in harsh environments and the ability of microorganisms to adapt. Two examples of prokaryotic diversity are presented: on intraspecies level, exemplified by Escherichia coli, and the diversity of the hypersaline environment, with the discussion of food-related health issues and biotechnological potential.

  10. Phylogenetic Diversity of aprA Genes in Subseafloor Sediments on the Northwestern Pacific Margin off Japan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoki, Masataka; Kakiuchi, Ryota; Yamaguchi, Takashi; Takai, Ken; Inagaki, Fumio; Imachi, Hiroyuki

    2015-01-01

    Markedly diverse sequences of the adenosine-5'-phosphosulfate reductase alpha subunit gene (aprA), which encodes a key enzyme in microbial sulfate reduction and sulfur oxidation, were detected in subseafloor sediments on the northwestern Pacific off Japan. The aprA gene sequences were grouped into 135 operational taxonomic units (90% sequence identity), including genes related to putative sulfur-oxidizing bacteria predominantly detected in sulfate-depleted deep sediments. Our results suggest that microbial ecosystems in the subseafloor biosphere have phylogenetically diverse genetic potentials to mediate cryptic sulfur cycles in sediments, even where sulfate is rarely present.

  11. Yersinia pestis strains of ancient phylogenetic branch 0.ANT are widely spread in the high-mountain plague foci of Kyrgyzstan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eroshenko, Galina A; Nosov, Nikita Yu; Krasnov, Yaroslav M; Oglodin, Yevgeny G; Kukleva, Lyubov M; Guseva, Natalia P; Kuznetsov, Alexander A; Abdikarimov, Sabyrzhan T; Dzhaparova, Aigul K; Kutyrev, Vladimir V

    2017-01-01

    Fifty six Yersinia pestis strains, isolated over the period of more than 50 years in three high-mountain foci of Kyrgyzstan (Tien Shan, Alai, and Talas), have been characterized by means of PCR and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing methods. Seven of these strains were also characterized by means of whole genome sequencing and genome-wide SNP phylogenetic analysis. It was found that forty two strains belong to 0.ANT2, 0.ANT3 and 0.ANT5 phylogenetic branches. From these, strains of 0.ANT2 and 0.ANT3 branches were earlier detected in China only, whereas 0.ANT5 phylogenetic branch was identified for Y. pestis phylogeny for the first time. According to the results of genome-wide SNP analysis, 0.ANT5 strains are ones of the most closely related to Y. pestis strain responsible for the Justinianic Plague. We have also found out that four of the studied strains belong to the phylogenetic branch 2.MED1, and ten strains from Talas high-mountain focus belong to the phylogenetic branch 0.PE4 (sub-branch 0.PE4t). Established diversity of Y. pestis strains and extensive dissemination of the strains pertaining to the 0.ANT branch confirm the antiquity of the mentioned above plague foci and suggest that strains of the 0.ANT branch, which serve as precursors for all highly virulent Y. pestis strains, had their origin in the Tien Shan mountains.

  12. Evolution of genomic diversity and sex at extreme environments: Fungal life under hypersaline Dead Sea stress

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kis-Papo, Tamar; Kirzhner, Valery; Wasser, Solomon P.; Nevo, Eviatar

    2003-01-01

    We have found that genomic diversity is generally positively correlated with abiotic and biotic stress levels (1–3). However, beyond a high-threshold level of stress, the diversity declines to a few adapted genotypes. The Dead Sea is the harshest planetary hypersaline environment (340 g·liter–1 total dissolved salts, ≈10 times sea water). Hence, the Dead Sea is an excellent natural laboratory for testing the “rise and fall” pattern of genetic diversity with stress proposed in this article. Here, we examined genomic diversity of the ascomycete fungus Aspergillus versicolor from saline, nonsaline, and hypersaline Dead Sea environments. We screened the coding and noncoding genomes of A. versicolor isolates by using >600 AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) markers (equal to loci). Genomic diversity was positively correlated with stress, culminating in the Dead Sea surface but dropped drastically in 50- to 280-m-deep seawater. The genomic diversity pattern paralleled the pattern of sexual reproduction of fungal species across the same southward gradient of increasing stress in Israel. This parallel may suggest that diversity and sex are intertwined intimately according to the rise and fall pattern and adaptively selected by natural selection in fungal genome evolution. Future large-scale verification in micromycetes will define further the trajectories of diversity and sex in the rise and fall pattern. PMID:14645702

  13. The use of comparative genomic hybridization to characterize genome dynamics and diversity among the serotypes of Shigella

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sun Meisheng

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Compelling evidence indicates that Shigella species, the etiologic agents of bacillary dysentery, as well as enteroinvasive Escherichia coli, are derived from multiple origins of Escherichia coli and form a single pathovar. To further understand the genome diversity and virulence evolution of Shigella, comparative genomic hybridization microarray analysis was employed to compare the gene content of E. coli K-12 with those of 43 Shigella strains from all lineages. Results For the 43 strains subjected to CGH microarray analyses, the common backbone of the Shigella genome was estimated to contain more than 1,900 open reading frames (ORFs, with a mean number of 726 undetectable ORFs. The mosaic distribution of absent regions indicated that insertions and/or deletions have led to the highly diversified genomes of pathogenic strains. Conclusion These results support the hypothesis that by gain and loss of functions, Shigella species became successful human pathogens through convergent evolution from diverse genomic backgrounds. Moreover, we also found many specific differences between different lineages, providing a window into understanding bacterial speciation and taxonomic relationships.

  14. The Role of the Phylogenetic Diversity Measure, PD, in Bio-informatics: Getting the Definition Right

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel P. Faith

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available A recent paper in this journal (Faith and Baker, 2006 described bio-informatics challenges in the application of the PD (phylogenetic diversity measure of Faith (1992a, and highlighted the use of the root of the phylogenetic tree, as implied by the original definition of PD. A response paper (Crozier et al. 2006 stated that 1 the (Faith, 1992a PD definition did not include the use of the root of the tree, and 2 Moritz and Faith (1998 changed the PD definition to include the root. Both characterizations are here refuted. Examples from Faith (1992a,b document the link from the definition to the use of the root of the overall tree, and a survey of papers over the past 15 years by Faith and colleagues demonstrate that the stated PD definition has remained the same as that in the original 1992 study. PD’s estimation of biodiversity at the level of “feature diversity” is seen to have provided the original rationale for the measure’s consideration of the root of the phylogenetic tree.

  15. Species richness, but not phylogenetic diversity, influences community biomass production and temporal stability in a re-examination of 16 grassland biodiversity studies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Venail, P.; Gross, K.; Oakley, T.H.; Narwani, A.; Allan, E.; Flombaum, P.; Isbell, F.; Joshi, J.; Reich, P.B.; Tilman, D.; Ruijven, van J.; Cardinale, B.J.

    2015-01-01

    1.Hundreds of experiments have now manipulated species richness of various groups of organisms and examined how this aspect of biological diversity influences ecosystem functioning. Ecologists have recently expanded this field to look at whether phylogenetic diversity among species, often quantified

  16. Untangling hybrid phylogenetic signals: horizontal gene transfer and artifacts of phylogenetic reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beiko, Robert G; Ragan, Mark A

    2009-01-01

    Phylogenomic methods can be used to investigate the tangled evolutionary relationships among genomes. Building 'all the trees of all the genes' can potentially identify common pathways of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among taxa at varying levels of phylogenetic depth. Phylogenetic affinities can be aggregated and merged with the information about genetic linkage and biochemical function to examine hypotheses of adaptive evolution via HGT. Additionally, the use of many genetic data sets increases the power of statistical tests for phylogenetic artifacts. However, large-scale phylogenetic analyses pose several challenges, including the necessary abandonment of manual validation techniques, the need to translate inferred phylogenetic discordance into inferred HGT events, and the challenges involved in aggregating results from search-based inference methods. In this chapter we describe a tree search procedure to recover the most parsimonious pathways of HGT, and examine some of the assumptions that are made by this method.

  17. Population Genomics of sub-saharan Drosophila melanogaster: African diversity and non-African admixture.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John E Pool

    Full Text Available Drosophila melanogaster has played a pivotal role in the development of modern population genetics. However, many basic questions regarding the demographic and adaptive history of this species remain unresolved. We report the genome sequencing of 139 wild-derived strains of D. melanogaster, representing 22 population samples from the sub-Saharan ancestral range of this species, along with one European population. Most genomes were sequenced above 25X depth from haploid embryos. Results indicated a pervasive influence of non-African admixture in many African populations, motivating the development and application of a novel admixture detection method. Admixture proportions varied among populations, with greater admixture in urban locations. Admixture levels also varied across the genome, with localized peaks and valleys suggestive of a non-neutral introgression process. Genomes from the same location differed starkly in ancestry, suggesting that isolation mechanisms may exist within African populations. After removing putatively admixed genomic segments, the greatest genetic diversity was observed in southern Africa (e.g. Zambia, while diversity in other populations was largely consistent with a geographic expansion from this potentially ancestral region. The European population showed different levels of diversity reduction on each chromosome arm, and some African populations displayed chromosome arm-specific diversity reductions. Inversions in the European sample were associated with strong elevations in diversity across chromosome arms. Genomic scans were conducted to identify loci that may represent targets of positive selection within an African population, between African populations, and between European and African populations. A disproportionate number of candidate selective sweep regions were located near genes with varied roles in gene regulation. Outliers for Europe-Africa F(ST were found to be enriched in genomic regions of locally

  18. Population Genomics of Sub-Saharan Drosophila melanogaster: African Diversity and Non-African Admixture

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pool, John E.; Corbett-Detig, Russell B.; Sugino, Ryuichi P.; Stevens, Kristian A.; Cardeno, Charis M.; Crepeau, Marc W.; Duchen, Pablo; Emerson, J. J.; Saelao, Perot; Begun, David J.; Langley, Charles H.

    2012-01-01

    Drosophila melanogaster has played a pivotal role in the development of modern population genetics. However, many basic questions regarding the demographic and adaptive history of this species remain unresolved. We report the genome sequencing of 139 wild-derived strains of D. melanogaster, representing 22 population samples from the sub-Saharan ancestral range of this species, along with one European population. Most genomes were sequenced above 25X depth from haploid embryos. Results indicated a pervasive influence of non-African admixture in many African populations, motivating the development and application of a novel admixture detection method. Admixture proportions varied among populations, with greater admixture in urban locations. Admixture levels also varied across the genome, with localized peaks and valleys suggestive of a non-neutral introgression process. Genomes from the same location differed starkly in ancestry, suggesting that isolation mechanisms may exist within African populations. After removing putatively admixed genomic segments, the greatest genetic diversity was observed in southern Africa (e.g. Zambia), while diversity in other populations was largely consistent with a geographic expansion from this potentially ancestral region. The European population showed different levels of diversity reduction on each chromosome arm, and some African populations displayed chromosome arm-specific diversity reductions. Inversions in the European sample were associated with strong elevations in diversity across chromosome arms. Genomic scans were conducted to identify loci that may represent targets of positive selection within an African population, between African populations, and between European and African populations. A disproportionate number of candidate selective sweep regions were located near genes with varied roles in gene regulation. Outliers for Europe-Africa FST were found to be enriched in genomic regions of locally elevated cosmopolitan

  19. Reptile genomes open the frontier for comparative analysis of amniote development and regeneration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tollis, Marc; Hutchins, Elizabeth D; Kusumi, Kenro

    2014-01-01

    Developmental genetic studies of vertebrates have focused primarily on zebrafish, frog and mouse models, which have clear application to medicine and well-developed genomic resources. In contrast, reptiles represent the most diverse amniote group, but have only recently begun to gather the attention of genome sequencing efforts. Extant reptilian groups last shared a common ancestor ?280 million years ago and include lepidosaurs, turtles and crocodilians. This phylogenetic diversity is reflected in great morphological and behavioral diversity capturing the attention of biologists interested in mechanisms regulating developmental processes such as somitogenesis and spinal patterning, regeneration, the evolution of "snake-like" morphology, the formation of the unique turtle shell, and the convergent evolution of the four-chambered heart shared by mammals and archosaurs. The complete genome of the first non-avian reptile, the green anole lizard, was published in 2011 and has provided insights into the origin and evolution of amniotes. Since then, the genomes of multiple snakes, turtles, and crocodilians have also been completed. Here we will review the current diversity of available reptile genomes, with an emphasis on their evolutionary relationships, and will highlight how these genomes have and will continue to facilitate research in developmental and regenerative biology.

  20. Identification of Four Distinct Phylogenetic Groups in Flavobacterium columnare With Fish Host Associations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin R. LaFrentz

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Columnaris disease, caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Flavobacterium columnare, is one of the most prevalent fish diseases worldwide. An exceptionally high level of genetic diversity among isolates of F. columnare has long been recognized, whereby six established genomovars have been described to date. However, little has been done to quantify or characterize this diversity further in a systematic fashion. The objective of this research was to perform phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA and housekeeping gene sequences to decipher the genetic diversity of F. columnare. Fifty isolates and/or genomes of F. columnare, originating from diverse years, geographic locations, fish hosts, and representative of the six genomovars were analyzed in this study. A multilocus phylogenetic analysis (MLPA of the 16S rRNA and six housekeeping genes supported four distinct F. columnare genetic groups. There were associations between genomovar and genetic group, but these relationships were imperfect indicating that genomovar assignment does not accurately reflect F. columnare genetic diversity. To expand the dataset, an additional 90 16S rRNA gene sequences were retrieved from GenBank and a phylogenetic analysis of this larger dataset also supported the establishment of four genetic groups. Examination of isolate historical data indicated biological relevance to the identified genetic diversity, with some genetic groups isolated preferentially from specific fish species or families. It is proposed that F. columnare isolates be assigned to the four genetic groups defined in this study rather than genomovar in order to facilitate a standard nomenclature across the scientific community. An increased understanding of which genetic groups are most prevalent in different regions and/or aquaculture industries may allow for the development of improved targeted control and treatment measures for columnaris disease.

  1. Absence of genome reduction in diverse, facultative endohyphal bacteria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baltrus, David A. [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); Dougherty, Kevin [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); Arendt, Kayla R. [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States); Huntemann, Marcel [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Clum, Alicia [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Pillay, Manoj [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Palaniappan, Krishnaveni [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Varghese, Neha [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Mikhailova, Natalia [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Stamatis, Dimitrios [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Reddy, T. B. K. [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Ngan, Chew Yee [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Daum, Chris [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Shapiro, Nicole [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Markowitz, Victor [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Ivanova, Natalia [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Kyrpides, Nikos [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Woyke, Tanja [Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States); Arnold, A. Elizabeth [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

    2017-02-28

    Fungi interact closely with bacteria, both on the surfaces of the hyphae and within their living tissues (i.e. endohyphal bacteria, EHB). These EHB can be obligate or facultative symbionts and can mediate diverse phenotypic traits in their hosts. Although EHB have been observed in many lineages of fungi, it remains unclear how widespread and general these associations are, and whether there are unifying ecological and genomic features can be found across EHB strains as a whole. We cultured 11 bacterial strains after they emerged from the hyphae of diverse Ascomycota that were isolated as foliar endophytes of cupressaceous trees, and generated nearly complete genome sequences for all. Unlike the genomes of largely obligate EHB, the genomes of these facultative EHB resembled those of closely related strains isolated from environmental sources. Although all analysed genomes encoded structures that could be used to interact with eukaryotic hosts, pathways previously implicated in maintenance and establishment of EHB symbiosis were not universally present across all strains. Independent isolation of two nearly identical pairs of strains from different classes of fungi, coupled with recent experimental evidence, suggests horizontal transfer of EHB across endophytic hosts. Given the potential for EHB to influence fungal phenotypes, these genomes could shed light on the mechanisms of plant growth promotion or stress mitigation by fungal endophytes during the symbiotic phase, as well as degradation of plant material during the saprotrophic phase. As such, these findings contribute to the illumination of a new dimension of functional biodiversity in fungi.

  2. Increasing genomic diversity and evidence of constrained lifestyle evolution due to insertion sequences in Aeromonas salmonicida.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Antony T; Trudel, Mélanie V; Freschi, Luca; Nagar, Vandan; Gagné-Thivierge, Cynthia; Levesque, Roger C; Charette, Steve J

    2016-01-12

    Aeromonads make up a group of Gram-negative bacteria that includes human and fish pathogens. The Aeromonas salmonicida species has the peculiarity of including five known subspecies. However, few studies of the genomes of A. salmonicida subspecies have been reported to date. We sequenced the genomes of additional A. salmonicida isolates, including three from India, using next-generation sequencing in order to gain a better understanding of the genomic and phylogenetic links between A. salmonicida subspecies. Their relative phylogenetic positions were confirmed by a core genome phylogeny based on 1645 gene sequences. The Indian isolates, which formed a sub-group together with A. salmonicida subsp. pectinolytica, were able to grow at either at 18 °C and 37 °C, unlike the A. salmonicida psychrophilic isolates that did not grow at 37 °C. Amino acid frequencies, GC content, tRNA composition, loss and gain of genes during evolution, pseudogenes as well as genes under positive selection and the mobilome were studied to explain this intraspecies dichotomy. Insertion sequences appeared to be an important driving force that locked the psychrophilic strains into their particular lifestyle in order to conserve their genomic integrity. This observation, based on comparative genomics, is in agreement with previous results showing that insertion sequence mobility induced by heat in A. salmonicida subspecies causes genomic plasticity, resulting in a deleterious effect on the virulence of the bacterium. We provide a proof-of-concept that selfish DNAs play a major role in the evolution of bacterial species by modeling genomes.

  3. Phylo_dCor: distance correlation as a novel metric for phylogenetic profiling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sferra, Gabriella; Fratini, Federica; Ponzi, Marta; Pizzi, Elisabetta

    2017-09-05

    Elaboration of powerful methods to predict functional and/or physical protein-protein interactions from genome sequence is one of the main tasks in the post-genomic era. Phylogenetic profiling allows the prediction of protein-protein interactions at a whole genome level in both Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes. For this reason it is considered one of the most promising methods. Here, we propose an improvement of phylogenetic profiling that enables handling of large genomic datasets and infer global protein-protein interactions. This method uses the distance correlation as a new measure of phylogenetic profile similarity. We constructed robust reference sets and developed Phylo-dCor, a parallelized version of the algorithm for calculating the distance correlation that makes it applicable to large genomic data. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli genome datasets, we showed that Phylo-dCor outperforms phylogenetic profiling methods previously described based on the mutual information and Pearson's correlation as measures of profile similarity. In this work, we constructed and assessed robust reference sets and propose the distance correlation as a measure for comparing phylogenetic profiles. To make it applicable to large genomic data, we developed Phylo-dCor, a parallelized version of the algorithm for calculating the distance correlation. Two R scripts that can be run on a wide range of machines are available upon request.

  4. A New Perspective on Polyploid Fragaria (Strawberry) Genome Composition Based on Large-Scale, Multi-Locus Phylogenetic Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Yilong; Davis, Thomas M

    2017-12-01

    The subgenomic compositions of the octoploid (2n = 8× = 56) strawberry (Fragaria) species, including the economically important cultivated species Fragaria x ananassa, have been a topic of long-standing interest. Phylogenomic approaches utilizing next-generation sequencing technologies offer a new window into species relationships and the subgenomic compositions of polyploids. We have conducted a large-scale phylogenetic analysis of Fragaria (strawberry) species using the Fluidigm Access Array system and 454 sequencing platform. About 24 single-copy or low-copy nuclear genes distributed across the genome were amplified and sequenced from 96 genomic DNA samples representing 16 Fragaria species from diploid (2×) to decaploid (10×), including the most extensive sampling of octoploid taxa yet reported. Individual gene trees were constructed by different tree-building methods. Mosaic genomic structures of diploid Fragaria species consisting of sequences at different phylogenetic positions were observed. Our findings support the presence in octoploid species of genetic signatures from at least five diploid ancestors (F. vesca, F. iinumae, F. bucharica, F. viridis, and at least one additional allele contributor of unknown identity), and questions the extent to which distinct subgenomes are preserved over evolutionary time in the allopolyploid Fragaria species. In addition, our data support divergence between the two wild octoploid species, F. virginiana and F. chiloensis. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  5. The ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence region in the Musaceae: structure, diversity and use in molecular phylogeny.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva Hřibová

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Genes coding for 45S ribosomal RNA are organized in tandem arrays of up to several thousand copies and contain 18S, 5.8S and 26S rRNA units separated by internal transcribed spacers ITS1 and ITS2. While the rRNA units are evolutionary conserved, ITS show high level of interspecific divergence and have been used frequently in genetic diversity and phylogenetic studies. In this work we report on the structure and diversity of the ITS region in 87 representatives of the family Musaceae. We provide the first detailed information on ITS sequence diversity in the genus Musa and describe the presence of more than one type of ITS sequence within individual species. Both Sanger sequencing of amplified ITS regions and whole genome 454 sequencing lead to similar phylogenetic inferences. We show that it is necessary to identify putative pseudogenic ITS sequences, which may have negative effect on phylogenetic reconstruction at lower taxonomic levels. Phylogenetic reconstruction based on ITS sequence showed that the genus Musa is divided into two distinct clades--Callimusa and Australimusa and Eumusa and Rhodochlamys. Most of the intraspecific banana hybrids analyzed contain conserved parental ITS sequences, indicating incomplete concerted evolution of rDNA loci. Independent evolution of parental rDNA in hybrids enables determination of genomic constitution of hybrids using ITS. The observation of only one type of ITS sequence in some of the presumed interspecific hybrid clones warrants further study to confirm their hybrid origin and to unravel processes leading to evolution of their genomes.

  6. Genomic treasure troves: complete genome sequencing of herbarium and insect museum specimens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staats, Martijn; Erkens, Roy H J; van de Vossenberg, Bart; Wieringa, Jan J; Kraaijeveld, Ken; Stielow, Benjamin; Geml, József; Richardson, James E; Bakker, Freek T

    2013-01-01

    Unlocking the vast genomic diversity stored in natural history collections would create unprecedented opportunities for genome-scale evolutionary, phylogenetic, domestication and population genomic studies. Many researchers have been discouraged from using historical specimens in molecular studies because of both generally limited success of DNA extraction and the challenges associated with PCR-amplifying highly degraded DNA. In today's next-generation sequencing (NGS) world, opportunities and prospects for historical DNA have changed dramatically, as most NGS methods are actually designed for taking short fragmented DNA molecules as templates. Here we show that using a standard multiplex and paired-end Illumina sequencing approach, genome-scale sequence data can be generated reliably from dry-preserved plant, fungal and insect specimens collected up to 115 years ago, and with minimal destructive sampling. Using a reference-based assembly approach, we were able to produce the entire nuclear genome of a 43-year-old Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae) herbarium specimen with high and uniform sequence coverage. Nuclear genome sequences of three fungal specimens of 22-82 years of age (Agaricus bisporus, Laccaria bicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus) were generated with 81.4-97.9% exome coverage. Complete organellar genome sequences were assembled for all specimens. Using de novo assembly we retrieved between 16.2-71.0% of coding sequence regions, and hence remain somewhat cautious about prospects for de novo genome assembly from historical specimens. Non-target sequence contaminations were observed in 2 of our insect museum specimens. We anticipate that future museum genomics projects will perhaps not generate entire genome sequences in all cases (our specimens contained relatively small and low-complexity genomes), but at least generating vital comparative genomic data for testing (phylo)genetic, demographic and genetic hypotheses, that become increasingly more horizontal

  7. [Phylogenetic diversity of microorganisms associated with the deep-water sponge Baikalospongia intermedia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalyzhnaya, O V; Itskovich, V B

    2014-07-01

    The diversity of bacteria associated with deep-water sponge Baikalospongia intermedia was evaluated by sequence analysis of 16S rRNA genes from two sponge samples collected in Lake Baikal from depths of 550 and 1204 m. A total of 64 operational taxonomic units, belonging to nine bacterial phyla, Proteobacteria (classes Alphaproteobacteria,. Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria), Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, Cloroflexi, Verrucomicrobia, Acidobacteria, Chlorobi, and Nitrospirae, including candidate phylum WS5, were identified. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the examined communities contained phylotypes exhibiting homology to uncultured bacteria from different lake ecosystems, freshwater sediments, soil and geological formations. Moreover, a number of phylotypes were relative to psychrophilic, methane-oxidizing, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and to microorganisms resistant to the influence of heavy metals. It seems likely that the unusual habitation conditions of deep-water sponges contribute to the taxonomic diversity of associated bacteria and have an influence on the presence of functionally important microorganisms in bacterial communities.

  8. Phylogenetic niche conservatism explains an inverse latitudinal diversity gradient in freshwater arthropods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morinière, Jérôme; van Dam, Matthew H.; Hawlitschek, Oliver; Bergsten, Johannes; Michat, Mariano C.; Hendrich, Lars; Ribera, Ignacio; Toussaint, Emmanuel F. A.; Balke, Michael

    2016-05-01

    The underlying mechanisms responsible for the general increase in species richness from temperate regions to the tropics remain equivocal. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain this astonishing pattern but additional empirical studies are needed to shed light on the drivers at work. Here we reconstruct the evolutionary history of the cosmopolitan diving beetle subfamily Colymbetinae, the majority of which are found in the Northern hemisphere, hence exhibiting an inversed latitudinal diversity gradient. We reconstructed a dated phylogeny using 12 genes, to investigate the biogeographical history and diversification dynamics in the Colymbetinae. We aimed to identify the role that phylogenetic niche conservatism plays in the inversed diversification pattern seen in this group. Our results suggest that Colymbetinae originated in temperate climates, which supports the hypothesis that their distribution is the result of an ancestral adaptation to temperate environmental conditions rather than tropical origins, and that temperate niche conservatism can generate and/or maintain inverse latitudinal diversity gradients.

  9. pico-PLAZA, a genome database of microbial photosynthetic eukaryotes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vandepoele, Klaas; Van Bel, Michiel; Richard, Guilhem; Van Landeghem, Sofie; Verhelst, Bram; Moreau, Hervé; Van de Peer, Yves; Grimsley, Nigel; Piganeau, Gwenael

    2013-08-01

    With the advent of next generation genome sequencing, the number of sequenced algal genomes and transcriptomes is rapidly growing. Although a few genome portals exist to browse individual genome sequences, exploring complete genome information from multiple species for the analysis of user-defined sequences or gene lists remains a major challenge. pico-PLAZA is a web-based resource (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/pico-plaza/) for algal genomics that combines different data types with intuitive tools to explore genomic diversity, perform integrative evolutionary sequence analysis and study gene functions. Apart from homologous gene families, multiple sequence alignments, phylogenetic trees, Gene Ontology, InterPro and text-mining functional annotations, different interactive viewers are available to study genome organization using gene collinearity and synteny information. Different search functions, documentation pages, export functions and an extensive glossary are available to guide non-expert scientists. To illustrate the versatility of the platform, different case studies are presented demonstrating how pico-PLAZA can be used to functionally characterize large-scale EST/RNA-Seq data sets and to perform environmental genomics. Functional enrichments analysis of 16 Phaeodactylum tricornutum transcriptome libraries offers a molecular view on diatom adaptation to different environments of ecological relevance. Furthermore, we show how complementary genomic data sources can easily be combined to identify marker genes to study the diversity and distribution of algal species, for example in metagenomes, or to quantify intraspecific diversity from environmental strains. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and Society for Applied Microbiology.

  10. Evaluating Methods for Isolating Total RNA and Predicting the Success of Sequencing Phylogenetically Diverse Plant Transcriptomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruskiewich, Richard; Burris, Jason N.; Carrigan, Charlotte T.; Chase, Mark W.; Clarke, Neil D.; Covshoff, Sarah; dePamphilis, Claude W.; Edger, Patrick P.; Goh, Falicia; Graham, Sean; Greiner, Stephan; Hibberd, Julian M.; Jordon-Thaden, Ingrid; Kutchan, Toni M.; Leebens-Mack, James; Melkonian, Michael; Miles, Nicholas; Myburg, Henrietta; Patterson, Jordan; Pires, J. Chris; Ralph, Paula; Rolf, Megan; Sage, Rowan F.; Soltis, Douglas; Soltis, Pamela; Stevenson, Dennis; Stewart, C. Neal; Surek, Barbara; Thomsen, Christina J. M.; Villarreal, Juan Carlos; Wu, Xiaolei; Zhang, Yong; Deyholos, Michael K.; Wong, Gane Ka-Shu

    2012-01-01

    Next-generation sequencing plays a central role in the characterization and quantification of transcriptomes. Although numerous metrics are purported to quantify the quality of RNA, there have been no large-scale empirical evaluations of the major determinants of sequencing success. We used a combination of existing and newly developed methods to isolate total RNA from 1115 samples from 695 plant species in 324 families, which represents >900 million years of phylogenetic diversity from green algae through flowering plants, including many plants of economic importance. We then sequenced 629 of these samples on Illumina GAIIx and HiSeq platforms and performed a large comparative analysis to identify predictors of RNA quality and the diversity of putative genes (scaffolds) expressed within samples. Tissue types (e.g., leaf vs. flower) varied in RNA quality, sequencing depth and the number of scaffolds. Tissue age also influenced RNA quality but not the number of scaffolds ≥1000 bp. Overall, 36% of the variation in the number of scaffolds was explained by metrics of RNA integrity (RIN score), RNA purity (OD 260/230), sequencing platform (GAIIx vs HiSeq) and the amount of total RNA used for sequencing. However, our results show that the most commonly used measures of RNA quality (e.g., RIN) are weak predictors of the number of scaffolds because Illumina sequencing is robust to variation in RNA quality. These results provide novel insight into the methods that are most important in isolating high quality RNA for sequencing and assembling plant transcriptomes. The methods and recommendations provided here could increase the efficiency and decrease the cost of RNA sequencing for individual labs and genome centers. PMID:23185583

  11. A LDA-based approach to promoting ranking diversity for genomics information retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yan; Yin, Xiaoshi; Li, Zhoujun; Hu, Xiaohua; Huang, Jimmy Xiangji

    2012-06-11

    In the biomedical domain, there are immense data and tremendous increase of genomics and biomedical relevant publications. The wealth of information has led to an increasing amount of interest in and need for applying information retrieval techniques to access the scientific literature in genomics and related biomedical disciplines. In many cases, the desired information of a query asked by biologists is a list of a certain type of entities covering different aspects that are related to the question, such as cells, genes, diseases, proteins, mutations, etc. Hence, it is important of a biomedical IR system to be able to provide relevant and diverse answers to fulfill biologists' information needs. However traditional IR model only concerns with the relevance between retrieved documents and user query, but does not take redundancy between retrieved documents into account. This will lead to high redundancy and low diversity in the retrieval ranked lists. In this paper, we propose an approach which employs a topic generative model called Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to promoting ranking diversity for biomedical information retrieval. Different from other approaches or models which consider aspects on word level, our approach assumes that aspects should be identified by the topics of retrieved documents. We present LDA model to discover topic distribution of retrieval passages and word distribution of each topic dimension, and then re-rank retrieval results with topic distribution similarity between passages based on N-size slide window. We perform our approach on TREC 2007 Genomics collection and two distinctive IR baseline runs, which can achieve 8% improvement over the highest Aspect MAP reported in TREC 2007 Genomics track. The proposed method is the first study of adopting topic model to genomics information retrieval, and demonstrates its effectiveness in promoting ranking diversity as well as in improving relevance of ranked lists of genomics search

  12. Whole Genome Characterization, Phylogenetic and Genome Signature Analysis of Human Pandemic H1N1 Virus in Thailand, 2009–2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makkoch, Jarika; Suwannakarn, Kamol; Payungporn, Sunchai; Prachayangprecha, Slinporn; Cheiocharnsin, Thaweesak; Linsuwanon, Piyada; Theamboonlers, Apiradee; Poovorawan, Yong

    2012-01-01

    Background Three waves of human pandemic influenza occurred in Thailand in 2009–2012. The genome signature features and evolution of pH1N1 need to be characterized to elucidate the aspects responsible for the multiple waves of pandemic. Methodology/Findings Forty whole genome sequences and 584 partial sequences of pH1N1 circulating in Thailand, divided into 1st, 2nd and 3rd wave and post-pandemic were characterized and 77 genome signatures were analyzed. Phylogenetic trees of concatenated whole genome and HA gene sequences were constructed calculating substitution rate and dN/dS of each gene. Phylogenetic analysis showed a distinct pattern of pH1N1 circulation in Thailand, with the first two isolates from May, 2009 belonging to clade 5 while clades 5, 6 and 7 co-circulated during the first wave of pH1N1 pandemic in Thailand. Clade 8 predominated during the second wave and different proportions of the pH1N1 viruses circulating during the third wave and post pandemic period belonged to clades 8, 11.1 and 11.2. The mutation analysis of pH1N1 revealed many adaptive mutations which have become the signature of each clade and may be responsible for the multiple pandemic waves in Thailand, especially with regard to clades 11.1 and 11.2 as evidenced with V731I, G154D of PB1 gene, PA I330V, HA A214T S160G and S202T. The substitution rate of pH1N1 in Thailand ranged from 2.53×10−3±0.02 (M2 genes) to 5.27×10−3±0.03 per site per year (NA gene). Conclusions All results suggested that this virus is still adaptive, maybe to evade the host's immune response and tends to remain in the human host although the dN/dS were under purifying selection in all 8 genes. Due to the gradual evolution of pH1N1 in Thailand, continuous monitoring is essential for evaluation and surveillance to be prepared for and able to control future influenza activities. PMID:23251479

  13. Dynamic Evolution of Pathogenicity Revealed by Sequencing and Comparative Genomics of 19 Pseudomonas syringae Isolates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romanchuk, Artur; Chang, Jeff H.; Mukhtar, M. Shahid; Cherkis, Karen; Roach, Jeff; Grant, Sarah R.; Jones, Corbin D.; Dangl, Jeffery L.

    2011-01-01

    Closely related pathogens may differ dramatically in host range, but the molecular, genetic, and evolutionary basis for these differences remains unclear. In many Gram- negative bacteria, including the phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae, type III effectors (TTEs) are essential for pathogenicity, instrumental in structuring host range, and exhibit wide diversity between strains. To capture the dynamic nature of virulence gene repertoires across P. syringae, we screened 11 diverse strains for novel TTE families and coupled this nearly saturating screen with the sequencing and assembly of 14 phylogenetically diverse isolates from a broad collection of diseased host plants. TTE repertoires vary dramatically in size and content across all P. syringae clades; surprisingly few TTEs are conserved and present in all strains. Those that are likely provide basal requirements for pathogenicity. We demonstrate that functional divergence within one conserved locus, hopM1, leads to dramatic differences in pathogenicity, and we demonstrate that phylogenetics-informed mutagenesis can be used to identify functionally critical residues of TTEs. The dynamism of the TTE repertoire is mirrored by diversity in pathways affecting the synthesis of secreted phytotoxins, highlighting the likely role of both types of virulence factors in determination of host range. We used these 14 draft genome sequences, plus five additional genome sequences previously reported, to identify the core genome for P. syringae and we compared this core to that of two closely related non-pathogenic pseudomonad species. These data revealed the recent acquisition of a 1 Mb megaplasmid by a sub-clade of cucumber pathogens. This megaplasmid encodes a type IV secretion system and a diverse set of unknown proteins, which dramatically increases both the genomic content of these strains and the pan-genome of the species. PMID:21799664

  14. Natural Product Biosynthetic Diversity and Comparative Genomics of the Cyanobacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dittmann, Elke; Gugger, Muriel; Sivonen, Kaarina; Fewer, David P

    2015-10-01

    Cyanobacteria are an ancient lineage of slow-growing photosynthetic bacteria and a prolific source of natural products with intricate chemical structures and potent biological activities. The bulk of these natural products are known from just a handful of genera. Recent efforts have elucidated the mechanisms underpinning the biosynthesis of a diverse array of natural products from cyanobacteria. Many of the biosynthetic mechanisms are unique to cyanobacteria or rarely described from other organisms. Advances in genome sequence technology have precipitated a deluge of genome sequences for cyanobacteria. This makes it possible to link known natural products to biosynthetic gene clusters but also accelerates the discovery of new natural products through genome mining. These studies demonstrate that cyanobacteria encode a huge variety of cryptic gene clusters for the production of natural products, and the known chemical diversity is likely to be just a fraction of the true biosynthetic capabilities of this fascinating and ancient group of organisms. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  15. A program for verification of phylogenetic network models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunawan, Andreas D M; Lu, Bingxin; Zhang, Louxin

    2016-09-01

    Genetic material is transferred in a non-reproductive manner across species more frequently than commonly thought, particularly in the bacteria kingdom. On one hand, extant genomes are thus more properly considered as a fusion product of both reproductive and non-reproductive genetic transfers. This has motivated researchers to adopt phylogenetic networks to study genome evolution. On the other hand, a gene's evolution is usually tree-like and has been studied for over half a century. Accordingly, the relationships between phylogenetic trees and networks are the basis for the reconstruction and verification of phylogenetic networks. One important problem in verifying a network model is determining whether or not certain existing phylogenetic trees are displayed in a phylogenetic network. This problem is formally called the tree containment problem. It is NP-complete even for binary phylogenetic networks. We design an exponential time but efficient method for determining whether or not a phylogenetic tree is displayed in an arbitrary phylogenetic network. It is developed on the basis of the so-called reticulation-visible property of phylogenetic networks. A C-program is available for download on http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/∼matzlx/tcp_package matzlx@nus.edu.sg Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. Genomic and phylogenetic characterization of luminous bacteria symbiotic with the deep-sea fish Chlorophthalmus albatrossis (Aulopiformes: Chlorophthalmidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunlap, Paul V; Ast, Jennifer C

    2005-02-01

    Bacteria forming light-organ symbiosis with deep-sea chlorophthalmid fishes (Aulopiformes: Chlorophthalmidae) are considered to belong to the species Photobacterium phosphoreum. The identification of these bacteria as P. phosphoreum, however, was based exclusively on phenotypic traits, which may not discriminate between phenetically similar but evolutionarily distinct luminous bacteria. Therefore, to test the species identification of chlorophthalmid symbionts, we carried out a genomotypic (repetitive element palindromic PCR genomic profiling) and phylogenetic analysis on strains isolated from the perirectal light organ of Chlorophthalmus albatrossis. Sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of 10 strains from 5 fish specimens placed these bacteria in a cluster related to but phylogenetically distinct from the type strain of P. phosphoreum, ATCC 11040(T), and the type strain of Photobacterium iliopiscarium, ATCC 51760(T). Analysis of gyrB resolved the C. albatrossis strains as a strongly supported clade distinct from P. phosphoreum and P. iliopiscarium. Genomic profiling of 109 strains from the 5 C. albatrossis specimens revealed a high level of similarity among strains but allowed identification of genomotypically different types from each fish. Representatives of each type were then analyzed phylogenetically, using sequence of the luxABFE genes. As with gyrB, analysis of luxABFE resolved the C. albatrossis strains as a robustly supported clade distinct from P. phosphoreum. Furthermore, other strains of luminous bacteria reported as P. phosphoreum, i.e., NCIMB 844, from the skin of Merluccius capensis (Merlucciidae), NZ-11D, from the light organ of Nezumia aequalis (Macrouridae), and pjapo.1.1, from the light organ of Physiculus japonicus (Moridae), grouped phylogenetically by gyrB and luxABFE with the C. albatrossis strains, not with ATCC 11040(T). These results demonstrate that luminous bacteria symbiotic with C. albatrossis, together with certain other strains of

  17. Revisiting the Zingiberales: using multiplexed exon capture to resolve ancient and recent phylogenetic splits in a charismatic plant lineage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chodon Sass

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The Zingiberales are an iconic order of monocotyledonous plants comprising eight families with distinctive and diverse floral morphologies and representing an important ecological element of tropical and subtropical forests. While the eight families are demonstrated to be monophyletic, phylogenetic relationships among these families remain unresolved. Neither combined morphological and molecular studies nor recent attempts to resolve family relationships using sequence data from whole plastomes has resulted in a well-supported, family-level phylogenetic hypothesis of relationships. Here we approach this challenge by leveraging the complete genome of one member of the order, Musa acuminata, together with transcriptome information from each of the other seven families to design a set of nuclear loci that can be enriched from highly divergent taxa with a single array-based capture of indexed genomic DNA. A total of 494 exons from 418 nuclear genes were captured for 53 ingroup taxa. The entire plastid genome was also captured for the same 53 taxa. Of the total genes captured, 308 nuclear and 68 plastid genes were used for phylogenetic estimation. The concatenated plastid and nuclear dataset supports the position of Musaceae as sister to the remaining seven families. Moreover, the combined dataset recovers known intra- and inter-family phylogenetic relationships with generally high bootstrap support. This is a flexible and cost effective method that gives the broader plant biology community a tool for generating phylogenomic scale sequence data in non-model systems at varying evolutionary depths.

  18. The Geobacillus pan-genome: implications for the evolution of the genus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oliver Keoagile Ignatius Bezuidt

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The genus Geobacillus is comprised of a diverse group of spore-forming Gram-positive thermophilic bacterial species and is well known for both its ecological diversity and as a source of novel thermostable enzymes. Although the mechanisms underlying the thermophilicity of the organism and the thermostability of its macromolecules are reasonably well understood, relatively little is known of the evolutionary mechanisms, which underlie the structural and functional properties of members of this genus. In this study, we have compared 29 Geobacillus genomes, with a specific focus on the elements, which comprise the conserved core and flexible genomes. Based on comparisons of conserved core and flexible genomes, we present evidence of habitat delineation with specific Geobacillus genomes linked to specific niches. Interestingly, our analysis has shown that horizontal gene transfer is a major factor deriving the evolution of Geobacillus from Bacillus, with genetic contributions from other phylogenetically distant taxa.

  19. Genome-wide genetic diversity and differentially selected regions among Suffolk, Rambouillet, Columbia, Polypay, and Targhee sheep.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lifan Zhang

    Full Text Available Sheep are among the major economically important livestock species worldwide because the animals produce milk, wool, skin, and meat. In the present study, the Illumina OvineSNP50 BeadChip was used to investigate genetic diversity and genome selection among Suffolk, Rambouillet, Columbia, Polypay, and Targhee sheep breeds from the United States. After quality-control filtering of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms, we used 48,026 SNPs, including 46,850 SNPs on autosomes that were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and 1,176 SNPs on chromosome × for analysis. Phylogenetic analysis based on all 46,850 SNPs clearly separated Suffolk from Rambouillet, Columbia, Polypay, and Targhee, which was not surprising as Rambouillet contributed to the synthesis of the later three breeds. Based on pair-wise estimates of F(ST, significant genetic differentiation appeared between Suffolk and Rambouillet (F(ST = 0.1621, while Rambouillet and Targhee had the closest relationship (F(ST = 0.0681. A scan of the genome revealed 45 and 41 differentially selected regions (DSRs between Suffolk and Rambouillet and among Rambouillet-related breed populations, respectively. Our data indicated that regions 13 and 24 between Suffolk and Rambouillet might be good candidates for evaluating breed differences. Furthermore, ovine genome v3.1 assembly was used as reference to link functionally known homologous genes to economically important traits covered by these differentially selected regions. In brief, our present study provides a comprehensive genome-wide view on within- and between-breed genetic differentiation, biodiversity, and evolution among Suffolk, Rambouillet, Columbia, Polypay, and Targhee sheep breeds. These results may provide new guidance for the synthesis of new breeds with different breeding objectives.

  20. A comparative study and a phylogenetic exploration of the compositional architectures of mammalian nuclear genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eran Elhaik

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available For the past four decades the compositional organization of the mammalian genome posed a formidable challenge to molecular evolutionists attempting to explain it from an evolutionary perspective. Unfortunately, most of the explanations adhered to the "isochore theory," which has long been rebutted. Recently, an alternative compositional domain model was proposed depicting the human and cow genomes as composed mostly of short compositionally homogeneous and nonhomogeneous domains and a few long ones. We test the validity of this model through a rigorous sequence-based analysis of eleven completely sequenced mammalian and avian genomes. Seven attributes of compositional domains are used in the analyses: (1 the number of compositional domains, (2 compositional domain-length distribution, (3 density of compositional domains, (4 genome coverage by the different domain types, (5 degree of fit to a power-law distribution, (6 compositional domain GC content, and (7 the joint distribution of GC content and length of the different domain types. We discuss the evolution of these attributes in light of two competing phylogenetic hypotheses that differ from each other in the validity of clade Euarchontoglires. If valid, the murid genome compositional organization would be a derived state and exhibit a high similarity to that of other mammals. If invalid, the murid genome compositional organization would be closer to an ancestral state. We demonstrate that the compositional organization of the murid genome differs from those of primates and laurasiatherians, a phenomenon previously termed the "murid shift," and in many ways resembles the genome of opossum. We find no support to the "isochore theory." Instead, our findings depict the mammalian genome as a tapestry of mostly short homogeneous and nonhomogeneous domains and few long ones thus providing strong evidence in favor of the compositional domain model and seem to invalidate clade Euarchontoglires.

  1. The complete genome structure and phylogenetic relationship of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morzunov , Sergey P.; Winton, James R.; Nichol, Stuart T.

    1995-01-01

    Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), a member of the family Rhabdoviridae, causes a severe disease with high mortality in salmonid fish. The nucleotide sequence (11, 131 bases) of the entire genome was determined for the pathogenic WRAC strain of IHNV from southern Idaho. This allowed detailed analysis of all 6 genes, the deduced amino acid sequences of their encoded proteins, and important control motifs including leader, trailer and gene junction regions. Sequence analysis revealed that the 6 virus genes are located along the genome in the 3′ to 5′ order: nucleocapsid (N), polymerase-associated phosphoprotein (P or M1), matrix protein (M or M2), surface glycoprotein (G), a unique non-virion protein (NV) and virus polymerase (L). The IHNV genome RNA was found to have highly complementary termini (15 of 16 nucleotides). The gene junction regions display the highly conserved sequence UCURUC(U)7RCCGUG(N)4CACR (in the vRNA sense), which includes the typical rhabdovirus transcription termination/polyadenylation signal and a novel putative transcription initiation signal. Phylogenetic analysis of M, G and L protein sequences allowed insights into the evolutionary and taxonomic relationship of rhabdoviruses of fish relative to those of insects or mammals, and a broader sense of the relationship of non-segmented negative-strand RNA viruses. Based on these data, a new genus, piscivirus, is proposed which will initially contain IHNV, viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus and Hirame rhabdovirus.

  2. Genomic diversity and evolution of the head crest in the rock pigeon

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shapiro, Michael D.; Kronenberg, Zev; Li, Cai

    2013-01-01

    The geographic origins of breeds and the genetic basis of variation within the widely distributed and phenotypically diverse domestic rock pigeon (Columba livia) remain largely unknown. We generated a rock pigeon reference genome and additional genome sequences representing domestic and feral...

  3. Biosynthesis of ribose-5-phosphate and erythrose-4-phosphate in archaea: a phylogenetic analysis of archaeal genomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tim Soderberg

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available A phylogenetic analysis of the genes encoding enzymes in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP, the ribulose monophosphate (RuMP pathway, and the chorismate pathway of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis, employing data from 13 complete archaeal genomes, provides a potential explanation for the enigmatic phylogenetic patterns of the PPP genes in archaea. Genomic and biochemical evidence suggests that three archaeal species (Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, Thermoplasma acidophilum and Thermoplasma volcanium produce ribose-5-phosphate via the nonoxidative PPP (NOPPP, whereas nine species apparently lack an NOPPP but may employ a reverse RuMP pathway for pentose synthesis. One species (Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 lacks both the NOPPP and the RuMP pathway but may possess a modified oxidative PPP (OPPP, the details of which are not yet known. The presence of transketolase in several archaeal species that are missing the other two NOPPP genes can be explained by the existence of differing requirements for erythrose-4-phosphate (E4P among archaea: six species use transketolase to make E4P as a precursor to aromatic amino acids, six species apparently have an alternate biosynthetic pathway and may not require the ability to make E4P, and one species (Pyrococcus horikoshii probably does not synthesize aromatic amino acids at all.

  4. Impacts of Genome-Wide Analyses on Our Understanding of Human Herpesvirus Diversity and Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renner, Daniel W; Szpara, Moriah L

    2018-01-01

    Until fairly recently, genome-wide evolutionary dynamics and within-host diversity were more commonly examined in the context of small viruses than in the context of large double-stranded DNA viruses such as herpesviruses. The high mutation rates and more compact genomes of RNA viruses have inspired the investigation of population dynamics for these species, and recent data now suggest that herpesviruses might also be considered candidates for population modeling. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) and bioinformatics have expanded our understanding of herpesviruses through genome-wide comparisons of sequence diversity, recombination, allele frequency, and selective pressures. Here we discuss recent data on the mechanisms that generate herpesvirus genomic diversity and underlie the evolution of these virus families. We focus on human herpesviruses, with key insights drawn from veterinary herpesviruses and other large DNA virus families. We consider the impacts of cell culture on herpesvirus genomes and how to accurately describe the viral populations under study. The need for a strong foundation of high-quality genomes is also discussed, since it underlies all secondary genomic analyses such as RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), chromatin immunoprecipitation, and ribosome profiling. Areas where we foresee future progress, such as the linking of viral genetic differences to phenotypic or clinical outcomes, are highlighted as well. Copyright © 2017 Renner and Szpara.

  5. Impacts of Genome-Wide Analyses on Our Understanding of Human Herpesvirus Diversity and Evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renner, Daniel W.

    2017-01-01

    ABSTRACT Until fairly recently, genome-wide evolutionary dynamics and within-host diversity were more commonly examined in the context of small viruses than in the context of large double-stranded DNA viruses such as herpesviruses. The high mutation rates and more compact genomes of RNA viruses have inspired the investigation of population dynamics for these species, and recent data now suggest that herpesviruses might also be considered candidates for population modeling. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) and bioinformatics have expanded our understanding of herpesviruses through genome-wide comparisons of sequence diversity, recombination, allele frequency, and selective pressures. Here we discuss recent data on the mechanisms that generate herpesvirus genomic diversity and underlie the evolution of these virus families. We focus on human herpesviruses, with key insights drawn from veterinary herpesviruses and other large DNA virus families. We consider the impacts of cell culture on herpesvirus genomes and how to accurately describe the viral populations under study. The need for a strong foundation of high-quality genomes is also discussed, since it underlies all secondary genomic analyses such as RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq), chromatin immunoprecipitation, and ribosome profiling. Areas where we foresee future progress, such as the linking of viral genetic differences to phenotypic or clinical outcomes, are highlighted as well. PMID:29046445

  6. Genetic variation architecture of mitochondrial genome reveals the differentiation in Korean landrace and weedy rice

    OpenAIRE

    Wei Tong; Qiang He; Yong-Jin Park

    2017-01-01

    Mitochondrial genome variations have been detected despite the overall conservation of this gene content, which has been valuable for plant population genetics and evolutionary studies. Here, we describe mitochondrial variation architecture and our performance of a phylogenetic dissection of Korean landrace and weedy rice. A total of 4,717 variations across the mitochondrial genome were identified adjunct with 10 wild rice. Genetic diversity assessment revealed that wild rice has higher nucle...

  7. Microbial Culturomics Broadens Human Vaginal Flora Diversity: Genome Sequence and Description of Prevotella lascolaii sp. nov. Isolated from a Patient with Bacterial Vaginosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diop, Khoudia; Diop, Awa; Levasseur, Anthony; Mediannikov, Oleg; Robert, Catherine; Armstrong, Nicholas; Couderc, Carine; Bretelle, Florence; Raoult, Didier; Fournier, Pierre-Edouard; Fenollar, Florence

    2018-03-01

    Microbial culturomics is a new subfield of postgenomic medicine and omics biotechnology application that has broadened our awareness on bacterial diversity of the human microbiome, including the human vaginal flora bacterial diversity. Using culturomics, a new obligate anaerobic Gram-stain-negative rod-shaped bacterium designated strain khD1 T was isolated in the vagina of a patient with bacterial vaginosis and characterized using taxonogenomics. The most abundant cellular fatty acids were C 15:0 anteiso (36%), C 16:0 (19%), and C 15:0 iso (10%). Based on an analysis of the full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences, phylogenetic analysis showed that the strain khD1 T exhibited 90% sequence similarity with Prevotella loescheii, the phylogenetically closest validated Prevotella species. With 3,763,057 bp length, the genome of strain khD1 T contained (mol%) 48.7 G + C and 3248 predicted genes, including 3194 protein-coding and 54 RNA genes. Given the phenotypical and biochemical characteristic results as well as genome sequencing, strain khD1 T is considered to represent a novel species within the genus Prevotella, for which the name Prevotella lascolaii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is khD1 T ( = CSUR P0109, = DSM 101754). These results show that microbial culturomics greatly improves the characterization of the human microbiome repertoire by isolating potential putative new species. Further studies will certainly clarify the microbial mechanisms of pathogenesis of these new microbes and their role in health and disease. Microbial culturomics is an important new addition to the diagnostic medicine toolbox and warrants attention in future medical, global health, and integrative biology postgraduate teaching curricula.

  8. REGEN: Ancestral Genome Reconstruction for Bacteria

    OpenAIRE

    Yang, Kuan; Heath, Lenwood S.; Setubal, João C.

    2012-01-01

    Ancestral genome reconstruction can be understood as a phylogenetic study with more details than a traditional phylogenetic tree reconstruction. We present a new computational system called REGEN for ancestral bacterial genome reconstruction at both the gene and replicon levels. REGEN reconstructs gene content, contiguous gene runs, and replicon structure for each ancestral genome. Along each branch of the phylogenetic tree, REGEN infers evolutionary events, including gene creation and deleti...

  9. The impacts of drift and selection on genomic evolution in insects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Jun Tong

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Genomes evolve through a combination of mutation, drift, and selection, all of which act heterogeneously across genes and lineages. This leads to differences in branch-length patterns among gene trees. Genes that yield trees with the same branch-length patterns can be grouped together into clusters. Here, we propose a novel phylogenetic approach to explain the factors that influence the number and distribution of these gene-tree clusters. We apply our method to a genomic dataset from insects, an ancient and diverse group of organisms. We find some evidence that when drift is the dominant evolutionary process, each cluster tends to contain a large number of fast-evolving genes. In contrast, strong negative selection leads to many distinct clusters, each of which contains only a few slow-evolving genes. Our work, although preliminary in nature, illustrates the use of phylogenetic methods to shed light on the factors driving rate variation in genomic evolution.

  10. Activity and phylogenetic diversity of bacterial cells with high and low nucleic acid content and electron transport system activity in an upwelling ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Longnecker, K; Sherr, B F; Sherr, E B

    2005-12-01

    We evaluated whether bacteria with higher cell-specific nucleic acid content (HNA) or an active electron transport system, i.e., positive for reduction of 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC), were responsible for the bulk of bacterioplankton metabolic activity. We also examined whether the phylogenetic diversity of HNA and CTC-positive cells differed from the diversity of Bacteria with low nucleic acid content (LNA). Bacterial assemblages were sampled both in eutrophic shelf waters and in mesotrophic offshore waters in the Oregon coastal upwelling region. Cytometrically sorted HNA, LNA, and CTC-positive cells were assayed for their cell-specific [3H]leucine incorporation rates. Phylogenetic diversity in sorted non-radioactively labeled samples was assayed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes. Cell-specific rates of leucine incorporation of HNA and CTC-positive cells were on average only slightly greater than the cell-specific rates of LNA cells. HNA cells accounted for most bacterioplankton substrate incorporation due to high abundances, while the low abundances of CTC-positive cells resulted in only a small contribution by these cells to total bacterial activity. The proportion of the total bacterial leucine incorporation attributable to LNA cells was higher in offshore regions than in shelf waters. Sequence data obtained from DGGE bands showed broadly similar phylogenetic diversity across HNA, LNA, and CTC-positive cells, with between-sample and between-region variability in the distribution of phylotypes. Our results suggest that LNA bacteria are not substantially different from HNA bacteria in either cell-specific rates of substrate incorporation or phylogenetic composition and that they can be significant contributors to bacterial metabolism in the sea.

  11. Targeted amplicon sequencing (TAS): a scalable next-gen approach to multilocus, multitaxa phylogenetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bybee, Seth M; Bracken-Grissom, Heather; Haynes, Benjamin D; Hermansen, Russell A; Byers, Robert L; Clement, Mark J; Udall, Joshua A; Wilcox, Edward R; Crandall, Keith A

    2011-01-01

    Next-gen sequencing technologies have revolutionized data collection in genetic studies and advanced genome biology to novel frontiers. However, to date, next-gen technologies have been used principally for whole genome sequencing and transcriptome sequencing. Yet many questions in population genetics and systematics rely on sequencing specific genes of known function or diversity levels. Here, we describe a targeted amplicon sequencing (TAS) approach capitalizing on next-gen capacity to sequence large numbers of targeted gene regions from a large number of samples. Our TAS approach is easily scalable, simple in execution, neither time-nor labor-intensive, relatively inexpensive, and can be applied to a broad diversity of organisms and/or genes. Our TAS approach includes a bioinformatic application, BarcodeCrucher, to take raw next-gen sequence reads and perform quality control checks and convert the data into FASTA format organized by gene and sample, ready for phylogenetic analyses. We demonstrate our approach by sequencing targeted genes of known phylogenetic utility to estimate a phylogeny for the Pancrustacea. We generated data from 44 taxa using 68 different 10-bp multiplexing identifiers. The overall quality of data produced was robust and was informative for phylogeny estimation. The potential for this method to produce copious amounts of data from a single 454 plate (e.g., 325 taxa for 24 loci) significantly reduces sequencing expenses incurred from traditional Sanger sequencing. We further discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this method, while offering suggestions to enhance the approach.

  12. Phylogenetic and functional diversity of metagenomic libraries of phenol degrading sludge from petroleum refinery wastewater treatment system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Cynthia C; Hayden, Helen; Sawbridge, Tim; Mele, Pauline; Kruger, Ricardo H; Rodrigues, Marili Vn; Costa, Gustavo Gl; Vidal, Ramon O; Sousa, Maíra P; Torres, Ana Paula R; Santiago, Vânia Mj; Oliveira, Valéria M

    2012-03-27

    In petrochemical refinery wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), different concentrations of pollutant compounds are received daily in the influent stream, including significant amounts of phenolic compounds, creating propitious conditions for the development of particular microorganisms that can rapidly adapt to such environment. In the present work, the microbial sludge from a refinery WWTP was enriched for phenol, cloned into fosmid vectors and pyrosequenced. The fosmid libraries yielded 13,200 clones and a comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of the sequence data set revealed a complex and diverse bacterial community in the phenol degrading sludge. The phylogenetic analyses using MEGAN in combination with RDP classifier showed a massive predominance of Proteobacteria, represented mostly by the genera Diaphorobacter, Pseudomonas, Thauera and Comamonas. The functional classification of phenol degrading sludge sequence data set generated by MG-RAST showed the wide metabolic diversity of the microbial sludge, with a high percentage of genes involved in the aerobic and anaerobic degradation of phenol and derivatives. In addition, genes related to the metabolism of many other organic and xenobiotic compounds, such as toluene, biphenyl, naphthalene and benzoate, were found. Results gathered herein demonstrated that the phenol degrading sludge has complex phylogenetic and functional diversities, showing the potential of such community to degrade several pollutant compounds. This microbiota is likely to represent a rich resource of versatile and unknown enzymes which may be exploited for biotechnological processes such as bioremediation.

  13. Whole genome investigation of a divergent clade of the pathogen Streptococcus suis

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    Abiyad eBaig

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Streptococcus suis is a major porcine and zoonotic pathogen responsible for significant economic losses in the pig industry and an increasing number of human cases. Multiple isolates of S. suis show marked genomic diversity. Here we report the analysis of whole genome sequences of nine pig isolates that caused disease typical of S. suis and had phenotypic characteristics of S. suis, but their genomes were divergent from those of many other S. suis isolates. Comparison of protein sequences predicted from divergent genomes with those from normal S. suis reduced the size of core genome from 793 to only 397 genes. Divergence was clear if phylogenetic analysis was performed on reduced core genes and MLST alleles. Phylogenies based on certain other genes (16S rRNA, sodA, recN and cpn60 did not show divergence for all isolates, suggesting recombination between some divergent isolates with normal S. suis for these genes. Indeed, there is evidence of recent recombination between the divergent and normal S. suis genomes for 249 of 397 core genes. In addition, phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and 132 genes that were conserved between the divergent isolates and representatives of the broader Streptococcus genus showed that divergent isolates were more closely related to S. suis. Six out of nine divergent isolates possessed a S. suis-like capsule region with variation in capsular gene sequences but the remaining three did not have a discrete capsule locus. The majority (40/70, of virulence-associated genes in normal S. suis were present in the divergent genomes. Overall, the divergent isolates extend the current diversity of S. suis species but the phenotypic similarities and the large amount of gene exchange with normal S. suis gives insufficient evidence to assign these isolates to a new species or subspecies. Further sampling and whole genome analysis of more isolates is warranted to understand the diversity of the species.

  14. Using genomic information to conserve genetic diversity in livestock

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eynard, Sonia E.

    2018-01-01

    Concern about the status of livestock breeds and their conservation has increased as selection and small population sizes caused loss of genetic diversity. Meanwhile, dense SNP chips and whole genome sequences (WGS) became available, providing opportunities to accurately quantify the impact of

  15. The Trichoplax Genome and the Nature of Placozoans

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Srivastava, Mansi; Begovic, Emina; Chapman, Jarrod; Putnam, Nicholas H.; Hellsten, Uffe; Kawashima, Takeshi; Kuo, Alan; Mitros, Therese; Salamov, Asaf; Carpenter, Meredith L.; Signorovitch, Ana Y.; Moreno, Maria A.; Kamm, Kai; Grimwood, Jane; Schmutz, Jeremy; Shapiro, Harris; Grigoriev, Igor V.; Buss, Leo W.; Schierwater, Bernd; Dellaporta, Stephen L.; Rokhsar, Daniel S.

    2008-08-01

    Placozoans are arguably the simplest free-living animals, possibly evoking an early stage in metazoan evolution, yet their biology is poorly understood. Here we report the sequencing and analysis of the {approx}98 million base pair nuclear genome of the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens. Whole genome phylogenetic analysis suggests that placozoans belong to a 'eumetazoan' clade that includes cnidarians and bilaterians, with sponges as the earliest diverging animals. The compact genome exhibits conserved gene content, gene structure, and synteny relative to the human and other complex eumetazoan genomes. Despite the apparent cellular and organismal simplicity of Trichoplax, its genome encodes a rich array of transcription factor and signaling pathway genes that are typically associated with diverse cell types and developmental processes in eumetazoans, motivating further searches for cryptic cellular complexity and/or as yet unobserved life history stages.

  16. Phylogenetic insights into the diversity of homocytous cyanobacteria from Amazonian rivers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genuário, Diego Bonaldo; Vaz, Marcelo Gomes Marçal Vieira; Melo, Itamar Soares de

    2017-11-01

    The Amazon Rainforest holds great tropical biodiversity, mainly because of its favourable climatic conditions. The high temperatures, luminosity and humidity coupled with the nutritional simplicity of cyanobacteria allow undiscovered diversity to flourish within this group of microorganisms. Some efforts to reveal this diversity have been attempted; however, most were focused on the microscopic observation of environmental samples without any genetic information. Very few studies focusing on morphological, ecological and molecular criteria have been conducted, and none have been devoted to homocytous cyanobacteria forms in Amazonia region. Therefore, the genetic relationships amongst strains retrieved from this ecosystem with regard to other environments from Brazil and the world have not been tested and, consequently, the Amazonian strains would naturally be assumed as novel to science. To examine these relationships, cultured homocytous cyanobacteria isolated from two Amazonian rivers (Amazonas and Solimões) were evaluated using a phylogenetic perspective, considering the 16S rRNA gene sequence. A total of eleven homocytous cyanobacterial strains were isolated. Morphologically, they were identified as Pseudanabaena, Leptolyngbya, Planktothrix and Phormidium, but genetically they were included in the typical clusters of Planktothrix, Pseudanabaena, Cephalothrix, Pantanalinema and Alkalinema. These three latter genera have been detected in other Brazilian ecosystems only (Pantanal, Atlantic Rainforest and Pampa), while those remaining have been extensively found in many parts of the world. The data provided here indicate that Amazonian rivers support a homocytous cyanobacterial diversity previously reported from other geographical and ecological environments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Ecological Diversity in South American Mammals: Their Geographical Distribution Shows Variable Associations with Phylogenetic Diversity and Does Not Follow the Latitudinal Richness Gradient.

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    Paula Nilda Fergnani

    Full Text Available The extent to which the latitudinal gradient in species richness may be paralleled by a similar gradient of increasing functional or phylogenetic diversity is a matter of controversy. We evaluated whether taxonomic richness (TR is informative in terms of ecological diversity (ED, an approximation to functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity (AvPD using data on 531 mammal species representing South American old autochthonous (marsupials, xenarthrans, mid-Cenozoic immigrants (hystricognaths, primates and newcomers (carnivorans, artiodactyls. If closely related species are ecologically more similar than distantly related species, AvPD will be a strong predictor of ED; however, lower ED than predicted from AvPD may be due to species retaining most of their ancestral characters, suggesting niche conservatism. This pattern could occur in tropical rainforests for taxa of tropical affinity (old autochthonous and mid-Cenozoic immigrants and in open and arid habitats for newcomers. In contrast, higher ED than expected from AvPD could occur, possibly in association with niche evolution, in arid and open habitats for taxa of tropical affinity and in forested habitats for newcomers. We found that TR was a poor predictor of ED and AvPD. After controlling for TR, there was considerable variability in the extent to which AvPD accounted for ED. Taxa of tropical affinity did not support the prediction of ED deficit within tropical rainforests, rather, they showed a mosaic of regions with an excess of ED interspersed with zones of ED deficit within the tropics; newcomers showed ED deficit in arid and open regions. Some taxa of tropical affinity showed excess of ED in tropical desert areas (hystricognaths or temperate semideserts (xenarthrans; newcomers showed excess of ED at cold-temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. This result suggests that extreme climatic conditions at both temperate and tropical latitudes may have promoted niche evolution in

  18. Two mitochondrial genomes in Alcedinidae (Ceryle rudis/Halcyon pileata) and the phylogenetic placement of Coraciiformes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiaomin; Zhao, Ruoping; Zhang, Ting; Gong, Jie; Jing, Meidong; Huang, Ling

    2017-10-01

    Coraciiformes comprises 209 species belonging to ten families with significant divergence on external morphologies and life styles. The phylogenetic placement of Coraciiformes was still in debate. Here, we determined the complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of Crested Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) and Black-capped Kingfisher (Halcyon pileata). The mitogenomes were 17,355 bp (C. rudis) and 17,612 bp (H. pileata) in length, and both of them contained 37 genes (two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and 13 protein-coding genes) and one control region. The gene organizations and characters of two mitogenomes were similar with those of other mitogenomes in Coraciiformes, however the sizes and nucleotide composition of control regions in different mitogenomes were significantly different. Phylogenetic trees were constructed with both Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methods based on mitogenome sequences from 11 families of six orders. The trees based on two different data sets supported the basal position of Psittacidae (Psittaciformes), the closest relationship between Cuculiformes (Cuculidae) and Trogoniformes (Trogonidae), and the close relationship between Coraciiformes and Piciformes. The phylogenetic placement of the clade including Cuculiformes and Trogoniformes has not been resolved in present study, which need further investigations with more molecular markers and species. The mitogenome sequences presented here provided valuable data for further taxonomic studies on Coraciiformes and other related groups.

  19. Distinct gene number-genome size relationships for eukaryotes and non-eukaryotes: gene content estimation for dinoflagellate genomes.

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    Yubo Hou

    Full Text Available The ability to predict gene content is highly desirable for characterization of not-yet sequenced genomes like those of dinoflagellates. Using data from completely sequenced and annotated genomes from phylogenetically diverse lineages, we investigated the relationship between gene content and genome size using regression analyses. Distinct relationships between log(10-transformed protein-coding gene number (Y' versus log(10-transformed genome size (X', genome size in kbp were found for eukaryotes and non-eukaryotes. Eukaryotes best fit a logarithmic model, Y' = ln(-46.200+22.678X', whereas non-eukaryotes a linear model, Y' = 0.045+0.977X', both with high significance (p0.91. Total gene number shows similar trends in both groups to their respective protein coding regressions. The distinct correlations reflect lower and decreasing gene-coding percentages as genome size increases in eukaryotes (82%-1% compared to higher and relatively stable percentages in prokaryotes and viruses (97%-47%. The eukaryotic regression models project that the smallest dinoflagellate genome (3x10(6 kbp contains 38,188 protein-coding (40,086 total genes and the largest (245x10(6 kbp 87,688 protein-coding (92,013 total genes, corresponding to 1.8% and 0.05% gene-coding percentages. These estimates do not likely represent extraordinarily high functional diversity of the encoded proteome but rather highly redundant genomes as evidenced by high gene copy numbers documented for various dinoflagellate species.

  20. Phylogenetic and recombination analysis of tomato spotted wilt virus.

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    Sen Lian

    Full Text Available Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV severely damages and reduces the yield of many economically important plants worldwide. In this study, we determined the whole-genome sequences of 10 TSWV isolates recently identified from various regions and hosts in Korea. Phylogenetic analysis of these 10 isolates as well as the three previously sequenced isolates indicated that the 13 Korean TSWV isolates could be divided into two groups reflecting either two different origins or divergences of Korean TSWV isolates. In addition, the complete nucleotide sequences for the 13 Korean TSWV isolates along with previously sequenced TSWV RNA segments from Korea and other countries were subjected to phylogenetic and recombination analysis. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that both the RNA L and RNA M segments of most Korean isolates might have originated in Western Europe and North America but that the RNA S segments for all Korean isolates might have originated in China and Japan. Recombination analysis identified a total of 12 recombination events among all isolates and segments and five recombination events among the 13 Korea isolates; among the five recombinants from Korea, three contained the whole RNA L segment, suggesting reassortment rather than recombination. Our analyses provide evidence that both recombination and reassortment have contributed to the molecular diversity of TSWV.

  1. Genome-Wide Identification, Phylogenetic and Expression Analyses of the Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzyme Gene Family in Maize

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jue, Dengwei; Sang, Xuelian; Lu, Shengqiao; Dong, Chen; Zhao, Qiufang; Chen, Hongliang; Jia, Liqiang

    2015-01-01

    Background Ubiquitination is a post-translation modification where ubiquitin is attached to a substrate. Ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (E2s) play a major role in the ubiquitin transfer pathway, as well as a variety of functions in plant biological processes. To date, no genome-wide characterization of this gene family has been conducted in maize (Zea mays). Methodology/Principal Findings In the present study, a total of 75 putative ZmUBC genes have been identified and located in the maize genome. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZmUBC proteins could be divided into 15 subfamilies, which include 13 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes (ZmE2s) and two independent ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme variant (UEV) groups. The predicted ZmUBC genes were distributed across 10 chromosomes at different densities. In addition, analysis of exon-intron junctions and sequence motifs in each candidate gene has revealed high levels of conservation within and between phylogenetic groups. Tissue expression analysis indicated that most ZmUBC genes were expressed in at least one of the tissues, indicating that these are involved in various physiological and developmental processes in maize. Moreover, expression profile analyses of ZmUBC genes under different stress treatments (4°C, 20% PEG6000, and 200 mM NaCl) and various expression patterns indicated that these may play crucial roles in the response of plants to stress. Conclusions Genome-wide identification, chromosome organization, gene structure, evolutionary and expression analyses of ZmUBC genes have facilitated in the characterization of this gene family, as well as determined its potential involvement in growth, development, and stress responses. This study provides valuable information for better understanding the classification and putative functions of the UBC-encoding genes of maize. PMID:26606743

  2. Herbarium collection-based phylogenetics of the ragweeds (Ambrosia, Asteraceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Michael D; Quiroz-Claros, Elva; Brush, Grace S; Zimmer, Elizabeth A

    2018-03-01

    Ambrosia (Asteraceae) is a taxonomically difficult genus of weedy, wind-pollinated plants with an apparent center of diversity in the Sonoran Desert of North America. Determining Ambrosia's evolutionary relationships has been the subject of much interest, with numerous studies using morphological characters, cytology, comparative phytochemistry, and chloroplast restriction site variation to produce conflicting accounts the relationships between Ambrosia species, as well as the classification of their close relatives in Franseria and Hymenoclea. To resolve undetermined intra-generic relationships within Ambrosia, we used DNA extracted from tissues obtained from seed banks and herbarium collections to generate multi-locus genetic data representing nearly all putative species, including four from South America. We performed Bayesian and Maximum-Likelihood phylogenetic analyses of six chloroplast-genome and two nuclear-genome markers, enabling us to infer monophyly for the genus, resolve major infra-generic species clusters, as well as to resolve open questions about the evolutionary relationships of several Ambrosia species and former members of Franseria. We also provide molecular data supporting the hypothesis that A. sandersonii formed through the hybridization of A. eriocentra and A. salsola. The topology of our chloroplast DNA phylogeny is almost entirely congruent with the most recent molecular work based on chloroplast restriction site variation of a much more limited sampling of 14 North American species of Ambrosia, although our improved sampling of global Ambrosia diversity enables us to draw additional conclusions. As our study is the first direct DNA sequence-based phylogenetic analyses of Ambrosia, we analyze the data in relation to previous taxonomic studies and discuss several instances of chloroplast/nuclear incongruence that leave the precise geographic center of origin of Ambrosia in question. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Genetic and phylogenetic analysis of a novel parvovirus isolated from chickens in Guangxi, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Bin; Xie, Zhixun; Deng, Xianwen; Xie, Liji; Xie, Zhiqin; Huang, Li; Fan, Qin; Luo, Sisi; Huang, Jiaoling; Zhang, Yanfang; Zeng, Tingting; Wang, Sheng; Wang, Leyi

    2016-11-01

    A previously unidentified chicken parvovirus (ChPV) strain, associated with runting-stunting syndrome (RSS), is now endemic among chickens in China. To explore the genetic diversity of ChPV strains, we determined the first complete genome sequence of a novel ChPV isolate (GX-CH-PV-7) identified in chickens in Guang Xi, China, and showed moderate genome sequence similarity to reference strains. Analysis showed that the viral genome sequence is 86.4 %-93.9 % identical to those of other ChPVs. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses showed that this newly emergent GX-CH-PV-7 is closely related to Gallus gallus enteric parvovirus isolate ChPV 798 from the USA, indicating that they may share a common ancestor. The complete DNA sequence is 4612 bp long with an A+T content of 56.66 %. We determined the first complete genome sequence of a previously unidentified ChPV strain to elucidate its origin and evolutionary status.

  4. The family Rhabdoviridae: Mono- and bipartite negative-sense RNA viruses with diverse genome organization and common evolutionary origins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dietzgen, Ralf G.; Kondo, Hideki; Goodin, Michael M.; Kurath, Gael; Vasilakis, Nikos

    2017-01-01

    The family Rhabdoviridae consists of mostly enveloped, bullet-shaped or bacilliform viruses with a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genome that infect vertebrates, invertebrates or plants. This ecological diversity is reflected by the diversity and complexity of their genomes. Five canonical structural protein genes are conserved in all rhabdoviruses, but may be overprinted, overlapped or interspersed with several novel and diverse accessory genes. This review gives an overview of the characteristics and diversity of rhabdoviruses, their taxonomic classification, replication mechanism, properties of classical rhabdoviruses such as rabies virus and rhabdoviruses with complex genomes, rhabdoviruses infecting aquatic species, and plant rhabdoviruses with both mono- and bipartite genomes.

  5. Phylogenetic diversity, host-specificity and community profiling of sponge-associated bacteria in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erwin, Patrick M; Olson, Julie B; Thacker, Robert W

    2011-01-01

    Marine sponges can associate with abundant and diverse consortia of microbial symbionts. However, associated bacteria remain unexamined for the majority of host sponges and few studies use phylogenetic metrics to quantify symbiont community diversity. DNA fingerprinting techniques, such as terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (T-RFLP), might provide rapid profiling of these communities, but have not been explicitly compared to traditional methods. We investigated the bacterial communities associated with the marine sponges Hymeniacidon heliophila and Haliclona tubifera, a sympatric tunicate, Didemnum sp., and ambient seawater from the northern Gulf of Mexico by combining replicated clone libraries with T-RFLP analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Clone libraries revealed that bacterial communities associated with the two sponges exhibited lower species richness and lower species diversity than seawater and tunicate assemblages, with differences in species composition among all four source groups. T-RFLP profiles clustered microbial communities by source; individual T-RFs were matched to the majority (80.6%) of clone library sequences, indicating that T-RFLP analysis can be used to rapidly profile these communities. Phylogenetic metrics of community diversity indicated that the two sponge-associated bacterial communities include dominant and host-specific bacterial lineages that are distinct from bacteria recovered from seawater, tunicates, and unrelated sponge hosts. In addition, a large proportion of the symbionts associated with H. heliophila were shared with distant, conspecific host populations in the southwestern Atlantic (Brazil). The low diversity and species-specific nature of bacterial communities associated with H. heliophila and H. tubifera represent a distinctly different pattern from other, reportedly universal, sponge-associated bacterial communities. Our replicated sampling strategy, which included samples that reflect the ambient

  6. Avian papillomaviruses: the parrot Psittacus erithacus papillomavirus (PePV genome has a unique organization of the early protein region and is phylogenetically related to the chaffinch papillomavirus

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    Jenson A Bennett

    2002-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background An avian papillomavirus genome has been cloned from a cutaneous exophytic papilloma from an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus. The nucleotide sequence, genome organization, and phylogenetic position of the Psittacus erithacus papillomavirus (PePV were determined. This PePV sequence represents the first complete avian papillomavirus genome defined. Results The PePV genome (7304 basepairs differs from other papillomaviruses, in that it has a unique organization of the early protein region lacking classical E6 and E7 open reading frames. Phylogenetic comparison of the PePV sequence with partial E1 and L1 sequences of the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs papillomavirus (FPV reveals that these two avian papillomaviruses form a monophyletic cluster with a common branch that originates near the unresolved center of the papillomavirus evolutionary tree. Conclusions The PePV genome has a unique layout of the early protein region which represents a novel prototypic genomic organization for avian papillomaviruses. The close relationship between PePV and FPV, and between their Psittaciformes and Passeriformes hosts, supports the hypothesis that papillomaviruses have co-evolved and speciated together with their host species throughout evolution.

  7. 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.

  8. Complete Chloroplast Genomes of Papaver rhoeas and Papaver orientale: Molecular Structures, Comparative Analysis, and Phylogenetic Analysis

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    Jianguo Zhou

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Papaver rhoeas L. and P. orientale L., which belong to the family Papaveraceae, are used as ornamental and medicinal plants. The chloroplast genome has been used for molecular markers, evolutionary biology, and barcoding identification. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome sequences of P. rhoeas and P. orientale are reported. Results show that the complete chloroplast genomes of P. rhoeas and P. orientale have typical quadripartite structures, which are comprised of circular 152,905 and 152,799-bp-long molecules, respectively. A total of 130 genes were identified in each genome, including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Sequence divergence analysis of four species from Papaveraceae indicated that the most divergent regions are found in the non-coding spacers with minimal differences among three Papaver species. These differences include the ycf1 gene and intergenic regions, such as rpoB-trnC, trnD-trnT, petA-psbJ, psbE-petL, and ccsA-ndhD. These regions are hypervariable regions, which can be used as specific DNA barcodes. This finding suggested that the chloroplast genome could be used as a powerful tool to resolve the phylogenetic positions and relationships of Papaveraceae. These results offer valuable information for future research in the identification of Papaver species and will benefit further investigations of these species.

  9. Genome-wide analysis of SINA family in plants and their phylogenetic relationships.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Meng; Jin, Ying; Fu, Junjie; Zhu, Yun; Zheng, Jun; Hu, Jian; Wang, Guoying

    2008-06-01

    SINA genes in plants are part of a multigene family with 5 members in Arabidopsis thaliana, 10 members in Populus trichocarpa, 6 members in Oryza sativa, at least 6 members in Zea mays and at least 1 member in Physcomitrella patens. Six members in maize were confirmed by RT-PCR. All SINAs have one RING domain and one SINA domain. These two domains are highly conserved in plants. According to the motif organization and phylogenetic tree, SINA family members were divided into 2 groups. In addition, through semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of maize members and Digital Northern analysis of Arabidopsis and rice members, we found that the tissue expression patterns are more diverse in monocot than in Arabidopsis.

  10. Faustoviruses: Comparative genomics of new Megavirales family members

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    Samia eBenamar

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available An emerging interest for the giant virus discovery process, genome sequencing and analysis has allowed an expansion of the number of known Megavirales members. Using the protist Vermamoeba sp. as cell support, a new giant virus named Faustovirus has been isolated. In this study, we describe the genome sequences of nine Faustoviruses and build a genomic comparison in order to have a comprehensive overview of genomic composition and diversity among this new virus family. The average sequence length of these viruses is 467,592.44 bp (ranging from 455,803 bp to 491,024 bp, making them the fourth largest Megavirales genome after Mimiviruses, Pandoraviruses and Pithovirus sibericum. Faustovirus genomes displayed an average G+C content of 37.14 % (ranging from 36.22% to 39.59% which is close to the G+C content range of the Asfarviridae genomes (38%. The proportion of best matches and the phylogenetic analysis suggest a shared origin with Asfarviridae without belonging to the same family. The core-gene-based phylogeny of Faustoviruses study has identified four lineages. These results were confirmed by the analysis of amino acids and COGs category distribution. The diversity of the gene composition of these lineages is mainly explained by gene deletion or acquisition and some exceptions for gene duplications. The high proportion of best matches from Bacteria and Phycodnaviridae on the pan-genome and unique genes may be explained by an interaction occurring after the separation of the lineages. The Faustovirus core-genome appears to consolidate the surrounding of 207 genes whereas the pan-genome is described as an open pan-genome, its enrichment via the discovery of new Faustoviruses is required to better seize all the genomic diversity of this family.

  11. Visualizing phylogenetic tree landscapes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilgenbusch, James C; Huang, Wen; Gallivan, Kyle A

    2017-02-02

    Genomic-scale sequence alignments are increasingly used to infer phylogenies in order to better understand the processes and patterns of evolution. Different partitions within these new alignments (e.g., genes, codon positions, and structural features) often favor hundreds if not thousands of competing phylogenies. Summarizing and comparing phylogenies obtained from multi-source data sets using current consensus tree methods discards valuable information and can disguise potential methodological problems. Discovery of efficient and accurate dimensionality reduction methods used to display at once in 2- or 3- dimensions the relationship among these competing phylogenies will help practitioners diagnose the limits of current evolutionary models and potential problems with phylogenetic reconstruction methods when analyzing large multi-source data sets. We introduce several dimensionality reduction methods to visualize in 2- and 3-dimensions the relationship among competing phylogenies obtained from gene partitions found in three mid- to large-size mitochondrial genome alignments. We test the performance of these dimensionality reduction methods by applying several goodness-of-fit measures. The intrinsic dimensionality of each data set is also estimated to determine whether projections in 2- and 3-dimensions can be expected to reveal meaningful relationships among trees from different data partitions. Several new approaches to aid in the comparison of different phylogenetic landscapes are presented. Curvilinear Components Analysis (CCA) and a stochastic gradient decent (SGD) optimization method give the best representation of the original tree-to-tree distance matrix for each of the three- mitochondrial genome alignments and greatly outperformed the method currently used to visualize tree landscapes. The CCA + SGD method converged at least as fast as previously applied methods for visualizing tree landscapes. We demonstrate for all three mtDNA alignments that 3D

  12. MicrobesOnline: an integrated portal for comparative and functional genomics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dehal, Paramvir S.; Joachimiak, Marcin P.; Price, Morgan N.; Bates, John T.; Baumohl, Jason K.; Chivian, Dylan; Friedland, Greg D.; Huang, Katherine H.; Keller, Keith; Novichkov, Pavel S.; Dubchak, Inna L.; Alm, Eric J.; Arkin, Adam P.

    2009-09-17

    Since 2003, MicrobesOnline (http://www.microbesonline.org) has been providing a community resource for comparative and functional genome analysis. The portal includes over 1000 complete genomes of bacteria, archaea and fungi and thousands of expression microarrays from diverse organisms ranging from model organisms such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to environmental microbes such as Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Shewanella oneidensis. To assist in annotating genes and in reconstructing their evolutionary history, MicrobesOnline includes a comparative genome browser based on phylogenetic trees for every gene family as well as a species tree. To identify co-regulated genes, MicrobesOnline can search for genes based on their expression profile, and provides tools for identifying regulatory motifs and seeing if they are conserved. MicrobesOnline also includes fast phylogenetic profile searches, comparative views of metabolic pathways, operon predictions, a workbench for sequence analysis and integration with RegTransBase and other microbial genome resources. The next update of MicrobesOnline will contain significant new functionality, including comparative analysis of metagenomic sequence data. Programmatic access to the database, along with source code and documentation, is available at http://microbesonline.org/programmers.html.

  13. MicrobesOnline: an integrated portal for comparative and functional genomics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dehal, Paramvir; Joachimiak, Marcin; Price, Morgan; Bates, John; Baumohl, Jason; Chivian, Dylan; Friedland, Greg; Huang, Kathleen; Keller, Keith; Novichkov, Pavel; Dubchak, Inna; Alm, Eric; Arkin, Adam

    2011-07-14

    Since 2003, MicrobesOnline (http://www.microbesonline.org) has been providing a community resource for comparative and functional genome analysis. The portal includes over 1000 complete genomes of bacteria, archaea and fungi and thousands of expression microarrays from diverse organisms ranging from model organisms such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to environmental microbes such as Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Shewanella oneidensis. To assist in annotating genes and in reconstructing their evolutionary history, MicrobesOnline includes a comparative genome browser based on phylogenetic trees for every gene family as well as a species tree. To identify co-regulated genes, MicrobesOnline can search for genes based on their expression profile, and provides tools for identifying regulatory motifs and seeing if they are conserved. MicrobesOnline also includes fast phylogenetic profile searches, comparative views of metabolic pathways, operon predictions, a workbench for sequence analysis and integration with RegTransBase and other microbial genome resources. The next update of MicrobesOnline will contain significant new functionality, including comparative analysis of metagenomic sequence data. Programmatic access to the database, along with source code and documentation, is available at http://microbesonline.org/programmers.html.

  14. Complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic position of the Sicklefin weasel shark Hemigaleus microstoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mai, Quanfa; Li, Weidong; Chen, Hao; Ai, Weiming; Chen, Xiao

    2016-09-01

    The complete mitochondrial genome of the Sicklefin weasel shark Hemigaleus microstoma was first presented in this study. It was 16 701 bp in length with the typical gene arrangement in vertebrates. A total of 25 bp short intergenic spaces and 33 bp overlaps located in 12 and 9 gene junctions, respectively. The overall nucleotide composition was 31.0% A, 26.4% C, 13.5% G and 29.1% T. Two start (ATG and GTG) and three stop (TAG, AGG and TAA/T) codons were found in the protein-coding genes. The size of 22 tRNA genes ranged from 67 to 75 bp. In the phylogenetic tree, H. microstoma (Hemigaleidae) was placed as sister to Galeocerdo cuvier (Carcharhinidae).

  15. Whole genome analysis of porcine astroviruses detected in Japanese pigs reveals genetic diversity and possible intra-genotypic recombination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ito, Mika; Kuroda, Moegi; Masuda, Tsuneyuki; Akagami, Masataka; Haga, Kei; Tsuchiaka, Shinobu; Kishimoto, Mai; Naoi, Yuki; Sano, Kaori; Omatsu, Tsutomu; Katayama, Yukie; Oba, Mami; Aoki, Hiroshi; Ichimaru, Toru; Mukono, Itsuro; Ouchi, Yoshinao; Yamasato, Hiroshi; Shirai, Junsuke; Katayama, Kazuhiko; Mizutani, Tetsuya; Nagai, Makoto

    2017-06-01

    Porcine astroviruses (PoAstVs) are ubiquitous enteric virus of pigs that are distributed in several countries throughout the world. Since PoAstVs are detected in apparent healthy pigs, the clinical significance of infection is unknown. However, AstVs have recently been associated with a severe neurological disorder in animals, including humans, and zoonotic potential has been suggested. To date, little is known about the epidemiology of PoAstVs among the pig population in Japan. In this report, we present an analysis of nearly complete genomes of 36 PoAstVs detected by a metagenomics approach in the feces of Japanese pigs. Based on a phylogenetic analysis and pairwise sequence comparison, 10, 5, 15, and 6 sequences were classified as PoAstV2, PoAstV3, PoAstV4, and PoAstV5, respectively. Co-infection with two or three strains was found in individual fecal samples from eight pigs. The phylogenetic trees of ORF1a, ORF1b, and ORF2 of PoAstV2 and PoAstV4 showed differences in their topologies. The PoAstV3 and PoAstV5 strains shared high sequence identities within each genotype in all ORFs; however, one PoAstV3 strain and one PoAstV5 strain showed considerable sequence divergence from the other PoAstV3 and PoAstV5 strains, respectively, in ORF2. Recombination analysis using whole genomes revealed evidence of multiple possible intra-genotype recombination events in PoAstV2 and PoAstV4, suggesting that recombination might have contributed to the genetic diversity and played an important role in the evolution of Japanese PoAstVs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Genome-Based Studies of Marine Microorganisms to Maximize the Diversity of Natural Products Discovery for Medical Treatments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin-Qing Zhao

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Marine microorganisms are rich source for natural products which play important roles in pharmaceutical industry. Over the past decade, genome-based studies of marine microorganisms have unveiled the tremendous diversity of the producers of natural products and also contributed to the efficiency of harness the strain diversity and chemical diversity, as well as the genetic diversity of marine microorganisms for the rapid discovery and generation of new natural products. In the meantime, genomic information retrieved from marine symbiotic microorganisms can also be employed for the discovery of new medical molecules from yet-unculturable microorganisms. In this paper, the recent progress in the genomic research of marine microorganisms is reviewed; new tools of genome mining as well as the advance in the activation of orphan pathways and metagenomic studies are summarized. Genome-based research of marine microorganisms will maximize the biodiscovery process and solve the problems of supply and sustainability of drug molecules for medical treatments.

  17. The family Rhabdoviridae: mono- and bipartite negative-sense RNA viruses with diverse genome organization and common evolutionary origins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dietzgen, Ralf G; Kondo, Hideki; Goodin, Michael M; Kurath, Gael; Vasilakis, Nikos

    2017-01-02

    The family Rhabdoviridae consists of mostly enveloped, bullet-shaped or bacilliform viruses with a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genome that infect vertebrates, invertebrates or plants. This ecological diversity is reflected by the diversity and complexity of their genomes. Five canonical structural protein genes are conserved in all rhabdoviruses, but may be overprinted, overlapped or interspersed with several novel and diverse accessory genes. This review gives an overview of the characteristics and diversity of rhabdoviruses, their taxonomic classification, replication mechanism, properties of classical rhabdoviruses such as rabies virus and rhabdoviruses with complex genomes, rhabdoviruses infecting aquatic species, and plant rhabdoviruses with both mono- and bipartite genomes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Phylogenetic analysis of a spontaneous cocoa bean fermentation metagenome reveals new insights into its bacterial and fungal community diversity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Koen Illeghems

    Full Text Available This is the first report on the phylogenetic analysis of the community diversity of a single spontaneous cocoa bean box fermentation sample through a metagenomic approach involving 454 pyrosequencing. Several sequence-based and composition-based taxonomic profiling tools were used and evaluated to avoid software-dependent results and their outcome was validated by comparison with previously obtained culture-dependent and culture-independent data. Overall, this approach revealed a wider bacterial (mainly γ-Proteobacteria and fungal diversity than previously found. Further, the use of a combination of different classification methods, in a software-independent way, helped to understand the actual composition of the microbial ecosystem under study. In addition, bacteriophage-related sequences were found. The bacterial diversity depended partially on the methods used, as composition-based methods predicted a wider diversity than sequence-based methods, and as classification methods based solely on phylogenetic marker genes predicted a more restricted diversity compared with methods that took all reads into account. The metagenomic sequencing analysis identified Hanseniaspora uvarum, Hanseniaspora opuntiae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus fermentum, and Acetobacter pasteurianus as the prevailing species. Also, the presence of occasional members of the cocoa bean fermentation process was revealed (such as Erwinia tasmaniensis, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, and Oenococcus oeni. Furthermore, the sequence reads associated with viral communities were of a restricted diversity, dominated by Myoviridae and Siphoviridae, and reflecting Lactobacillus as the dominant host. To conclude, an accurate overview of all members of a cocoa bean fermentation process sample was revealed, indicating the superiority of metagenomic sequencing over previously used techniques.

  19. Identification and phylogenetic diversity of parvovirus circulating in commercial chicken and turkey flocks in Croatia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bidin, M; Lojkić, I; Bidin, Z; Tiljar, M; Majnarić, D

    2011-12-01

    Phylogenetic diversity of parvovirus detected in commercial chicken and turkey flocks is described. Nine chicken and six turkey flocks from Croatian farms were tested for parvovirus presence. Intestinal samples from one turkey and seven chicken flocks were found positive, and were sequenced. Natural parvovirus infection was more frequently detected in chickens than in turkeys examined in this study. Sequence analysis of 400 nucleotide fragments of the nonstructural gene (NS) showed that our sequences had more similarity with chicken parvovirus (ChPV) (92.3%-99.7%) than turkey parvovirus (TuPV) (89.5%-98.9%) strains. Phylogenetic analysis grouped our sequences in two clades. Also, the higher prevalence of ChPV than TuPV in tested flocks was defined. The necropsy findings suggested a malabsorption syndrome followed by a preascitic condition. Further research of parvovirus infection, pathogenesis, and the possibility of its association with poult enteritis and mortality syndrome (PEMS) and runting and stunting syndrome (RSS) is needed to clarify its significance as an agent of enteric disease.

  20. Seven new dolphin mitochondrial genomes and a time-calibrated phylogeny of whales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhou Kaiya

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The phylogeny of Cetacea (whales is not fully resolved with substantial support. The ambiguous and conflicting results of multiple phylogenetic studies may be the result of the use of too little data, phylogenetic methods that do not adequately capture the complex nature of DNA evolution, or both. In addition, there is also evidence that the generic taxonomy of Delphinidae (dolphins underestimates its diversity. To remedy these problems, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of seven dolphins and analyzed these data with partitioned Bayesian analyses. Moreover, we incorporate a newly-developed "relaxed" molecular clock to model heterogenous rates of evolution among cetacean lineages. Results The "deep" phylogenetic relationships are well supported including the monophyly of Cetacea and Odontoceti. However, there is ambiguity in the phylogenetic affinities of two of the river dolphin clades Platanistidae (Indian River dolphins and Lipotidae (Yangtze River dolphins. The phylogenetic analyses support a sister relationship between Delphinidae and Monodontidae + Phocoenidae. Additionally, there is statistically significant support for the paraphyly of Tursiops (bottlenose dolphins and Stenella (spotted dolphins. Conclusion Our phylogenetic analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes using recently developed models of rate autocorrelation resolved the phylogenetic relationships of the major Cetacean lineages with a high degree of confidence. Our results indicate that a rapid radiation of lineages explains the lack of support the placement of Platanistidae and Lipotidae. Moreover, our estimation of molecular divergence dates indicates that these radiations occurred in the Middle to Late Oligocene and Middle Miocene, respectively. Furthermore, by collecting and analyzing seven new mitochondrial genomes, we provide strong evidence that the delphinid genera Tursiops and Stenella are not monophyletic, and the current taxonomy

  1. The mitochondrial genome sequence of the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miller, Webb; Drautz, Daniela I; Janecka, Jan E

    2009-01-01

    We report the first two complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), or so-called Tasmanian tiger, extinct since 1936. The thylacine's phylogenetic position within australidelphian marsupials has long been debated, and here we provide strong support for the ......We report the first two complete mitochondrial genome sequences of the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), or so-called Tasmanian tiger, extinct since 1936. The thylacine's phylogenetic position within australidelphian marsupials has long been debated, and here we provide strong support...... for the thylacine's basal position in Dasyuromorphia, aided by mitochondrial genome sequence that we generated from the extant numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Surprisingly, both of our thylacine sequences differ by 11%-15% from putative thylacine mitochondrial genes in GenBank, with one of our samples originating...... at a very low genetic diversity shortly before extinction. Despite the samples' heavy contamination with bacterial and human DNA and their temperate storage history, we estimate that as much as one-third of the total DNA in each sample is from the thylacine. The microbial content of the two thylacine...

  2. Endogenous viral elements in animal genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aris Katzourakis

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Integration into the nuclear genome of germ line cells can lead to vertical inheritance of retroviral genes as host alleles. For other viruses, germ line integration has only rarely been documented. Nonetheless, we identified endogenous viral elements (EVEs derived from ten non-retroviral families by systematic in silico screening of animal genomes, including the first endogenous representatives of double-stranded RNA, reverse-transcribing DNA, and segmented RNA viruses, and the first endogenous DNA viruses in mammalian genomes. Phylogenetic and genomic analysis of EVEs across multiple host species revealed novel information about the origin and evolution of diverse virus groups. Furthermore, several of the elements identified here encode intact open reading frames or are expressed as mRNA. For one element in the primate lineage, we provide statistically robust evidence for exaptation. Our findings establish that genetic material derived from all known viral genome types and replication strategies can enter the animal germ line, greatly broadening the scope of paleovirological studies and indicating a more significant evolutionary role for gene flow from virus to animal genomes than has previously been recognized.

  3. 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.

  4. Patterns of genome size diversity in bats (order Chiroptera).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Jillian D L; Bickham, John W; Gregory, T Ryan

    2013-08-01

    Despite being a group of particular interest in considering relationships between genome size and metabolic parameters, bats have not been well studied from this perspective. This study presents new estimates for 121 "microbat" species from 12 families and complements a previous study on members of the family Pteropodidae ("megabats"). The results confirm that diversity in genome size in bats is very limited even compared with other mammals, varying approximately 2-fold from 1.63 pg in Lophostoma carrikeri to 3.17 pg in Rhinopoma hardwickii and averaging only 2.35 pg ± 0.02 SE (versus 3.5 pg overall for mammals). However, contrary to some other vertebrate groups, and perhaps owing to the narrow range observed, genome size correlations were not apparent with any chromosomal, physiological, flight-related, developmental, or ecological characteristics within the order Chiroptera. Genome size is positively correlated with measures of body size in bats, though the strength of the relationships differs between pteropodids ("megabats") and nonpteropodids ("microbats").

  5. Diversity Dynamics in Nymphalidae Butterflies: Effect of Phylogenetic Uncertainty on Diversification Rate Shift Estimates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peña, Carlos; Espeland, Marianne

    2015-01-01

    The species rich butterfly family Nymphalidae has been used to study evolutionary interactions between plants and insects. Theories of insect-hostplant dynamics predict accelerated diversification due to key innovations. In evolutionary biology, analysis of maximum credibility trees in the software MEDUSA (modelling evolutionary diversity using stepwise AIC) is a popular method for estimation of shifts in diversification rates. We investigated whether phylogenetic uncertainty can produce different results by extending the method across a random sample of trees from the posterior distribution of a Bayesian run. Using the MultiMEDUSA approach, we found that phylogenetic uncertainty greatly affects diversification rate estimates. Different trees produced diversification rates ranging from high values to almost zero for the same clade, and both significant rate increase and decrease in some clades. Only four out of 18 significant shifts found on the maximum clade credibility tree were consistent across most of the sampled trees. Among these, we found accelerated diversification for Ithomiini butterflies. We used the binary speciation and extinction model (BiSSE) and found that a hostplant shift to Solanaceae is correlated with increased net diversification rates in Ithomiini, congruent with the diffuse cospeciation hypothesis. Our results show that taking phylogenetic uncertainty into account when estimating net diversification rate shifts is of great importance, as very different results can be obtained when using the maximum clade credibility tree and other trees from the posterior distribution. PMID:25830910

  6. Diversity dynamics in Nymphalidae butterflies: effect of phylogenetic uncertainty on diversification rate shift estimates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Peña

    Full Text Available The species rich butterfly family Nymphalidae has been used to study evolutionary interactions between plants and insects. Theories of insect-hostplant dynamics predict accelerated diversification due to key innovations. In evolutionary biology, analysis of maximum credibility trees in the software MEDUSA (modelling evolutionary diversity using stepwise AIC is a popular method for estimation of shifts in diversification rates. We investigated whether phylogenetic uncertainty can produce different results by extending the method across a random sample of trees from the posterior distribution of a Bayesian run. Using the MultiMEDUSA approach, we found that phylogenetic uncertainty greatly affects diversification rate estimates. Different trees produced diversification rates ranging from high values to almost zero for the same clade, and both significant rate increase and decrease in some clades. Only four out of 18 significant shifts found on the maximum clade credibility tree were consistent across most of the sampled trees. Among these, we found accelerated diversification for Ithomiini butterflies. We used the binary speciation and extinction model (BiSSE and found that a hostplant shift to Solanaceae is correlated with increased net diversification rates in Ithomiini, congruent with the diffuse cospeciation hypothesis. Our results show that taking phylogenetic uncertainty into account when estimating net diversification rate shifts is of great importance, as very different results can be obtained when using the maximum clade credibility tree and other trees from the posterior distribution.

  7. Microbial ecology in the age of genomics and metagenomics: concepts, tools, and recent advances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jianping

    2006-06-01

    Microbial ecology examines the diversity and activity of micro-organisms in Earth's biosphere. In the last 20 years, the application of genomics tools have revolutionized microbial ecological studies and drastically expanded our view on the previously underappreciated microbial world. This review first introduces the basic concepts in microbial ecology and the main genomics methods that have been used to examine natural microbial populations and communities. In the ensuing three specific sections, the applications of the genomics in microbial ecological research are highlighted. The first describes the widespread application of multilocus sequence typing and representational difference analysis in studying genetic variation within microbial species. Such investigations have identified that migration, horizontal gene transfer and recombination are common in natural microbial populations and that microbial strains can be highly variable in genome size and gene content. The second section highlights and summarizes the use of four specific genomics methods (phylogenetic analysis of ribosomal RNA, DNA-DNA re-association kinetics, metagenomics, and micro-arrays) in analysing the diversity and potential activity of microbial populations and communities from a variety of terrestrial and aquatic environments. Such analyses have identified many unexpected phylogenetic lineages in viruses, bacteria, archaea, and microbial eukaryotes. Functional analyses of environmental DNA also revealed highly prevalent, but previously unknown, metabolic processes in natural microbial communities. In the third section, the ecological implications of sequenced microbial genomes are briefly discussed. Comparative analyses of prokaryotic genomic sequences suggest the importance of ecology in determining microbial genome size and gene content. The significant variability in genome size and gene content among strains and species of prokaryotes indicate the highly fluid nature of prokaryotic

  8. Mitochondrial genome diversity and population structure of the giant squid Architeuthis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winkelmann, Inger Eleanor Hall; Campos, Paula; Strugnell, Jan

    2013-01-01

    techniques, considerable controversy exists with regard to topics as varied as their taxonomy, biology and even behaviour. In this study, we have characterized the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) diversity of 43 Architeuthis samples collected from across the range of the species, in order to use genetic...... a recent population expansion or selective sweep, which may explain the low level of genetic diversity....

  9. Genome-wide analysis of SSR and ILP markers in trees: diversity profiling, alternate distribution, and applications in duplication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Xinyao; Luan, Lin Lin; Qin, Guanghua; Yu, Li Fang; Wang, Zhi Wei; Dong, Wan Chen; Song, Yumin; Qiao, Yuling; Zhang, Xian Sheng; Sang, Ya Lin; Yang, Long

    2017-12-20

    Molecular markers are efficient tools for breeding and genetic studies. However, despite their ecological and economic importance, their development and application have long been hampered. In this study, we identified 524,170 simple sequence repeat (SSR), 267,636 intron length polymorphism (ILP), and 11,872 potential intron polymorphism (PIP) markers from 16 tree species based on recently available genome sequences. Larger motifs, including hexamers and heptamers, accounted for most of the seven different types of SSR loci. Within these loci, A/T bases comprised a significantly larger proportion of sequence than G/C. SSR and ILP markers exhibited an alternative distribution pattern. Most SSRs were monomorphic markers, and the proportions of polymorphic markers were positively correlated with genome size. By verifying with all 16 tree species, 54 SSR, 418 ILP, and four PIP universal markers were obtained, and their efficiency was examined by PCR. A combination of five SSR and six ILP markers were used for the phylogenetic analysis of 30 willow samples, revealing a positive correlation between genetic diversity and geographic distance. We also found that SSRs can be used as tools for duplication analysis. Our findings provide important foundations for the development of breeding and genetic studies in tree species.

  10. The complete mitochondrial genome of Sesarmops sinensis reveals gene rearrangements and phylogenetic relationships in Brachyura.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Bo-Ping; Xin, Zhao-Zhe; Liu, Yu; Zhang, Dai-Zhen; Wang, Zheng-Fei; Zhang, Hua-Bin; Chai, Xin-Yue; Zhou, Chun-Lin; Liu, Qiu-Ning

    2017-01-01

    Mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) is very important to understand molecular evolution and phylogenetics. Herein, in this study, the complete mitogenome of Sesarmops sinensis was reported. The mitogenome was 15,905 bp in size, and contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and a control region (CR). The AT skew and the GC skew are both negative in the mitogenomes of S. sinensis. The nucleotide composition of the S. sinensis mitogenome was also biased toward A + T nucleotides (75.7%). All tRNA genes displayed a typical mitochondrial tRNA cloverleaf structure, except for the trnS1 gene, which lacked a dihydroxyuridine arm. S. sinensis exhibits a novel rearrangement compared with the Pancrustacean ground pattern and other Brachyura species. Based on the 13 PCGs, the phylogenetic analysis showed that S. sinensis and Sesarma neglectum were clustered on one branch with high nodal support values, indicating that S. sinensis and S. neglectum have a sister group relationship. The group (S. sinensis + S. neglectum) was sister to (Parasesarmops tripectinis + Metopaulias depressus), suggesting that S. sinensis belongs to Grapsoidea, Sesarmidae. Phylogenetic trees based on amino acid sequences and nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial 13 PCGs using BI and ML respectively indicate that section Eubrachyura consists of four groups clearly. The resulting phylogeny supports the establishment of a separate subsection Potamoida. These four groups correspond to four subsections of Raninoida, Heterotremata, Potamoida, and Thoracotremata.

  11. Phylogenetic diversity of insecticolous fusaria inferred from multilocus DNA sequence data and their molecular identification via FUSARIUM-ID and Fusarium MLST

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    O'Donnell, K.; Humber, R.A.; Geiser, D.M.; Kang, S.; Robert, V.; Park, B.; Crous, P.W.; Johnston, P.; Aoki, T.; Rooney, A.P.; Rehner, S.A.

    2012-01-01

    We constructed several multilocus DNA sequence datasets to assess the phylogenetic diversity of insecticolous fusaria, especially focusing on those housed at the Agricultural Research Service Collection of Entomopathogenic Fungi (ARSEF), and to aid molecular identifications of unknowns via the

  12. The Human Genome Diversity Project

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cavalli-Sforza, L. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

    1994-12-31

    The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGD Project) is an international anthropology project that seeks to study the genetic richness of the entire human species. This kind of genetic information can add a unique thread to the tapestry knowledge of humanity. Culture, environment, history, and other factors are often more important, but humanity`s genetic heritage, when analyzed with recent technology, brings another type of evidence for understanding species` past and present. The Project will deepen the understanding of this genetic richness and show both humanity`s diversity and its deep and underlying unity. The HGD Project is still largely in its planning stages, seeking the best ways to reach its goals. The continuing discussions of the Project, throughout the world, should improve the plans for the Project and their implementation. The Project is as global as humanity itself; its implementation will require the kinds of partnerships among different nations and cultures that make the involvement of UNESCO and other international organizations particularly appropriate. The author will briefly discuss the Project`s history, describe the Project, set out the core principles of the Project, and demonstrate how the Project will help combat the scourge of racism.

  13. Whole Genome Phylogenetic Tree Reconstruction using Colored de Bruijn Graphs

    OpenAIRE

    Lyman, Cole

    2017-01-01

    We present kleuren, a novel assembly-free method to reconstruct phylogenetic trees using the Colored de Bruijn Graph. kleuren works by constructing the Colored de Bruijn Graph and then traversing it, finding bubble structures in the graph that provide phylogenetic signal. The bubbles are then aligned and concatenated to form a supermatrix, from which a phylogenetic tree is inferred. We introduce the algorithm that kleuren uses to accomplish this task, and show its performance on reconstructin...

  14. Nitrogen addition, not initial phylogenetic diversity, increases litter decomposition by fungal communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amend, Anthony S; Matulich, Kristin L; Martiny, Jennifer B H

    2015-01-01

    Fungi play a critical role in the degradation of organic matter. Because different combinations of fungi result in different rates of decomposition, determining how climate change will affect microbial composition and function is fundamental to predicting future environments. Fungal response to global change is patterned by genetic relatedness, resulting in communities with comparatively low phylogenetic diversity (PD). This may have important implications for the functional capacity of disturbed communities if lineages sensitive to disturbance also contain unique traits important for litter decomposition. Here we tested the relationship between PD and decomposition rates. Leaf litter fungi were isolated from the field and deployed in microcosms as mock communities along a gradient of initial PD, while species richness was held constant. Replicate communities were subject to nitrogen fertilization comparable to anthropogenic deposition levels. Carbon mineralization rates were measured over the course of 66 days. We found that nitrogen fertilization increased cumulative respiration by 24.8%, and that differences in respiration between fertilized and ambient communities diminished over the course of the experiment. Initial PD failed to predict respiration rates or their change in response to nitrogen fertilization, and there was no correlation between community similarity and respiration rates. Last, we detected no phylogenetic signal in the contributions of individual isolates to respiration rates. Our results suggest that the degree to which PD predicts ecosystem function will depend on environmental context.

  15. Comparative Genomic and Phylogenetic Analysis of a Shiga Toxin Producing Shigella sonnei (STSS Strain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domonkos Sváb

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Shigella strains are important agents of bacillary dysentery, and in recent years Shigella sonnei has emerged as the leading cause of shigellosis in industrialized and rapidly developing countries. More recently, several S. sonnei and Shigella flexneri strains producing Shiga toxin (Stx have been reported from sporadic cases and from an outbreak in America. In the present study we aimed to shed light on the evolution of a recently identified Shiga toxin producing S. sonnei (STSS isolated in Europe. Here we report the first completely assembled whole genome sequence of a multidrug resistant (MDR Stx-producing S. sonnei (STSS clinical strain and reveal its phylogenetic relations. STSS 75/02 proved to be resistant to ampicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, thrimetoprim, and sulfomethoxazol. The genome of STSS 75/02 contains a 4,891,717 nt chromosome and seven plasmids including the 214 kb invasion plasmid (pInv harboring type III secretion system genes and associated effectors. The chromosome harbors 23 prophage regions including the Stx1 converting prophage. The genome carries all virulence determinants necessary for an enteroinvasive lifestyle, as well as the Stx1 encoding gene cluster within an earlier described inducible converting prophage. In silico SNP genotyping of the assembled genome as well as 438 complete or draft S. sonnei genomes downloaded from NCBI GenBank revealed that S. sonnei 75/02 belongs to the more recently diverged global MDR lineage (IIIc. Targeted screening of 1131 next-generation sequencing projects taken from NCBI Short Read Archive of confirms that only a few S. sonnei isolates are Stx positive. Our results suggest that the acquisition of Stx phages could have occurred in different environments as independent events and that multiple horizontal transfers are responsible for the appearance of Stx phages in S. sonnei strains.

  16. Phylogenetic analysis in Myrcia section Aulomyrcia and inferences on plant diversity in the Atlantic rainforest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staggemeier, Vanessa Graziele; Diniz-Filho, José Alexandre Felizola; Forest, Félix; Lucas, Eve

    2015-04-01

    Myrcia section Aulomyrcia includes ∼120 species that are endemic to the Neotropics and disjunctly distributed in the moist Amazon and Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil. This paper presents the first comprehensive phylogenetic study of this group and this phylogeny is used as a basis to evaluate recent classification systems and to test alternative hypotheses associated with the history of this clade. Fifty-three taxa were sampled out of the 120 species currently recognized, plus 40 outgroup taxa, for one nuclear marker (ribosomal internal transcribed spacer) and four plastid markers (psbA-trnH, trnL-trnF, trnQ-rpS16 and ndhF). The relationships were reconstructed based on Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses. Additionally, a likelihood approach, 'geographic state speciation and extinction', was used to estimate region- dependent rates of speciation, extinction and dispersal, comparing historically climatic stable areas (refugia) and unstable areas. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inferences indicate that Myrcia and Marlierea are polyphyletic, and the internal groupings recovered are characterized by combinations of morphological characters. Phylogenetic relationships support a link between Amazonian and north-eastern species and between north-eastern and south-eastern species. Lower extinction rates within glacial refugia suggest that these areas were important in maintaining diversity in the Atlantic forest biodiversity hotspot. This study provides a robust phylogenetic framework to address important ecological questions for Myrcia s.l. within an evolutionary context, and supports the need to unite taxonomically the two traditional genera Myrcia and Marlierea in an expanded Myrcia s.l. Furthermore, this study offers valuable insights into the diversification of plant species in the highly impacted Atlantic forest of South America; evidence is presented that the lowest extinction rates are found inside refugia and that range expansion from unstable areas

  17. Complete nucleotide sequence of the Coturnix chinensis (blue-breasted quail) mitochondrial genome and a phylogenetic analysis with related species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishibori, M; Tsudzuki, M; Hayashi, T; Yamamoto, Y; Yasue, H

    2002-01-01

    Coturnix chinensis (blue-breasted quail) has been classically grouped in Galliformes Phasianidae Coturnix, based on morphologic features and biochemical evidence. Since the blue-breasted quail has the smallest body size among the species of Galliformes, in addition to a short generation time and an excellent reproductive performance, it is a possible model fowl for breeding and physiological studies of the Coturnix japonica (Japanese quail) and Gallus gallus domesticus (chicken), which are classified in the same family as blue-breasted quail. However, since its phylogenetic position in the family Phasianidae has not been determined conclusively, the sequence of the entire blue-breasted quail mitochondria (mt) genome was obtained to provide genetic information for phylogenetic analysis in the present study. The blue-breasted quail mtDNA was found to be a circular DNA of 16,687 base pairs (bp) with the same genomic structure as the mtDNAs of Japanese quail and chicken, though it is smaller than Japanese quail and chicken mtDNAs by 10 bp and 88 bp, respectively. The sequence identity of all mitochondrial genes, including those for 12S and 16S ribosomal RNAs, between blue-breasted quail and Japanese quail ranged from 84.5% to 93.5%; between blue-breasted quail and chicken, sequence identity ranged from 78.0% to 89.6%. In order to obtain information on the phylogenetic position of blue-breasted quail in Galliformes Phasianidae, the 2,184 bp sequence comprising NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and cytochrome b genes available for eight species in Galliformes [Japanese quail, chicken, Gallus varius (green junglefowl), Bambusicola thoracica (Chinese bamboo partridge), Pavo cristatus (Indian peafowl), Perdix perdix (gray partridge), Phasianus colchicus (ring-neck pheasant), and Tympanchus phasianellus (sharp-tailed grouse)] together with that of Aythya americana (redhead) were examined using a maximum likelihood (ML) method. The ML analyses on the first/second codon positions

  18. Impact of marker ascertainment bias on genomic selection accuracy and estimates of genetic diversity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Heslot

    Full Text Available Genome-wide molecular markers are often being used to evaluate genetic diversity in germplasm collections and for making genomic selections in breeding programs. To accurately predict phenotypes and assay genetic diversity, molecular markers should assay a representative sample of the polymorphisms in the population under study. Ascertainment bias arises when marker data is not obtained from a random sample of the polymorphisms in the population of interest. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS is rapidly emerging as a low-cost genotyping platform, even for the large, complex, and polyploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L. genome. With GBS, marker discovery and genotyping occur simultaneously, resulting in minimal ascertainment bias. The previous platform of choice for whole-genome genotyping in many species such as wheat was DArT (Diversity Array Technology and has formed the basis of most of our knowledge about cereals genetic diversity. This study compared GBS and DArT marker platforms for measuring genetic diversity and genomic selection (GS accuracy in elite U.S. soft winter wheat. From a set of 365 breeding lines, 38,412 single nucleotide polymorphism GBS markers were discovered and genotyped. The GBS SNPs gave a higher GS accuracy than 1,544 DArT markers on the same lines, despite 43.9% missing data. Using a bootstrap approach, we observed significantly more clustering of markers and ascertainment bias with DArT relative to GBS. The minor allele frequency distribution of GBS markers had a deficit of rare variants compared to DArT markers. Despite the ascertainment bias of the DArT markers, GS accuracy for three traits out of four was not significantly different when an equal number of markers were used for each platform. This suggests that the gain in accuracy observed using GBS compared to DArT markers was mainly due to a large increase in the number of markers available for the analysis.

  19. Impact of Marker Ascertainment Bias on Genomic Selection Accuracy and Estimates of Genetic Diversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heslot, Nicolas; Rutkoski, Jessica; Poland, Jesse; Jannink, Jean-Luc; Sorrells, Mark E.

    2013-01-01

    Genome-wide molecular markers are often being used to evaluate genetic diversity in germplasm collections and for making genomic selections in breeding programs. To accurately predict phenotypes and assay genetic diversity, molecular markers should assay a representative sample of the polymorphisms in the population under study. Ascertainment bias arises when marker data is not obtained from a random sample of the polymorphisms in the population of interest. Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) is rapidly emerging as a low-cost genotyping platform, even for the large, complex, and polyploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genome. With GBS, marker discovery and genotyping occur simultaneously, resulting in minimal ascertainment bias. The previous platform of choice for whole-genome genotyping in many species such as wheat was DArT (Diversity Array Technology) and has formed the basis of most of our knowledge about cereals genetic diversity. This study compared GBS and DArT marker platforms for measuring genetic diversity and genomic selection (GS) accuracy in elite U.S. soft winter wheat. From a set of 365 breeding lines, 38,412 single nucleotide polymorphism GBS markers were discovered and genotyped. The GBS SNPs gave a higher GS accuracy than 1,544 DArT markers on the same lines, despite 43.9% missing data. Using a bootstrap approach, we observed significantly more clustering of markers and ascertainment bias with DArT relative to GBS. The minor allele frequency distribution of GBS markers had a deficit of rare variants compared to DArT markers. Despite the ascertainment bias of the DArT markers, GS accuracy for three traits out of four was not significantly different when an equal number of markers were used for each platform. This suggests that the gain in accuracy observed using GBS compared to DArT markers was mainly due to a large increase in the number of markers available for the analysis. PMID:24040295

  20. Genomic evolution of 11 type strains within family Planctomycetaceae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min Guo

    Full Text Available The species in family Planctomycetaceae are ideal groups for investigating the origin of eukaryotes. Their cells are divided by a lipidic intracytoplasmic membrane and they share a number of eukaryote-like molecular characteristics. However, their genomic structures, potential abilities, and evolutionary status are still unknown. In this study, we searched for common protein families and a core genome/pan genome based on 11 sequenced species in family Planctomycetaceae. Then, we constructed phylogenetic tree based on their 832 common protein families. We also annotated the 11 genomes using the Clusters of Orthologous Groups database. Moreover, we predicted and reconstructed their core/pan metabolic pathways using the KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes orthology system. Subsequently, we identified genomic islands (GIs and structural variations (SVs among the five complete genomes and we specifically investigated the integration of two Planctomycetaceae plasmids in all 11 genomes. The results indicate that Planctomycetaceae species share diverse genomic variations and unique genomic characteristics, as well as have huge potential for human applications.

  1. Expanding the Diversity of Mycobacteriophages: Insights into Genome Architecture and Evolution

    OpenAIRE

    Pope, Welkin H.; Jacobs-Sera, Deborah; Russell, Daniel A.; Peebles, Craig L.; Al-Atrache, Zein; Alcoser, Turi A.; Alexander, Lisa M.; Alfano, Matthew B.; Alford, Samantha T.; Amy, Nichols E.; Anderson, Marie D.; Anderson, Alexander G.; Ang, Andrew A. S.; Ares, Manuel; Barber, Amanda J.

    2011-01-01

    Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All mycobacteriophages characterized to date are dsDNA tailed phages, and have either siphoviral or myoviral morphotypes. However, their genetic diversity is considerable, and although sixty-two genomes have been sequenced and comparatively analyzed, these likely represent only a small portion of the diversity of the mycobacteriophage population at large. Here we repo...

  2. Polytomy identification in microbial phylogenetic reconstruction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lin Guan

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A phylogenetic tree, showing ancestral relations among organisms, is commonly represented as a rooted tree with sets of bifurcating branches (dichotomies for simplicity, although polytomies (multifurcating branches may reflect more accurate evolutionary relationships. To represent the true evolutionary relationships, it is important to systematically identify the polytomies from a bifurcating tree and generate a taxonomy-compatible multifurcating tree. For this purpose we propose a novel approach, "PolyPhy", which would classify a set of bifurcating branches of a phylogenetic tree into a set of branches with dichotomies and polytomies by considering genome distances among genomes and tree topological properties. Results PolyPhy employs a machine learning technique, BLR (Bayesian logistic regression classifier, to identify possible bifurcating subtrees as polytomies from the trees resulted from ComPhy. Other than considering genome-scale distances between all pairs of species, PolyPhy also takes into account different properties of tree topology between dichotomy and polytomy, such as long-branch retraction and short-branch contraction, and quantifies these properties into comparable rates among different sub-branches. We extract three tree topological features, 'LR' (Leaf rate, 'IntraR' (Intra-subset branch rate and 'InterR' (Inter-subset branch rate, all of which are calculated from bifurcating tree branch sets for classification. We have achieved F-measure (balanced measure between precision and recall of 81% with about 0.9 area under the curve (AUC of ROC. Conclusions PolyPhy is a fast and robust method to identify polytomies from phylogenetic trees based on genome-wide inference of evolutionary relationships among genomes. The software package and test data can be downloaded from http://digbio.missouri.edu/ComPhy/phyloTreeBiNonBi-1.0.zip.

  3. Sequencing, description and phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial genome of Sarcocheilichthys sinensis sinensis (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Chen; He, Liping; Chen, Chong; Cai, Lingchao; Chen, Pingping; Yang, Shoubao

    2016-01-01

    Sarcocheilichthys sinensis sinensis (Bleeker, 1871), is a small benthopelagic freshwater species with high nutritional and ornamental value. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of S. sinensis sinensis was determined; the phylogenetic analysis with another individual and closely related species of Sarcocheilichthys fishes was carried out. The complete mitogenome of S. sinensis sinensis was 16683 bp in length, consist of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and 2 non-coding regions: (D-loop and OL). It indicated that D-loop, ND2, and CytB may be appropriate molecular markers for studying population genetics and conservation biology of Sarcocheilichthys fishes.

  4. Some limitations of public sequence data for phylogenetic inference (in plants).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hinchliff, Cody E; Smith, Stephen Andrew

    2014-01-01

    The GenBank database contains essentially all of the nucleotide sequence data generated for published molecular systematic studies, but for the majority of taxa these data remain sparse. GenBank has value for phylogenetic methods that leverage data-mining and rapidly improving computational methods, but the limits imposed by the sparse structure of the data are not well understood. Here we present a tree representing 13,093 land plant genera--an estimated 80% of extant plant diversity--to illustrate the potential of public sequence data for broad phylogenetic inference in plants, and we explore the limits to inference imposed by the structure of these data using theoretical foundations from phylogenetic data decisiveness. We find that despite very high levels of missing data (over 96%), the present data retain the potential to inform over 86.3% of all possible phylogenetic relationships. Most of these relationships, however, are informed by small amounts of data--approximately half are informed by fewer than four loci, and more than 99% are informed by fewer than fifteen. We also apply an information theoretic measure of branch support to assess the strength of phylogenetic signal in the data, revealing many poorly supported branches concentrated near the tips of the tree, where data are sparse and the limiting effects of this sparseness are stronger. We argue that limits to phylogenetic inference and signal imposed by low data coverage may pose significant challenges for comprehensive phylogenetic inference at the species level. Computational requirements provide additional limits for large reconstructions, but these may be overcome by methodological advances, whereas insufficient data coverage can only be remedied by additional sampling effort. We conclude that public databases have exceptional value for modern systematics and evolutionary biology, and that a continued emphasis on expanding taxonomic and genomic coverage will play a critical role in developing

  5. Complete genome sequence of Coraliomargarita akajimensis type strain (04OKA010-24T)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mavromatis, Konstantinos; Abt, Birte; Brambilla, Evelyne; Lapidus, Alla; Copeland, Alex; Desphande, Shweta; Nolan, Matt; Lucas, Susan; Tice, Hope; Cheng, Jan-Fang; Han, Cliff; Detter, John C.; Woyke, Tanja; Goodwin, Lynne; Pitluck, Sam; Held, Brittany; Brettin, Thomas; Tapia, Roxanne; Ivanova, Natalia; Mikhailova, Natalia; Pati, Amrita; Liolios, Konstantinos; Chen, Amy; Palaniappan, Krishna; Land, Miriam; Hauser, Loren; Chang, Yun-Juan; Jeffries, Cynthia D.; Rohde, Manfred; G& #246; ker, Markus; Bristow, James; Eisen, Jonathan A.; Markowitz, Victor; Hugenholtz, Philip; Klenk, Hans-Peter; Kyrpides, Nikos C.

    2010-06-25

    Coraliomargarita akajimensis Yoon et al. 2007 the type species of the genus Coraliomargarita. C. akajimensis is an obligately aerobic, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile, spherical bacterium which was isolated from seawater surrounding the hard coral Galaxea fascicularis. C. akajimensis organism is of special interest because of its phylogenetic position in a genomically purely studied area in the bacterial diversity. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence, and annotation. This is the first complete genome sequence of a member of the family Puniceicoccaceae. The 3,750,771 bp long genome with its 3,137 protein-coding and 55 RNA genes is a part of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea project.

  6. REGEN: Ancestral Genome Reconstruction for Bacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Kuan; Heath, Lenwood S; Setubal, João C

    2012-07-18

    Ancestral genome reconstruction can be understood as a phylogenetic study with more details than a traditional phylogenetic tree reconstruction. We present a new computational system called REGEN for ancestral bacterial genome reconstruction at both the gene and replicon levels. REGEN reconstructs gene content, contiguous gene runs, and replicon structure for each ancestral genome. Along each branch of the phylogenetic tree, REGEN infers evolutionary events, including gene creation and deletion and replicon fission and fusion. The reconstruction can be performed by either a maximum parsimony or a maximum likelihood method. Gene content reconstruction is based on the concept of neighboring gene pairs. REGEN was designed to be used with any set of genomes that are sufficiently related, which will usually be the case for bacteria within the same taxonomic order. We evaluated REGEN using simulated genomes and genomes in the Rhizobiales order.

  7. Leishmania naiffi and Leishmania guyanensis reference genomes highlight genome structure and gene evolution in the Viannia subgenus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coughlan, Simone; Taylor, Ali Shirley; Feane, Eoghan; Sanders, Mandy; Schonian, Gabriele; Cotton, James A; Downing, Tim

    2018-04-01

    The unicellular protozoan parasite Leishmania causes the neglected tropical disease leishmaniasis, affecting 12 million people in 98 countries. In South America, where the Viannia subgenus predominates, so far only L. ( Viannia ) braziliensis and L. ( V. ) panamensis have been sequenced, assembled and annotated as reference genomes. Addressing this deficit in molecular information can inform species typing, epidemiological monitoring and clinical treatment. Here, L. ( V. ) naiffi and L. ( V. ) guyanensis genomic DNA was sequenced to assemble these two genomes as draft references from short sequence reads. The methods used were tested using short sequence reads for L. braziliensis M2904 against its published reference as a comparison. This assembly and annotation pipeline identified 70 additional genes not annotated on the original M2904 reference. Phylogenetic and evolutionary comparisons of L. guyanensis and L. naiffi with 10 other Viannia genomes revealed four traits common to all Viannia : aneuploidy, 22 orthologous groups of genes absent in other Leishmania subgenera, elevated TATE transposon copies and a high NADH-dependent fumarate reductase gene copy number. Within the Viannia , there were limited structural changes in genome architecture specific to individual species: a 45 Kb amplification on chromosome 34 was present in all bar L. lainsoni , L. naiffi had a higher copy number of the virulence factor leishmanolysin, and laboratory isolate L. shawi M8408 had a possible minichromosome derived from the 3' end of chromosome 34 . This combination of genome assembly, phylogenetics and comparative analysis across an extended panel of diverse Viannia has uncovered new insights into the origin and evolution of this subgenus and can help improve diagnostics for leishmaniasis surveillance.

  8. Genotypic and phenotypic diversity of Bacillus spp. isolated from steel plant waste

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chartone-Souza Edmar

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Molecular studies of Bacillus diversity in various environments have been reported. However, there have been few investigations concerning Bacillus in steel plant environments. In this study, genotypic and phenotypic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among 40 bacterial isolates recovered from steel plant waste were investigated using classical and molecular methods. Results 16S rDNA partial sequencing assigned all the isolates to the Bacillus genus, with close genetic relatedness to the Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus groups, and to the species Bacillus sphaericus. tDNA-intergenic spacer length polymorphisms and the 16S–23S intergenic transcribed spacer region failed to identify the isolates at the species level. Genomic diversity was investigated by molecular typing with rep (repetitive sequence based PCR using the primer sets ERIC2 (enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus, (GTG5, and BOXAIR. Genotypic fingerprinting of the isolates reflected high intraspecies and interspecies diversity. Clustering of the isolates using ERIC-PCR fingerprinting was similar to that obtained from the 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic tree, indicating the potential of the former technique as a simple and useful tool for examining relationships among unknown Bacillus spp. Physiological, biochemical and heavy metal susceptibility profiles also indicated considerable phenotypic diversity. Among the heavy metal compounds tested Zn, Pb and Cu were least toxic to the bacterial isolates, whereas Ag inhibited all isolates at 0.001 mM. Conclusion Isolates with identical 16S rRNA gene sequences had different genomic fingerprints and differed considerably in their physiological capabilities, so the high levels of phenotypic diversity found in this study are likely to have ecological relevance.

  9. Unprecedented genomic diversity of RNA viruses in arthropods reveals the ancestry of negative-sense RNA viruses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ci-Xiu; Shi, Mang; Tian, Jun-Hua; Lin, Xian-Dan; Kang, Yan-Jun; Chen, Liang-Jun; Qin, Xin-Cheng; Xu, Jianguo; Holmes, Edward C; Zhang, Yong-Zhen

    2015-01-29

    Although arthropods are important viral vectors, the biodiversity of arthropod viruses, as well as the role that arthropods have played in viral origins and evolution, is unclear. Through RNA sequencing of 70 arthropod species we discovered 112 novel viruses that appear to be ancestral to much of the documented genetic diversity of negative-sense RNA viruses, a number of which are also present as endogenous genomic copies. With this greatly enriched diversity we revealed that arthropods contain viruses that fall basal to major virus groups, including the vertebrate-specific arenaviruses, filoviruses, hantaviruses, influenza viruses, lyssaviruses, and paramyxoviruses. We similarly documented a remarkable diversity of genome structures in arthropod viruses, including a putative circular form, that sheds new light on the evolution of genome organization. Hence, arthropods are a major reservoir of viral genetic diversity and have likely been central to viral evolution.

  10. Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Iranian Leishmania Parasites Based on HSP70 Gene PCR-RFLP and Sequence Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nemati, Sara; Fazaeli, Asghar; Hajjaran, Homa; Khamesipour, Ali; Anbaran, Mohsen Falahati; Bozorgomid, Arezoo; Zarei, Fatah

    2017-08-01

    Despite the broad distribution of leishmaniasis among Iranians and animals across the country, little is known about the genetic characteristics of the causative agents. Applying both HSP70 PCR-RFLP and sequence analyses, this study aimed to evaluate the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among Leishmania spp. isolated from Iranian endemic foci and available reference strains. A total of 36 Leishmania isolates from almost all districts across the country were genetically analyzed for the HSP70 gene using both PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis. The original HSP70 gene sequences were aligned along with homologous Leishmania sequences retrieved from NCBI, and subjected to the phylogenetic analysis. Basic parameters of genetic diversity were also estimated. The HSP70 PCR-RFLP presented 3 different electrophoretic patterns, with no further intraspecific variation, corresponding to 3 Leishmania species available in the country, L. tropica, L. major, and L. infantum. Phylogenetic analyses presented 5 major clades, corresponding to 5 species complexes. Iranian lineages, including L. major, L. tropica, and L. infantum, were distributed among 3 complexes L. major, L. tropica, and L. donovani. However, within the L. major and L. donovani species complexes, the HSP70 phylogeny was not able to distinguish clearly between the L. major and L. turanica isolates, and between the L. infantum, L. donovani, and L. chagasi isolates, respectively. Our results indicated that both HSP70 PCR-RFLP and sequence analyses are medically applicable tools for identification of Leishmania species in Iranian patients. However, the reduced genetic diversity of the target gene makes it inevitable that its phylogeny only resolves the major groups, namely, the species complexes.

  11. Mitochondrial genome of Pteronotus personatus (Chiroptera: Mormoopidae): comparison with selected bats and phylogenetic considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-Wilchis, Ricardo; Del Río-Portilla, Miguel Ángel; Guevara-Chumacero, Luis Manuel

    2017-02-01

    We described the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the Wagner's mustached bat, Pteronotus personatus, a species belonging to the family Mormoopidae, and compared it with other published mitogenomes of bats (Chiroptera). The mitogenome of P. personatus was 16,570 bp long and contained a typically conserved structure including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and one control region (D-loop). Most of the genes were encoded on the H-strand, except for eight tRNA and the ND6 genes. The order of protein-coding and rRNA genes was highly conserved in all mitogenomes. All protein-coding genes started with an ATG codon, except for ND2, ND3, and ND5, which initiated with ATA, and terminated with the typical stop codon TAA/TAG or the codon AGA. Phylogenetic trees constructed using Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, and Bayesian inference methods showed an identical topology and indicated the monophyly of different families of bats (Mormoopidae, Phyllostomidae, Vespertilionidae, Rhinolophidae, and Pteropopidae) and the existence of two major clades corresponding to the suborders Yangochiroptera and Yinpterochiroptera. The mitogenome sequence provided here will be useful for further phylogenetic analyses and population genetic studies in mormoopid bats.

  12. Whole genome SNP discovery and analysis of genetic diversity in Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an important agricultural species and the second largest contributor to the world’s poultry meat production. Genetic improvement is attributed largely to selective breeding programs that rely on highly heritable phenotypic traits, such as body size and breast muscle development. Commercial breeding with small effective population sizes and epistasis can result in loss of genetic diversity, which in turn can lead to reduced individual fitness and reduced response to selection. The presence of genomic diversity in domestic livestock species therefore, is of great importance and a prerequisite for rapid and accurate genetic improvement of selected breeds in various environments, as well as to facilitate rapid adaptation to potential changes in breeding goals. Genomic selection requires a large number of genetic markers such as e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) the most abundant source of genetic variation within the genome. Results Alignment of next generation sequencing data of 32 individual turkeys from different populations was used for the discovery of 5.49 million SNPs, which subsequently were used for the analysis of genetic diversity among the different populations. All of the commercial lines branched from a single node relative to the heritage varieties and the South Mexican turkey population. Heterozygosity of all individuals from the different turkey populations ranged from 0.17-2.73 SNPs/Kb, while heterozygosity of populations ranged from 0.73-1.64 SNPs/Kb. The average frequency of heterozygous SNPs in individual turkeys was 1.07 SNPs/Kb. Five genomic regions with very low nucleotide variation were identified in domestic turkeys that showed state of fixation towards alleles different than wild alleles. Conclusion The turkey genome is much less diverse with a relatively low frequency of heterozygous SNPs as compared to other livestock species like chicken and pig. The whole genome SNP discovery

  13. Whole genome SNP discovery and analysis of genetic diversity in Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aslam Muhammad L

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo is an important agricultural species and the second largest contributor to the world’s poultry meat production. Genetic improvement is attributed largely to selective breeding programs that rely on highly heritable phenotypic traits, such as body size and breast muscle development. Commercial breeding with small effective population sizes and epistasis can result in loss of genetic diversity, which in turn can lead to reduced individual fitness and reduced response to selection. The presence of genomic diversity in domestic livestock species therefore, is of great importance and a prerequisite for rapid and accurate genetic improvement of selected breeds in various environments, as well as to facilitate rapid adaptation to potential changes in breeding goals. Genomic selection requires a large number of genetic markers such as e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs the most abundant source of genetic variation within the genome. Results Alignment of next generation sequencing data of 32 individual turkeys from different populations was used for the discovery of 5.49 million SNPs, which subsequently were used for the analysis of genetic diversity among the different populations. All of the commercial lines branched from a single node relative to the heritage varieties and the South Mexican turkey population. Heterozygosity of all individuals from the different turkey populations ranged from 0.17-2.73 SNPs/Kb, while heterozygosity of populations ranged from 0.73-1.64 SNPs/Kb. The average frequency of heterozygous SNPs in individual turkeys was 1.07 SNPs/Kb. Five genomic regions with very low nucleotide variation were identified in domestic turkeys that showed state of fixation towards alleles different than wild alleles. Conclusion The turkey genome is much less diverse with a relatively low frequency of heterozygous SNPs as compared to other livestock species like chicken and pig. The

  14. Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) as a bridge between ecology and evolutionary genomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bybee, Seth; Córdoba-Aguilar, Alex; Duryea, M Catherine; Futahashi, Ryo; Hansson, Bengt; Lorenzo-Carballa, M Olalla; Schilder, Ruud; Stoks, Robby; Suvorov, Anton; Svensson, Erik I; Swaegers, Janne; Takahashi, Yuma; Watts, Phillip C; Wellenreuther, Maren

    2016-01-01

    Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) present an unparalleled insect model to integrate evolutionary genomics with ecology for the study of insect evolution. Key features of Odonata include their ancient phylogenetic position, extensive phenotypic and ecological diversity, several unique evolutionary innovations, ease of study in the wild and usefulness as bioindicators for freshwater ecosystems worldwide. In this review, we synthesize studies on the evolution, ecology and physiology of odonates, highlighting those areas where the integration of ecology with genomics would yield significant insights into the evolutionary processes that would not be gained easily by working on other animal groups. We argue that the unique features of this group combined with their complex life cycle, flight behaviour, diversity in ecological niches and their sensitivity to anthropogenic change make odonates a promising and fruitful taxon for genomics focused research. Future areas of research that deserve increased attention are also briefly outlined.

  15. The first complete organellar genomes of an Antarctic red alga, Pyropia endiviifolia: insights into its genome architecture and phylogenetic position within genus Pyropia (Bangiales, Rhodophyta)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Kuipeng; Tang, Xianghai; Bi, Guiqi; Cao, Min; Wang, Lu; Mao, Yunxiang

    2017-08-01

    Pyropia species grow in the intertidal zone and are cold-water adapted. To date, most of the information about the whole plastid and mitochondrial genomes (ptDNA and mtDNA) of this genus is limited to Northern Hemisphere species. Here, we report the sequencing of the ptDNA and mtDNA of the Antarctic red alga Pyropia endiviifolia using the Illumina platform. The plastid genome (195 784 bp, 33.28% GC content) contains 210 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 6 rRNA genes. The mitochondrial genome (34 603 bp, 30.5% GC content) contains 26 protein-coding genes, 25 tRNA genes and 2 rRNA genes. Our results suggest that the organellar genomes of Py. endiviifolia have a compact organization. Although the collinearity of these genomes is conserved compared with other Pyropia species, the genome sizes show significant differences, mainly because of the different copy numbers of rDNA operons in the ptDNA and group II introns in the mtDNA. The other Pyropia species have 2u20133 distinct intronic ORFs in their cox 1 genes, but Py. endiviifolia has no introns in its cox 1 gene. This has led to a smaller mtDNA than in other Pyropia species. The phylogenetic relationships within Pyropia were examined using concatenated gene sets from most of the available organellar genomes with both the maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. The analysis revealed a sister taxa affiliation between the Antarctic species Py. endiviifolia and the North American species Py. kanakaensis.

  16. Incorporating phylogenetic information for the definition of floristic districts in hyperdiverse Amazon forests: Implications for conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guevara Andino, Juan Ernesto; Pitman, Nigel C A; Ter Steege, Hans; Mogollón, Hugo; Ceron, Carlos; Palacios, Walter; Oleas, Nora; Fine, Paul V A

    2017-11-01

    Using complementary metrics to evaluate phylogenetic diversity can facilitate the delimitation of floristic units and conservation priority areas. In this study, we describe the spatial patterns of phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity, phylogenetic endemism, and evolutionary distinctiveness of the hyperdiverse Ecuador Amazon forests and define priority areas for conservation. We established a network of 62 one-hectare plots in terra firme forests of Ecuadorian Amazon. In these plots, we tagged, collected, and identified every single adult tree with dbh ≥10 cm. These data were combined with a regional community phylogenetic tree to calculate different phylogenetic diversity (PD) metrics in order to create spatial models. We used Loess regression to estimate the spatial variation of taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity as well as phylogenetic endemism and evolutionary distinctiveness. We found evidence for the definition of three floristic districts in the Ecuadorian Amazon, supported by both taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity data. Areas with high levels of phylogenetic endemism and evolutionary distinctiveness in Ecuadorian Amazon forests are unprotected. Furthermore, these areas are severely threatened by proposed plans of oil and mining extraction at large scales and should be prioritized in conservation planning for this region.

  17. Genomic evidence of bitter taste in snakes and phylogenetic analysis of bitter taste receptor genes in reptiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huaming Zhong

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available As nontraditional model organisms with extreme physiological and morphological phenotypes, snakes are believed to possess an inferior taste system. However, the bitter taste sensation is essential to distinguish the nutritious and poisonous food resources and the genomic evidence of bitter taste in snakes is largely scarce. To explore the genetic basis of the bitter taste of snakes and characterize the evolution of bitter taste receptor genes (Tas2rs in reptiles, we identified Tas2r genes in 19 genomes (species corresponding to three orders of non-avian reptiles. Our results indicated contractions of Tas2r gene repertoires in snakes, however dramatic gene expansions have occurred in lizards. Phylogenetic analysis of the Tas2rs with NJ and BI methods revealed that Tas2r genes of snake species formed two clades, whereas in lizards the Tas2r genes clustered into two monophyletic clades and four large clades. Evolutionary changes (birth and death of intact Tas2r genes in reptiles were determined by reconciliation analysis. Additionally, the taste signaling pathway calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (Calhm1 gene of snakes was putatively functional, suggesting that snakes still possess bitter taste sensation. Furthermore, Phylogenetically Independent Contrasts (PIC analyses reviewed a significant correlation between the number of Tas2r genes and the amount of potential toxins in reptilian diets, suggesting that insectivores such as some lizards may require more Tas2rs genes than omnivorous and carnivorous reptiles.

  18. A comprehensive evaluation of rodent malaria parasite genomes and gene expression

    KAUST Repository

    Otto, Thomas D

    2014-10-30

    Background: Rodent malaria parasites (RMP) are used extensively as models of human malaria. Draft RMP genomes have been published for Plasmodium yoelii, P. berghei ANKA (PbA) and P. chabaudi AS (PcAS). Although availability of these genomes made a significant impact on recent malaria research, these genomes were highly fragmented and were annotated with little manual curation. The fragmented nature of the genomes has hampered genome wide analysis of Plasmodium gene regulation and function. Results: We have greatly improved the genome assemblies of PbA and PcAS, newly sequenced the virulent parasite P. yoelii YM genome, sequenced additional RMP isolates/lines and have characterized genotypic diversity within RMP species. We have produced RNA-seq data and utilized it to improve gene-model prediction and to provide quantitative, genome-wide, data on gene expression. Comparison of the RMP genomes with the genome of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum and RNA-seq mapping permitted gene annotation at base-pair resolution. Full-length chromosomal annotation permitted a comprehensive classification of all subtelomeric multigene families including the `Plasmodium interspersed repeat genes\\' (pir). Phylogenetic classification of the pir family, combined with pir expression patterns, indicates functional diversification within this family. Conclusions: Complete RMP genomes, RNA-seq and genotypic diversity data are excellent and important resources for gene-function and post-genomic analyses and to better interrogate Plasmodium biology. Genotypic diversity between P. chabaudi isolates makes this species an excellent parasite to study genotype-phenotype relationships. The improved classification of multigene families will enhance studies on the role of (variant) exported proteins in virulence and immune evasion/modulation.

  19. Phylogenetic diversity, host-specificity and community profiling of sponge-associated bacteria in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

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    Patrick M Erwin

    Full Text Available Marine sponges can associate with abundant and diverse consortia of microbial symbionts. However, associated bacteria remain unexamined for the majority of host sponges and few studies use phylogenetic metrics to quantify symbiont community diversity. DNA fingerprinting techniques, such as terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms (T-RFLP, might provide rapid profiling of these communities, but have not been explicitly compared to traditional methods.We investigated the bacterial communities associated with the marine sponges Hymeniacidon heliophila and Haliclona tubifera, a sympatric tunicate, Didemnum sp., and ambient seawater from the northern Gulf of Mexico by combining replicated clone libraries with T-RFLP analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Clone libraries revealed that bacterial communities associated with the two sponges exhibited lower species richness and lower species diversity than seawater and tunicate assemblages, with differences in species composition among all four source groups. T-RFLP profiles clustered microbial communities by source; individual T-RFs were matched to the majority (80.6% of clone library sequences, indicating that T-RFLP analysis can be used to rapidly profile these communities. Phylogenetic metrics of community diversity indicated that the two sponge-associated bacterial communities include dominant and host-specific bacterial lineages that are distinct from bacteria recovered from seawater, tunicates, and unrelated sponge hosts. In addition, a large proportion of the symbionts associated with H. heliophila were shared with distant, conspecific host populations in the southwestern Atlantic (Brazil.The low diversity and species-specific nature of bacterial communities associated with H. heliophila and H. tubifera represent a distinctly different pattern from other, reportedly universal, sponge-associated bacterial communities. Our replicated sampling strategy, which included samples that reflect the

  20. Diverse Lifestyles and Strategies of Plant Pathogenesis Encoded in the Genomes of Eighteen Dothideomycetes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ohm, Robin A.; Feau, Nicolas; Henrissat, Bernard; Schoch, Conrad L.; Horwitz, Benjamin A.; Barry, Kerrie W.; Condon, Bradford J.; Copeland, Alex C.; Dhillon, Braham; Glaser, Fabian; Hesse, Cedar N.; Kosti, Idit; LaButti, Kurt; Lindquist, Erika A.; Lucas, Susan; Salamov, Asaf A.; Bradshaw, Rosie E.; Ciuffetti, Lynda; Hamelin, Richard C.; Kema, Gert H. J.; Lawrence, Christopher; Scott, James A.; Spatafora, Joseph W.; Turgeon, B. Gillian; de Wit, Pierre J. G. M.; Zhong, Shaobin; Goodwin, Stephen B.; Grigoriev, Igor V.

    2013-03-05

    The class of Dothideomycetes is one of the largest and most diverse groups of fungi. Many are plant pathogens and pose a serious threat to agricultural crops that are grown for biofuel, food or feed. Most Dothideomycetes have only a single host plant, and related species can have very diverse hosts. Eighteen genomes of Dothideomycetes have currently been sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute and other sequencing centers. Here we describe the results of comparative analyses of the fungi in this group.

  1. Component identification of electron transport chains in curdlan-producing Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 and its genome-specific prediction using comparative genome and phylogenetic trees analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Hongtao; Setubal, Joao Carlos; Zhan, Xiaobei; Zheng, Zhiyong; Yu, Lijun; Wu, Jianrong; Chen, Dingqiang

    2011-06-01

    Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 (formerly named Alcaligenes faecalis var. myxogenes) is a non-pathogenic aerobic soil bacterium used in large scale biotechnological production of curdlan. However, little is known about its genomic information. DNA partial sequence of electron transport chains (ETCs) protein genes were obtained in order to understand the components of ETC and genomic-specificity in Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749. Degenerate primers were designed according to ETC conserved sequences in other reported species. DNA partial sequences of ETC genes in Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 were cloned by the PCR method using degenerate primers. Based on comparative genomic analysis, nine electron transport elements were ascertained, including NADH ubiquinone oxidoreductase, succinate dehydrogenase complex II, complex III, cytochrome c, ubiquinone biosynthesis protein ubiB, cytochrome d terminal oxidase, cytochrome bo terminal oxidase, cytochrome cbb (3)-type terminal oxidase and cytochrome caa (3)-type terminal oxidase. Similarity and phylogenetic analyses of these genes revealed that among fully sequenced Agrobacterium species, Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 is closest to Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58. Based on these results a comprehensive ETC model for Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31749 is proposed.

  2. Phylogenetic Analysis of Shewanella Strains by DNA Relatedness Derived from Whole Genome Microarray DNA-DNA Hybridization and Comparisons with Other Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Liyou; Yi, T.Y.; Van Nostrand, Joy; Zhou, Jizhong

    2010-01-01

    Phylogenetic analyses were done for the Shewanella strains isolated from Baltic Sea (38 strains), US DOE Hanford Uranium bioremediation site (Hanford Reach of the Columbia River (HRCR), 11 strains), Pacific Ocean and Hawaiian sediments (8 strains), and strains from other resources (16 strains) with three out group strains, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, Clostridium cellulolyticum, and Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus X514, using DNA relatedness derived from WCGA-based DNA-DNA hybridizations, sequence similarities of 16S rRNA gene and gyrB gene, and sequence similarities of 6 loci of Shewanella genome selected from a shared gene list of the Shewanella strains with whole genome sequenced based on the average nucleotide identity of them (ANI). The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequences, and DNA relatedness derived from WCGA hybridizations of the tested Shewanella strains share exactly the same sub-clusters with very few exceptions, in which the strains were basically grouped by species. However, the phylogenetic analysis based on DNA relatedness derived from WCGA hybridizations dramatically increased the differentiation resolution at species and strains level within Shewanella genus. When the tree based on DNA relatedness derived from WCGA hybridizations was compared to the tree based on the combined sequences of the selected functional genes (6 loci), we found that the resolutions of both methods are similar, but the clustering of the tree based on DNA relatedness derived from WMGA hybridizations was clearer. These results indicate that WCGA-based DNA-DNA hybridization is an idea alternative of conventional DNA-DNA hybridization methods and it is superior to the phylogenetics methods based on sequence similarities of single genes. Detailed analysis is being performed for the re-classification of the strains examined.

  3. Phylogenetic Analysis of Shewanella Strains by DNA Relatedness Derived from Whole Genome Microarray DNA-DNA Hybridization and Comparison with Other Methods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Liyou; Yi, T. Y.; Van Nostrand, Joy; Zhou, Jizhong

    2010-05-17

    Phylogenetic analyses were done for the Shewanella strains isolated from Baltic Sea (38 strains), US DOE Hanford Uranium bioremediation site [Hanford Reach of the Columbia River (HRCR), 11 strains], Pacific Ocean and Hawaiian sediments (8 strains), and strains from other resources (16 strains) with three out group strains, Rhodopseudomonas palustris, Clostridium cellulolyticum, and Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus X514, using DNA relatedness derived from WCGA-based DNA-DNA hybridizations, sequence similarities of 16S rRNA gene and gyrB gene, and sequence similarities of 6 loci of Shewanella genome selected from a shared gene list of the Shewanella strains with whole genome sequenced based on the average nucleotide identity of them (ANI). The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA and gyrB gene sequences, and DNA relatedness derived from WCGA hybridizations of the tested Shewanella strains share exactly the same sub-clusters with very few exceptions, in which the strains were basically grouped by species. However, the phylogenetic analysis based on DNA relatedness derived from WCGA hybridizations dramatically increased the differentiation resolution at species and strains level within Shewanella genus. When the tree based on DNA relatedness derived from WCGA hybridizations was compared to the tree based on the combined sequences of the selected functional genes (6 loci), we found that the resolutions of both methods are similar, but the clustering of the tree based on DNA relatedness derived from WMGA hybridizations was clearer. These results indicate that WCGA-based DNA-DNA hybridization is an idea alternative of conventional DNA-DNA hybridization methods and it is superior to the phylogenetics methods based on sequence similarities of single genes. Detailed analysis is being performed for the re-classification of the strains examined.

  4. Plant traits determine the phylogenetic structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    López-García, Álvaro; Varela-Cervero, Sara; Vasar, Martti; Öpik, Maarja; Barea, José M; Azcón-Aguilar, Concepción

    2017-12-01

    Functional diversity in ecosystems has traditionally been studied using aboveground plant traits. Despite the known effect of plant traits on the microbial community composition, their effects on the microbial functional diversity are only starting to be assessed. In this study, the phylogenetic structure of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities associated with plant species differing in life cycle and growth form, that is, plant life forms, was determined to unravel the effect of plant traits on the functional diversity of this fungal group. The results of the 454 pyrosequencing showed that the AM fungal community composition differed across plant life forms and this effect was dependent on the soil collection date. Plants with ruderal characteristics tended to associate with phylogenetically clustered AM fungal communities. By contrast, plants with resource-conservative traits associated with phylogenetically overdispersed AM fungal communities. Additionally, the soil collected in different seasons yielded AM fungal communities with different phylogenetic dispersion. In summary, we found that the phylogenetic structure, and hence the functional diversity, of AM fungal communities is dependent on plant traits. This finding adds value to the use of plant traits for the evaluation of belowground ecosystem diversity, functions and processes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. Molecular phylogenetics and character evolution of morphologically diverse groups, Dendrobium section Dendrobium and allies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takamiya, Tomoko; Wongsawad, Pheravut; Sathapattayanon, Apirada; Tajima, Natsuko; Suzuki, Shunichiro; Kitamura, Saki; Shioda, Nao; Handa, Takashi; Kitanaka, Susumu; Iijima, Hiroshi; Yukawa, Tomohisa

    2014-01-01

    It is always difficult to construct coherent classification systems for plant lineages having diverse morphological characters. The genus Dendrobium, one of the largest genera in the Orchidaceae, includes ∼1100 species, and enormous morphological diversification has hindered the establishment of consistent classification systems covering all major groups of this genus. Given the particular importance of species in Dendrobium section Dendrobium and allied groups as floriculture and crude drug genetic resources, there is an urgent need to establish a stable classification system. To clarify phylogenetic relationships in Dendrobium section Dendrobium and allied groups, we analysed the macromolecular characters of the group. Phylogenetic analyses of 210 taxa of Dendrobium were conducted on DNA sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of 18S–26S nuclear ribosomal DNA and the maturase-coding gene (matK) located in an intron of the plastid gene trnK using maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods. The parsimony and Bayesian analyses revealed 13 distinct clades in the group comprising section Dendrobium and its allied groups. Results also showed paraphyly or polyphyly of sections Amblyanthus, Aporum, Breviflores, Calcarifera, Crumenata, Dendrobium, Densiflora, Distichophyllae, Dolichocentrum, Holochrysa, Oxyglossum and Pedilonum. On the other hand, the monophyly of section Stachyobium was well supported. It was found that many of the morphological characters that have been believed to reflect phylogenetic relationships are, in fact, the result of convergence. As such, many of the sections that have been recognized up to this point were found to not be monophyletic, so recircumscription of sections is required. PMID:25107672

  6. Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Relationships of Coevolving Symbiont-Harboring Insect Trypanosomatids, and Their Neotropical Dispersal by Invader African Blowflies (Calliphoridae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tarcilla C. Borghesan

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This study is about the inter- and intra-specific genetic diversity of trypanosomatids of the genus Angomonas, and their association with Calliphoridae (blowflies in Neotropical and Afrotropical regions. Microscopic examination of 3,900 flies of various families, mostly Calliphoridae, revealed that 31% of them harbored trypanosomatids. Small subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA barcoding showed that Angomonas predominated (46% over the other common trypanosomatids of blowflies of genera Herpetomonas and Wallacemonas. Among Angomonas spp., A. deanei was much more common than the two-other species, A. desouzai and A. ambiguus. Phylogenetic analyses based on SSU rRNA, glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH and internal transcribed spacer rDNA (ITS rDNA sequences revealed a marked genetic diversity within A. deanei, which comprised four infraspecific genotypes (Dea1–Dea4, and four corresponding symbiont genotypes (Kcr1–Kcr4. Host and symbiont phylogenies were highly congruent corroborating their co-divergence, consistent with host-symbiont interdependent metabolism and symbiont reduced genomes shaped by a long coevolutionary history. We compared the diversity of Angomonas/symbionts from three genera of blowflies, Lucilia, Chrysomya and Cochliomyia. A. deanei, A. desouzai, and A. ambiguus were found in the three genera of blowflies in South America. In Africa, A. deanei and A. ambiguus were identified in Chrysomya. The absence of A. desouzai in Africa and its presence in Neotropical Cochliomyia and Lucilia suggests parasite spillback of A. desouzai into Chrysomya, which was most likely introduced four decades ago from Africa into the Neotropic. The absence of correlation between parasite diversity and geographic and genetic distances, with identical genotypes of A. deanei found in the Neotropic and Afrotropic, is consistent with disjunct distribution due to the recent human-mediated transoceanic dispersal of Angomonas by Chrysomya. This

  7. Measures of phylogenetic differentiation provide robust and complementary insights into microbial communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parks, Donovan H; Beiko, Robert G

    2013-01-01

    High-throughput sequencing techniques have made large-scale spatial and temporal surveys of microbial communities routine. Gaining insight into microbial diversity requires methods for effectively analyzing and visualizing these extensive data sets. Phylogenetic β-diversity measures address this challenge by allowing the relationship between large numbers of environmental samples to be explored using standard multivariate analysis techniques. Despite the success and widespread use of phylogenetic β-diversity measures, an extensive comparative analysis of these measures has not been performed. Here, we compare 39 measures of phylogenetic β diversity in order to establish the relative similarity of these measures along with key properties and performance characteristics. While many measures are highly correlated, those commonly used within microbial ecology were found to be distinct from those popular within classical ecology, and from the recently recommended Gower and Canberra measures. Many of the measures are surprisingly robust to different rootings of the gene tree, the choice of similarity threshold used to define operational taxonomic units, and the presence of outlying basal lineages. Measures differ considerably in their sensitivity to rare organisms, and the effectiveness of measures can vary substantially under alternative models of differentiation. Consequently, the depth of sequencing required to reveal underlying patterns of relationships between environmental samples depends on the selected measure. Our results demonstrate that using complementary measures of phylogenetic β diversity can further our understanding of how communities are phylogenetically differentiated. Open-source software implementing the phylogenetic β-diversity measures evaluated in this manuscript is available at http://kiwi.cs.dal.ca/Software/ExpressBetaDiversity.

  8. Draft Genome Sequence of the Nicotinate-Metabolizing Soil Bacterium Bacillus niacini DSM 2923.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Zachary H; Snider, Mark J

    2014-12-04

    Bacillus niacini is a member of a small yet diverse group of bacteria able to catabolize nicotinic acid. We report here the availability of a draft genome for B. niacini, which we will use to understand the evolution of its namesake phenotype, which appears to be unique among the species in its phylogenetic neighborhood. Copyright © 2014 Harvey and Snider.

  9. Non-LTR R2 element evolutionary patterns: phylogenetic incongruences, rapid radiation and the maintenance of multiple lineages.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Luchetti

    Full Text Available Retrotransposons of the R2 superclade specifically insert within the 28S ribosomal gene. They have been isolated from a variety of metazoan genomes and were found vertically inherited even if their phylogeny does not always agree with that of the host species. This was explained with the diversification/extinction of paralogous lineages, being proved the absence of horizontal transfer. We here analyze the widest available collection of R2 sequences, either newly isolated from recently sequenced genomes or drawn from public databases, in a phylogenetic framework. Results are congruent with previous analyses, but new important issues emerge. First, the N-terminal end of the R2-B clade protein, so far unknown, presents a new zinc fingers configuration. Second, the phylogenetic pattern is consistent with an ancient, rapid radiation of R2 lineages: being the estimated time of R2 origin (850-600 Million years ago placed just before the metazoan Cambrian explosion, the wide element diversity and the incongruence with the host phylogeny could be attributable to the sudden expansion of available niches represented by host's 28S ribosomal genes. Finally, we detect instances of coexisting multiple R2 lineages showing a non-random phylogenetic pattern, strongly similar to that of the "library" model known for tandem repeats: a collection of R2s were present in the ancestral genome and then differentially activated/repressed in the derived species. Models for activation/repression as well as mechanisms for sequence maintenance are also discussed within this framework.

  10. Phylogenetic Relationships of the Fern Cyrtomium falcatum (Dryopteridaceae from Dokdo Island Based on Chloroplast Genome Sequencing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gurusamy Raman

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Cyrtomium falcatum is a popular ornamental fern cultivated worldwide. Native to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Dokdo Island in the Sea of Japan, it is the only fern present on Dokdo Island. We isolated and characterized the chloroplast (cp genome of C. falcatum, and compared it with those of closely related species. The genes trnV-GAC and trnV-GAU were found to be present within the cp genome of C. falcatum, whereas trnP-GGG and rpl21 were lacking. Moreover, cp genomes of Cyrtomium devexiscapulae and Adiantum capillus-veneris lack trnP-GGG and rpl21, suggesting these are not conserved among angiosperm cp genomes. The deletion of trnR-UCG, trnR-CCG, and trnSeC in the cp genomes of C. falcatum and other eupolypod ferns indicates these genes are restricted to tree ferns, non-core leptosporangiates, and basal ferns. The C. falcatum cp genome also encoded ndhF and rps7, with GUG start codons that were only conserved in polypod ferns, and it shares two significant inversions with other ferns, including a minor inversion of the trnD-GUC region and an approximate 3 kb inversion of the trnG-trnT region. Phylogenetic analyses showed that Equisetum was found to be a sister clade to Psilotales-Ophioglossales with a 100% bootstrap (BS value. The sister relationship between Pteridaceae and eupolypods was also strongly supported by a 100% BS, but Bayesian molecular clock analyses suggested that C. falcatum diversified in the mid-Paleogene period (45.15 ± 4.93 million years ago and might have moved from Eurasia to Dokdo Island.

  11. REGEN: Ancestral Genome Reconstruction for Bacteria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João C. Setubal

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Ancestral genome reconstruction can be understood as a phylogenetic study with more details than a traditional phylogenetic tree reconstruction. We present a new computational system called REGEN for ancestral bacterial genome reconstruction at both the gene and replicon levels. REGEN reconstructs gene content, contiguous gene runs, and replicon structure for each ancestral genome. Along each branch of the phylogenetic tree, REGEN infers evolutionary events, including gene creation and deletion and replicon fission and fusion. The reconstruction can be performed by either a maximum parsimony or a maximum likelihood method. Gene content reconstruction is based on the concept of neighboring gene pairs. REGEN was designed to be used with any set of genomes that are sufficiently related, which will usually be the case for bacteria within the same taxonomic order. We evaluated REGEN using simulated genomes and genomes in the Rhizobiales order.

  12. Genome analysis coupled with physiological studies reveals a diverse nitrogen metabolism in Methylocystis sp. strain SC2.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bomba Dam

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Methylocystis sp. strain SC2 can adapt to a wide range of methane concentrations. This is due to the presence of two isozymes of particulate methane monooxygenase exhibiting different methane oxidation kinetics. To gain insight into the underlying genetic information, its genome was sequenced and found to comprise a 3.77 Mb chromosome and two large plasmids. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report important features of the strain SC2 genome. Its sequence is compared with those of seven other methanotroph genomes, comprising members of the Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia. While the pan-genome of all eight methanotroph genomes totals 19,358 CDS, only 154 CDS are shared. The number of core genes increased with phylogenetic relatedness: 328 CDS for proteobacterial methanotrophs and 1,853 CDS for the three alphaproteobacterial Methylocystaceae members, Methylocystis sp. strain SC2 and strain Rockwell, and Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b. The comparative study was coupled with physiological experiments to verify that strain SC2 has diverse nitrogen metabolism capabilities. In correspondence to a full complement of 34 genes involved in N2 fixation, strain SC2 was found to grow with atmospheric N2 as the sole nitrogen source, preferably at low oxygen concentrations. Denitrification-mediated accumulation of 0.7 nmol (30N2/hr/mg dry weight of cells under anoxic conditions was detected by tracer analysis. N2 production is related to the activities of plasmid-borne nitric oxide and nitrous oxide reductases. CONCLUSIONS/PERSPECTIVES: Presence of a complete denitrification pathway in strain SC2, including the plasmid-encoded nosRZDFYX operon, is unique among known methanotrophs. However, the exact ecophysiological role of this pathway still needs to be elucidated. Detoxification of toxic nitrogen compounds and energy conservation under oxygen-limiting conditions are among the possible roles. Relevant features that may stimulate

  13. Phylogenetic and ecological analyses of soil and sporocarp DNA sequences reveal high diversity and strong habitat partitioning in the boreal ectomycorrhizal genus Russula (Russulales; Basidiomycota)

    Science.gov (United States)

    József Geml; Gary A. Laursen; Ian C. Herriott; Jack M. McFarland; Michael G. Booth; Niall Lennon; H. Chad Nusbaum; D. Lee Taylor

    2010-01-01

    Although critical for the functioning of ecosystems, fungi are poorly known in high-latitude regions. Here, we provide the first genetic diversity assessment of one of the most diverse and abundant ectomycorrhizal genera in Alaska: Russula. We analyzed internal transcribed spacer rDNA sequences from sporocarps and soil samples using phylogenetic...

  14. Untangling nucleotide diversity and evolution of the H genome in polyploid Hordeum and Elymus species based on the single copy of nuclear gene DMC1.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dongfa Sun

    Full Text Available Numerous hybrid and polypoid species are found within the Triticeae. It has been suggested that the H subgenome of allopolyploid Elymus (wheatgrass species originated from diploid Hordeum (barley species, but the role of hybridization between polyploid Elymus and Hordeum has not been studied. It is not clear whether gene flow across polyploid Hordeum and Elymus species has occurred following polyploid speciation. Answering these questions will provide new insights into the formation of these polyploid species, and the potential role of gene flow among polyploid species during polyploid evolution. In order to address these questions, disrupted meiotic cDNA1 (DMC1 data from the allopolyploid StH Elymus are analyzed together with diploid and polyploid Hordeum species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the H copies of DMC1 sequence in some Elymus are very close to the H copies of DMC1 sequence in some polyploid Hordeum species, indicating either that the H genome in theses Elymus and polyploid Hordeum species originated from same diploid donor or that gene flow has occurred among them. Our analysis also suggested that the H genomes in Elymus species originated from limited gene pool, while H genomes in Hordeum polyploids have originated from broad gene pools. Nucleotide diversity (π of the DMC1 sequences on H genome from polyploid species (π = 0.02083 in Elymus, π = 0.01680 in polyploid Hordeum is higher than that in diploid Hordeum (π = 0.01488. The estimates of Tajima's D were significantly departure from the equilibrium neutral model at this locus in diploid Hordeum species (P<0.05, suggesting an excess of rare variants in diploid species which may not contribute to the origination of polyploids. Nucleotide diversity (π of the DMC1 sequences in Elymus polyploid species (π = 0.02083 is higher than that in polyploid Hordeum (π = 0.01680, suggesting that the degree of relationships between two parents of a polyploid might be a factor

  15. Phylogenetic relationships within and among Brassica species from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Consequently, two potentially susceptible B. napus accessions were identified. The high polymorphic information content (PIC) and number of phylogenetically informative bands established RAPD as a useful tool for phylogenetic reconstruction, quantification of genetic diversity for conservation, cultivar classification and ...

  16. Molecular Phylogenetics: Mathematical Framework and Unsolved Problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xia, Xuhua

    Phylogenetic relationship is essential in dating evolutionary events, reconstructing ancestral genes, predicting sites that are important to natural selection, and, ultimately, understanding genomic evolution. Three categories of phylogenetic methods are currently used: the distance-based, the maximum parsimony, and the maximum likelihood method. Here, I present the mathematical framework of these methods and their rationales, provide computational details for each of them, illustrate analytically and numerically the potential biases inherent in these methods, and outline computational challenges and unresolved problems. This is followed by a brief discussion of the Bayesian approach that has been recently used in molecular phylogenetics.

  17. PhyTB: Phylogenetic tree visualisation and sample positioning for M. tuberculosis

    KAUST Repository

    Benavente, Ernest D; Coll, Francesc; Furnham, Nick; McNerney, Ruth; Glynn, Judith R; Campino, Susana; Pain, Arnab; Mohareb, Fady R; Clark, Taane G

    2015-01-01

    Phylogenetic-based classification of M. tuberculosis and other bacterial genomes is a core analysis for studying evolutionary hypotheses, disease outbreaks and transmission events. Whole genome sequencing is providing new insights

  18. A guide to phylogenetic metrics for conservation, community ecology and macroecology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadotte, Marc W.; Carvalho, Silvia B.; Davies, T. Jonathan; Ferrier, Simon; Fritz, Susanne A.; Grenyer, Rich; Helmus, Matthew R.; Jin, Lanna S.; Mooers, Arne O.; Pavoine, Sandrine; Purschke, Oliver; Redding, David W.; Rosauer, Dan F.; Winter, Marten; Mazel, Florent

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRACT The use of phylogenies in ecology is increasingly common and has broadened our understanding of biological diversity. Ecological sub‐disciplines, particularly conservation, community ecology and macroecology, all recognize the value of evolutionary relationships but the resulting development of phylogenetic approaches has led to a proliferation of phylogenetic diversity metrics. The use of many metrics across the sub‐disciplines hampers potential meta‐analyses, syntheses, and generalizations of existing results. Further, there is no guide for selecting the appropriate metric for a given question, and different metrics are frequently used to address similar questions. To improve the choice, application, and interpretation of phylo‐diversity metrics, we organize existing metrics by expanding on a unifying framework for phylogenetic information. Generally, questions about phylogenetic relationships within or between assemblages tend to ask three types of question: how much; how different; or how regular? We show that these questions reflect three dimensions of a phylogenetic tree: richness, divergence, and regularity. We classify 70 existing phylo‐diversity metrics based on their mathematical form within these three dimensions and identify ‘anchor’ representatives: for α‐diversity metrics these are PD (Faith's phylogenetic diversity), MPD (mean pairwise distance), and VPD (variation of pairwise distances). By analysing mathematical formulae and using simulations, we use this framework to identify metrics that mix dimensions, and we provide a guide to choosing and using the most appropriate metrics. We show that metric choice requires connecting the research question with the correct dimension of the framework and that there are logical approaches to selecting and interpreting metrics. The guide outlined herein will help researchers navigate the current jungle of indices. PMID:26785932

  19. High frequency of phylogenetically diverse reductive dehalogenase-homologous genes in deep subseafloor sedimentary metagenomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mikihiko eKawai

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Marine subsurface sediments on the Pacific margin harbor diverse microbial communities even at depths of several hundreds meters below the seafloor (mbsf or more. Previous PCR-based molecular analysis showed the presence of diverse reductive dehalogenase gene (rdhA homologs in marine subsurface sediment, suggesting that anaerobic respiration of organohalides is one of the possible energy-yielding pathways in the organic-rich sedimentary habitat. However, primer-independent molecular characterization of rdhA has remained to be demonstrated. Here, we studied the diversity and frequency of rdhA homologs by metagenomic analysis of five different depth horizons (0.8, 5.1, 18.6, 48.5 and 107.0 mbsf at Site C9001 off the Shimokita Peninsula of Japan. From all metagenomic pools, remarkably diverse rdhA-homologous sequences, some of which are affiliated with novel clusters, were observed with high frequency. As a comparison, we also examined frequency of dissimilatory sulfite reductase genes (dsrAB, key functional genes for microbial sulfate reduction. The dsrAB were also widely observed in the metagenomic pools whereas the frequency of dsrAB genes was generally smaller than that of rdhA-homologous genes. The phylogenetic composition of rdhA-homologous genes was similar among the five depth horizons. Our metagenomic data revealed that subseafloor rdhA homologs are more diverse than previously identified from PCR-based molecular studies. Spatial distribution of similar rdhA homologs across wide depositional ages indicates that the heterotrophic metabolic processes mediated by the genes can be ecologically important, functioning in the organic-rich subseafloor sedimentary biosphere.

  20. Phylogenetic and chemical diversity of MAR4 streptomycete lineage

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marisa Paulino

    2014-06-01

    To date, phylogenetic characterization of 6 representative isolates, based on partial sequence of gene encoding 16S rRNA, confirm that these strains belong to the specie Streptomyces aculeolatus. Figure 2. Neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree created from 6 partial 16S rRNA gene sequence from Streptomyces aculeolatus strains cultured from Madeira Archipelago, based on 1000 bootstrap replicates. BLAST matches (deposited in GenBank are included with species and strain name followed by accession number. Verrucosispora maris and Micromonospora aurantiaca were used as outgroups.

  1. Vast diversity of prokaryotic virus genomes encoding double jelly-roll major capsid proteins uncovered by genomic and metagenomic sequence analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yutin, Natalya; Bäckström, Disa; Ettema, Thijs J G; Krupovic, Mart; Koonin, Eugene V

    2018-04-10

    Analysis of metagenomic sequences has become the principal approach for the study of the diversity of viruses. Many recent, extensive metagenomic studies on several classes of viruses have dramatically expanded the visible part of the virosphere, showing that previously undetected viruses, or those that have been considered rare, actually are important components of the global virome. We investigated the provenance of viruses related to tail-less bacteriophages of the family Tectiviridae by searching genomic and metagenomics sequence databases for distant homologs of the tectivirus-like Double Jelly-Roll major capsid proteins (DJR MCP). These searches resulted in the identification of numerous genomes of virus-like elements that are similar in size to tectiviruses (10-15 kilobases) and have diverse gene compositions. By comparison of the gene repertoires, the DJR MCP-encoding genomes were classified into 6 distinct groups that can be predicted to differ in reproduction strategies and host ranges. Only the DJR MCP gene that is present by design is shared by all these genomes, and most also encode a predicted DNA-packaging ATPase; the rest of the genes are present only in subgroups of this unexpectedly diverse collection of DJR MCP-encoding genomes. Only a minority encode a DNA polymerase which is a hallmark of the family Tectiviridae and the putative family "Autolykiviridae". Notably, one of the identified putative DJR MCP viruses encodes a homolog of Cas1 endonuclease, the integrase involved in CRISPR-Cas adaptation and integration of transposon-like elements called casposons. This is the first detected occurrence of Cas1 in a virus. Many of the identified elements are individual contigs flanked by inverted or direct repeats and appear to represent complete, extrachromosomal viral genomes, whereas others are flanked by bacterial genes and thus can be considered as proviruses. These contigs come from metagenomes of widely different environments, some dominated by

  2. Phylogenetic Variants of Rickettsia africae, and Incidental Identification of "Candidatus Rickettsia Moyalensis" in Kenya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimita, Gathii; Mutai, Beth; Nyanjom, Steven Ger; Wamunyokoli, Fred; Waitumbi, John

    2016-07-01

    Rickettsia africae, the etiological agent of African tick bite fever, is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. Contrary to reports of its homogeneity, a localized study in Asembo, Kenya recently reported high genetic diversity. The present study aims to elucidate the extent of this heterogeneity by examining archived Rickettsia africae DNA samples collected from different eco-regions of Kenya. To evaluate their phylogenetic relationships, archived genomic DNA obtained from 57 ticks a priori identified to contain R. africae by comparison to ompA, ompB and gltA genes was used to amplify five rickettsial genes i.e. gltA, ompA, ompB, 17kDa and sca4. The resulting amplicons were sequenced. Translated amino acid alignments were used to guide the nucleotide alignments. Single gene and concatenated alignments were used to infer phylogenetic relationships. Out of the 57 DNA samples, three were determined to be R. aeschlimanii and not R. africae. One sample turned out to be a novel rickettsiae and an interim name of "Candidatus Rickettsia moyalensis" is proposed. The bonafide R. africae formed two distinct clades. Clade I contained 9% of the samples and branched with the validated R. africae str ESF-5, while clade II (two samples) formed a distinct sub-lineage. This data supports the use of multiple genes for phylogenetic inferences. It is determined that, despite its recent emergence, the R. africae lineage is diverse. This data also provides evidence of a novel Rickettsia species, Candidatus Rickettsia moyalensis.

  3. The Complete Chloroplast Genome of Wild Rice (Oryza minuta) and Its Comparison to Related Species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asaf, Sajjad; Waqas, Muhammad; Khan, Abdul L; Khan, Muhammad A; Kang, Sang-Mo; Imran, Qari M; Shahzad, Raheem; Bilal, Saqib; Yun, Byung-Wook; Lee, In-Jung

    2017-01-01

    Oryza minuta , a tetraploid wild relative of cultivated rice (family Poaceae), possesses a BBCC genome and contains genes that confer resistance to bacterial blight (BB) and white-backed (WBPH) and brown (BPH) plant hoppers. Based on the importance of this wild species, this study aimed to understand the phylogenetic relationships of O. minuta with other Oryza species through an in-depth analysis of the composition and diversity of the chloroplast (cp) genome. The analysis revealed a cp genome size of 135,094 bp with a typical quadripartite structure and consisting of a pair of inverted repeats separated by small and large single copies, 139 representative genes, and 419 randomly distributed microsatellites. The genomic organization, gene order, GC content and codon usage are similar to those of typical angiosperm cp genomes. Approximately 30 forward, 28 tandem and 20 palindromic repeats were detected in the O . minuta cp genome. Comparison of the complete O. minuta cp genome with another eleven Oryza species showed a high degree of sequence similarity and relatively high divergence of intergenic spacers. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted based on the complete genome sequence, 65 shared genes and matK gene showed same topologies and O. minuta forms a single clade with parental O. punctata . Thus, the complete O . minuta cp genome provides interesting insights and valuable information that can be used to identify related species and reconstruct its phylogeny.

  4. Genetics, Genomics and Evolution of Ergot Alkaloid Diversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolyn A. Young

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The ergot alkaloid biosynthesis system has become an excellent model to study evolutionary diversification of specialized (secondary metabolites. This is a very diverse class of alkaloids with various neurotropic activities, produced by fungi in several orders of the phylum Ascomycota, including plant pathogens and protective plant symbionts in the family Clavicipitaceae. Results of comparative genomics and phylogenomic analyses reveal multiple examples of three evolutionary processes that have generated ergot-alkaloid diversity: gene gains, gene losses, and gene sequence changes that have led to altered substrates or product specificities of the enzymes that they encode (neofunctionalization. The chromosome ends appear to be particularly effective engines for gene gains, losses and rearrangements, but not necessarily for neofunctionalization. Changes in gene expression could lead to accumulation of various pathway intermediates and affect levels of different ergot alkaloids. Genetic alterations associated with interspecific hybrids of Epichloë species suggest that such variation is also selectively favored. The huge structural diversity of ergot alkaloids probably represents adaptations to a wide variety of ecological situations by affecting the biological spectra and mechanisms of defense against herbivores, as evidenced by the diverse pharmacological effects of ergot alkaloids used in medicine.

  5. Increased phylogenetic resolution using target enrichment in Rubus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phylogenetic analyses in Rubus L. have been challenging due to polyploidy, hybridization, and apomixis within the genus. Wide morphological diversity occurs within and between species, contributing to challenges at lower and higher systematic levels. Phylogenetic inferences to date have been based o...

  6. treespace: Statistical exploration of landscapes of phylogenetic trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jombart, Thibaut; Kendall, Michelle; Almagro-Garcia, Jacob; Colijn, Caroline

    2017-11-01

    The increasing availability of large genomic data sets as well as the advent of Bayesian phylogenetics facilitates the investigation of phylogenetic incongruence, which can result in the impossibility of representing phylogenetic relationships using a single tree. While sometimes considered as a nuisance, phylogenetic incongruence can also reflect meaningful biological processes as well as relevant statistical uncertainty, both of which can yield valuable insights in evolutionary studies. We introduce a new tool for investigating phylogenetic incongruence through the exploration of phylogenetic tree landscapes. Our approach, implemented in the R package treespace, combines tree metrics and multivariate analysis to provide low-dimensional representations of the topological variability in a set of trees, which can be used for identifying clusters of similar trees and group-specific consensus phylogenies. treespace also provides a user-friendly web interface for interactive data analysis and is integrated alongside existing standards for phylogenetics. It fills a gap in the current phylogenetics toolbox in R and will facilitate the investigation of phylogenetic results. © 2017 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Resources Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Brucella spp. of amphibians comprise genomically diverse motile strains competent for replication in macrophages and survival in mammalian hosts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al Dahouk, Sascha; Köhler, Stephan; Occhialini, Alessandra; Jiménez de Bagüés, María Pilar; Hammerl, Jens Andre; Eisenberg, Tobias; Vergnaud, Gilles; Cloeckaert, Axel; Zygmunt, Michel S.; Whatmore, Adrian M.; Melzer, Falk; Drees, Kevin P.; Foster, Jeffrey T.; Wattam, Alice R.; Scholz, Holger C.

    2017-01-01

    Twenty-one small Gram-negative motile coccobacilli were isolated from 15 systemically diseased African bullfrogs (Pyxicephalus edulis), and were initially identified as Ochrobactrum anthropi by standard microbiological identification systems. Phylogenetic reconstructions using combined molecular analyses and comparative whole genome analysis of the most diverse of the bullfrog strains verified affiliation with the genus Brucella and placed the isolates in a cluster containing B. inopinata and the other non-classical Brucella species but also revealed significant genetic differences within the group. Four representative but molecularly and phenotypically diverse strains were used for in vitro and in vivo infection experiments. All readily multiplied in macrophage-like murine J774-cells, and their overall intramacrophagic growth rate was comparable to that of B. inopinata BO1 and slightly higher than that of B. microti CCM 4915. In the BALB/c murine model of infection these strains replicated in both spleen and liver, but were less efficient than B. suis 1330. Some strains survived in the mammalian host for up to 12 weeks. The heterogeneity of these novel strains hampers a single species description but their phenotypic and genetic features suggest that they represent an evolutionary link between a soil-associated ancestor and the mammalian host-adapted pathogenic Brucella species. PMID:28300153

  8. Comparative genomics reveals diversity among xanthomonads infecting tomato and pepper

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Potnis, Neha

    2011-03-11

    Abstract Background Bacterial spot of tomato and pepper is caused by four Xanthomonas species and is a major plant disease in warm humid climates. The four species are distinct from each other based on physiological and molecular characteristics. The genome sequence of strain 85-10, a member of one of the species, Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (Xcv) has been previously reported. To determine the relationship of the four species at the genome level and to investigate the molecular basis of their virulence and differing host ranges, draft genomic sequences of members of the other three species were determined and compared to strain 85-10. Results We sequenced the genomes of X. vesicatoria (Xv) strain 1111 (ATCC 35937), X. perforans (Xp) strain 91-118 and X. gardneri (Xg) strain 101 (ATCC 19865). The genomes were compared with each other and with the previously sequenced Xcv strain 85-10. In addition, the molecular features were predicted that may be required for pathogenicity including the type III secretion apparatus, type III effectors, other secretion systems, quorum sensing systems, adhesins, extracellular polysaccharide, and lipopolysaccharide determinants. Several novel type III effectors from Xg strain 101 and Xv strain 1111 genomes were computationally identified and their translocation was validated using a reporter gene assay. A homolog to Ax21, the elicitor of XA21-mediated resistance in rice, and a functional Ax21 sulfation system were identified in Xcv. Genes encoding proteins with functions mediated by type II and type IV secretion systems have also been compared, including enzymes involved in cell wall deconstruction, as contributors to pathogenicity. Conclusions Comparative genomic analyses revealed considerable diversity among bacterial spot pathogens, providing new insights into differences and similarities that may explain the diverse nature of these strains. Genes specific to pepper pathogens, such as the O-antigen of the lipopolysaccharide cluster

  9. The Small Nuclear Genomes of Selaginella Are Associated with a Low Rate of Genome Size Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baniaga, Anthony E; Arrigo, Nils; Barker, Michael S

    2016-06-03

    The haploid nuclear genome size (1C DNA) of vascular land plants varies over several orders of magnitude. Much of this observed diversity in genome size is due to the proliferation and deletion of transposable elements. To date, all vascular land plant lineages with extremely small nuclear genomes represent recently derived states, having ancestors with much larger genome sizes. The Selaginellaceae represent an ancient lineage with extremely small genomes. It is unclear how small nuclear genomes evolved in Selaginella We compared the rates of nuclear genome size evolution in Selaginella and major vascular plant clades in a comparative phylogenetic framework. For the analyses, we collected 29 new flow cytometry estimates of haploid genome size in Selaginella to augment publicly available data. Selaginella possess some of the smallest known haploid nuclear genome sizes, as well as the lowest rate of genome size evolution observed across all vascular land plants included in our analyses. Additionally, our analyses provide strong support for a history of haploid nuclear genome size stasis in Selaginella Our results indicate that Selaginella, similar to other early diverging lineages of vascular land plants, has relatively low rates of genome size evolution. Further, our analyses highlight that a rapid transition to a small genome size is only one route to an extremely small genome. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

  10. Morphological characterization and phylogenetic distance among ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The genetic diversity was calculated with Nei and Li's index, and the phylogenetic tree (dendrogram) was generated with a neighbor-joining program. The dendrogram indicates the diversity of the genotypes, which are grouped into three distinctive large groups. The largest group includes species from the Mediolobivia and ...

  11. Complete mitochondrial genome of Porzana fusca and Porzana pusilla and phylogenetic relationship of 16 Rallidae species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Peng; Han, Yuqing; Zhu, Chaoying; Gao, Bin; Ruan, Luzhang

    2017-12-01

    The complete mitochondrial genome sequences of Porzana fusca and Porzana pusilla were determined. The two avian species share a high degree of homology in terms of mitochondrial genome organization and gene arrangement. Their corresponding mitochondrial genomes are 16,935 and 16,978 bp and consist of 37 genes and a control region. Their PCGs were both 11,365 bp long and have similar structure. Their tRNA gene sequences could be folded into canonical cloverleaf secondary structure, except for tRNA Ser (AGY) , which lost its "DHU" arm. Based on the concatenated nucleotide sequences of the complete mitochondrial DNA genes of 16 Rallidae species, reconstruction of phylogenetic trees and analysis of the molecular clock of P. fusca and P. pusilla indicated that these species from a sister group, which in turn are sister group to Rallina eurizonoides. The genus Gallirallus is a sister group to genus Lewinia, and these groups in turn are sister groups to genus Porphyrio. Moreover, molecular clock analyses suggested that the basal divergence of Rallidae could be traced back to 40.47 (41.46‒39.45) million years ago (Mya), and the divergence of Porzana occurred approximately 5.80 (15.16‒0.79) Mya.

  12. Evaluation of phylogenetic reconstruction methods using bacterial whole genomes: a simulation based study [version 1; referees: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John A. Lees

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Phylogenetic reconstruction is a necessary first step in many analyses which use whole genome sequence data from bacterial populations. There are many available methods to infer phylogenies, and these have various advantages and disadvantages, but few unbiased comparisons of the range of approaches have been made. Methods: We simulated data from a defined “true tree” using a realistic evolutionary model. We built phylogenies from this data using a range of methods, and compared reconstructed trees to the true tree using two measures, noting the computational time needed for different phylogenetic reconstructions. We also used real data from Streptococcus pneumoniae alignments to compare individual core gene trees to a core genome tree. Results: We found that, as expected, maximum likelihood trees from good quality alignments were the most accurate, but also the most computationally intensive. Using less accurate phylogenetic reconstruction methods, we were able to obtain results of comparable accuracy; we found that approximate results can rapidly be obtained using genetic distance based methods. In real data we found that highly conserved core genes, such as those involved in translation, gave an inaccurate tree topology, whereas genes involved in recombination events gave inaccurate branch lengths. We also show a tree-of-trees, relating the results of different phylogenetic reconstructions to each other. Conclusions: We recommend three approaches, depending on requirements for accuracy and computational time. Quicker approaches that do not perform full maximum likelihood optimisation may be useful for many analyses requiring a phylogeny, as generating a high quality input alignment is likely to be the major limiting factor of accurate tree topology. We have publicly released our simulated data and code to enable further comparisons.

  13. Comparative genome analysis of Pseudogymnoascus spp. reveals primarily clonal evolution with small genome fragments exchanged between lineages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leushkin, Evgeny V; Logacheva, Maria D; Penin, Aleksey A; Sutormin, Roman A; Gerasimov, Evgeny S; Kochkina, Galina A; Ivanushkina, Natalia E; Vasilenko, Oleg V; Kondrashov, Alexey S; Ozerskaya, Svetlana M

    2015-05-21

    Pseudogymnoascus spp. is a wide group of fungi lineages in the family Pseudorotiaceae including an aggressive pathogen of bats P. destructans. Although several lineages of P. spp. were shown to produce ascospores in culture, the vast majority of P. spp. demonstrates no evidence of sexual reproduction. P. spp. can tolerate a wide range of different temperatures and salinities and can survive even in permafrost layer. Adaptability of P. spp. to different environments is accompanied by extremely variable morphology and physiology. We sequenced genotypes of 14 strains of P. spp., 5 of which were extracted from permafrost, 1 from a cryopeg, a layer of unfrozen ground in permafrost, and 8 from temperate surface environments. All sequenced genotypes are haploid. Nucleotide diversity among these genomes is very high, with a typical evolutionary distance at synonymous sites dS ≈ 0.5, suggesting that the last common ancestor of these strains lived >50 Mya. The strains extracted from permafrost do not form a separate clade. Instead, each permafrost strain has close relatives from temperate environments. We observed a strictly clonal population structure with no conflicting topologies for ~99% of genome sequences. However, there is a number of short (~100-10,000 nt) genomic segments with the total length of 67.6 Kb which possess phylogenetic patterns strikingly different from the rest of the genome. The most remarkable case is a MAT-locus, which has 2 distinct alleles interspersed along the whole-genome phylogenetic tree. Predominantly clonal structure of genome sequences is consistent with the observations that sexual reproduction is rare in P. spp. Small number of regions with noncanonical phylogenies seem to arise due to some recombination events between derived lineages of P. spp., with MAT-locus being transferred on multiple occasions. All sequenced strains have heterothallic configuration of MAT-locus.

  14. Genome sequence analysis of five Canadian isolates of strawberry mottle virus reveals extensive intra-species diversity and a longer RNA2 with increased coding capacity compared to a previously characterized European isolate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhagwat, Basdeo; Dickison, Virginia; Ding, Xinlun; Walker, Melanie; Bernardy, Michael; Bouthillier, Michel; Creelman, Alexa; DeYoung, Robyn; Li, Yinzi; Nie, Xianzhou; Wang, Aiming; Xiang, Yu; Sanfaçon, Hélène

    2016-06-01

    In this study, we report the genome sequence of five isolates of strawberry mottle virus (family Secoviridae, order Picornavirales) from strawberry field samples with decline symptoms collected in Eastern Canada. The Canadian isolates differed from the previously characterized European isolate 1134 in that they had a longer RNA2, resulting in a 239-amino-acid extension of the C-terminal region of the polyprotein. Sequence analysis suggests that reassortment and recombination occurred among the isolates. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Canadian isolates are diverse, grouping in two separate branches along with isolates from Europe and the Americas.

  15. Genetic diversity analysis of two commercial breeds of pigs using genomic and pedigree data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zanella, Ricardo; Peixoto, Jane O; Cardoso, Fernando F; Cardoso, Leandro L; Biegelmeyer, Patrícia; Cantão, Maurício E; Otaviano, Antonio; Freitas, Marcelo S; Caetano, Alexandre R; Ledur, Mônica C

    2016-03-30

    Genetic improvement in livestock populations can be achieved without significantly affecting genetic diversity if mating systems and selection decisions take genetic relationships among individuals into consideration. The objective of this study was to examine the genetic diversity of two commercial breeds of pigs. Genotypes from 1168 Landrace (LA) and 1094 Large White (LW) animals from a commercial breeding program in Brazil were obtained using the Illumina PorcineSNP60 Beadchip. Inbreeding estimates based on pedigree (F x) and genomic information using runs of homozygosity (F ROH) and the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) by SNP inbreeding coefficient (F SNP) were obtained. Linkage disequilibrium (LD), correlation of linkage phase (r) and effective population size (N e ) were also estimated. Estimates of inbreeding obtained with pedigree information were lower than those obtained with genomic data in both breeds. We observed that the extent of LD was slightly larger at shorter distances between SNPs in the LW population than in the LA population, which indicates that the LW population was derived from a smaller N e . Estimates of N e based on genomic data were equal to 53 and 40 for the current populations of LA and LW, respectively. The correlation of linkage phase between the two breeds was equal to 0.77 at distances up to 50 kb, which suggests that genome-wide association and selection should be performed within breed. Although selection intensities have been stronger in the LA breed than in the LW breed, levels of genomic and pedigree inbreeding were lower for the LA than for the LW breed. The use of genomic data to evaluate population diversity in livestock animals can provide new and more precise insights about the effects of intense selection for production traits. Resulting information and knowledge can be used to effectively increase response to selection by appropriately managing the rate of inbreeding, minimizing negative effects of inbreeding

  16. Plant Biodiversity Drivers in Brazilian Campos Rupestres: Insights from Phylogenetic Structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zappi, Daniela C; Moro, Marcelo F; Meagher, Thomas R; Nic Lughadha, Eimear

    2017-01-01

    Old, climate-buffered infertile landscapes (Ocbils) have attracted increasing levels of interest in recent years because of their exceptionally diverse plant communities. Brazil's campos rupestres (rupestrian grasslands) are home to almost 15% of Brazil's native flora in less than 0.8% of Brazil's territory: an ideal study system for exploring variation in floristic diversity and phylogenetic structure in sites differing in geology and phytophysiognomy. We found significant differences in floristic diversity and phylogenetic structure across a range of study sites encompassing open vegetation and forest on quartzite (FQ) and on ironstone substrates, commonly termed canga . Substrate and physiognomy were key in structuring floristic diversity in the Espinhaço and physiognomy was more important than substrate in structuring phylogenetic diversity, with neither substrate nor its interaction with physiognomy accounting for significant variation in phylogenetic structure. Phylogenetic clustering was significant in open vegetation on both canga and quartzite, reflecting the potential role of environmental filtering in these exposed montane communities adapted to multiple environmental stressors. In forest communities, phylogenetic clustering was significant only at relatively deep nodes of the phylogeny in FQ while no significant phylogenetic clustering was detected across forest on canga (FC), which may be attributable to proximity to the megadiverse Atlantic forest biome and/or comparatively benign environmental conditions in FC with relatively deep, nutrient-rich soils and access to edaphic water reliable in comparison to those for open vegetation on canga and open or forest communities on quartzite. Clades representing relatively old lineages are significantly over-represented in campos rupestres on quartzite, consistent with the Gondwanan Heritage Hypothesis of Ocbil theory. In contrast, forested sites on canga are recognized as Yodfels. To be effective

  17. Plant Biodiversity Drivers in Brazilian Campos Rupestres: Insights from Phylogenetic Structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela C. Zappi

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Old, climate-buffered infertile landscapes (Ocbils have attracted increasing levels of interest in recent years because of their exceptionally diverse plant communities. Brazil’s campos rupestres (rupestrian grasslands are home to almost 15% of Brazil’s native flora in less than 0.8% of Brazil’s territory: an ideal study system for exploring variation in floristic diversity and phylogenetic structure in sites differing in geology and phytophysiognomy. We found significant differences in floristic diversity and phylogenetic structure across a range of study sites encompassing open vegetation and forest on quartzite (FQ and on ironstone substrates, commonly termed canga. Substrate and physiognomy were key in structuring floristic diversity in the Espinhaço and physiognomy was more important than substrate in structuring phylogenetic diversity, with neither substrate nor its interaction with physiognomy accounting for significant variation in phylogenetic structure. Phylogenetic clustering was significant in open vegetation on both canga and quartzite, reflecting the potential role of environmental filtering in these exposed montane communities adapted to multiple environmental stressors. In forest communities, phylogenetic clustering was significant only at relatively deep nodes of the phylogeny in FQ while no significant phylogenetic clustering was detected across forest on canga (FC, which may be attributable to proximity to the megadiverse Atlantic forest biome and/or comparatively benign environmental conditions in FC with relatively deep, nutrient-rich soils and access to edaphic water reliable in comparison to those for open vegetation on canga and open or forest communities on quartzite. Clades representing relatively old lineages are significantly over-represented in campos rupestres on quartzite, consistent with the Gondwanan Heritage Hypothesis of Ocbil theory. In contrast, forested sites on canga are recognized as Yodfels. To be

  18. Characterizing neutral genomic diversity and selection signatures in indigenous populations of Moroccan goats (Capra hircus using WGS data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Badr eBenjelloun

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Since the time of their domestication, goats (Capra hircus have evolved in a large variety of locally adapted populations in response to different human and environmental pressures. In the present era, many indigenous populations are threatened with extinction due to their substitution by cosmopolitan breeds, while they might represent highly valuable genomic resources. It is thus crucial to characterize the neutral and adaptive genetic diversity of indigenous populations. A fine characterization of whole genome variation in farm animals is now possible by using new sequencing technologies. We sequenced the complete genome at 12X coverage of 44 goats geographically representative of the three phenotypically distinct indigenous populations in Morocco. The study of mitochondrial genomes showed a high diversity exclusively restricted to the haplogroup A. The 44 nuclear genomes showed a very high diversity (24 million variants associated with low linkage disequilibrium. The overall genetic diversity was weakly structured according to geography and phenotypes. When looking for signals of positive selection in each population we identified many candidate genes, several of which gave insights into the metabolic pathways or biological processes involved in the adaptation to local conditions (e.g. panting in warm/desert conditions. This study highlights the interest of WGS data to characterize livestock genomic diversity. It illustrates the valuable genetic richness present in indigenous populations that have to be sustainably managed and may represent valuable genetic resources for the long-term preservation of the species.

  19. Complete mitochondrial genome and the phylogenetic position of the Blotchy swell shark Cephaloscyllium umbratile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hao; Lin, Lingling; Chen, Xiao; Ai, Weiming; Chen, Shaobo

    2016-07-01

    In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of the Blotchy swell shark Cephaloscyllium umbratile was determined. It was a circle molecular (16 698 bp), contained 37 genes with typical order to that of most other vertebrates. The nucleotide composition was 31.0% A, 24.0% C, 14.0% G, and 31.3% T. There were 26 bp short intergenic spaces located in 11 gene junctions and 28 bp overlaps located in 7 gene junctions in the whole mitogenome. Two start codons (GTG and ATG) and two stop codons (TAG and TAA/T) were used in the protein-coding genes. The phylogenetic result showed that C. umbratile was clustered with Scyliorhinus canicula and formed the Scyliorhinidae clade, which was the most basal clade within Carcharhiniformes, and Carcharhinidae is not monophyletic.

  20. The family Rhabdoviridae: mono- and bipartite negative-sense RNA viruses with diverse genome organization and common evolutionary origins

    OpenAIRE

    Dietzgen, Ralf G.; Kondo, Hideki; Goodin, Michael M.; Kurath, Gael; Vasilakis, Nikos

    2016-01-01

    The family Rhabdoviridae consists of mostly enveloped, bullet-shaped or bacilliform viruses with a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genome that infect vertebrates, invertebrates or plants. This ecological diversity is reflected by the diversity and complexity of their genomes. Five canonical structural protein genes are conserved in all rhabdoviruses, but may be overprinted, overlapped or interspersed with several novel and diverse accessory genes. This review gives an overview of the char...

  1. Complete Genome Sequence of Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus Strain Kurdistan, Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maghamnia, Hamid Reza; Hajizadeh, Mohammad; Azizi, Abdolbaset

    2018-03-01

    The complete genome sequence of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus strain Kurdistan (ZYMV-Kurdistan) infecting squash from Iran was determined from 13 overlapping fragments. Excluding the poly (A) tail, ZYMV-Kurdistan genome consisted of 9593 nucleotides (nt), with 138 and 211 nt at the 5' and 3' non-translated regions, respectively. It contained two open-reading frames (ORFs), the large ORF encoding a polyprotein of 3080 amino acids (aa) and the small overlapping ORF encoding a P3N-PIPO protein of 74 aa. This isolate had six unique aa differences compared to other ZYMV isolates and shared 79.6-98.8% identities with other ZYMV genome sequences at the nt level and 90.1-99% identities at the aa level. A phylogenetic tree of ZYMV complete genomic sequences showed that Iranian and Central European isolates are closely related and form a phylogenetically homogenous group. All values in the ratio of substitution rates at non-synonymous and synonymous sites ( d N / d S ) were below 1, suggestive of strong negative selection forces during ZYMV protein history. This is the first report of complete genome sequence information of the most prevalent virus in the west of Iran. This study helps our understanding of the genetic diversity of ZYMV isolates infecting cucurbit plants in Iran, virus evolution and epidemiology and can assist in designing better diagnostic tools.

  2. Functional Genomics and Phylogenetic Evidence Suggest Genus-Wide Cobalamin Production by the Globally Distributed Marine Nitrogen Fixer Trichodesmium.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walworth, Nathan G; Lee, Michael D; Suffridge, Christopher; Qu, Pingping; Fu, Fei-Xue; Saito, Mak A; Webb, Eric A; Sañudo-Wilhelmy, Sergio A; Hutchins, David A

    2018-01-01

    Only select prokaryotes can biosynthesize vitamin B 12 (i.e., cobalamins), but these organic co-enzymes are required by all microbial life and can be vanishingly scarce across extensive ocean biomes. Although global ocean genome data suggest cyanobacteria to be a major euphotic source of cobalamins, recent studies have highlighted that >95% of cyanobacteria can only produce a cobalamin analog, pseudo-B 12 , due to the absence of the BluB protein that synthesizes the α ligand 5,6-dimethylbenzimidizole (DMB) required to biosynthesize cobalamins. Pseudo-B 12 is substantially less bioavailable to eukaryotic algae, as only certain taxa can intracellularly remodel it to one of the cobalamins. Here we present phylogenetic, metagenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and chemical analyses providing multiple lines of evidence that the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichodesmium transcribes and translates the biosynthetic, cobalamin-requiring BluB enzyme. Phylogenetic evidence suggests that the Trichodesmium DMB biosynthesis gene, bluB , is of ancient origin, which could have aided in its ecological differentiation from other nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. Additionally, orthologue analyses reveal two genes encoding iron-dependent B 12 biosynthetic enzymes (cbiX and isiB), suggesting that iron availability may be linked not only to new nitrogen supplies from nitrogen fixation, but also to B 12 inputs by Trichodesmium . These analyses suggest that Trichodesmium contains the genus-wide genomic potential for a previously unrecognized role as a source of cobalamins, which may prove to considerably impact marine biogeochemical cycles.

  3. Complete mitochondrial genome from South American catfish Pseudoplatystoma reticulatum (Eigenmann & Eigenmann) and its impact in Siluriformes phylogenetic tree.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villela, Luciana Cristine Vasques; Alves, Anderson Luis; Varela, Eduardo Sousa; Yamagishi, Michel Eduardo Beleza; Giachetto, Poliana Fernanda; da Silva, Naiara Milagres Augusto; Ponzetto, Josi Margarete; Paiva, Samuel Rezende; Caetano, Alexandre Rodrigues

    2017-02-01

    The cachara (Pseudoplatystoma reticulatum) is a Neotropical freshwater catfish from family Pimelodidae (Siluriformes) native to Brazil. The species is of relative economic importance for local aquaculture production and basic biological information is under development to help boost efforts to domesticate and raise the species in commercial systems. The complete cachara mitochondrial genome was obtained by assembling Illumina RNA-seq data from pooled samples. The full mitogenome was found to be 16,576 bp in length, showing the same basic structure, order, and genetic organization observed in other Pimelodidae, with 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rNA genes, 22 trNAs, and a control region. Observed base composition was 24.63% T, 28.47% C, 31.45% A, and 15.44% G. With the exception of NAD6 and eight tRNAs, all of the observed mitochondrial genes were found to be coded on the H strand. A total of 107 SNPs were identified in P. reticulatum mtDNA, 67 of which were located in coding regions. Of these SNPs, 10 result in amino acid changes. Analysis of the obtained sequence with 94 publicly available full Siluriformes mitogenomes resulted in a phylogenetic tree that generally agreed with available phylogenetic proposals for the order. The first report of the complete Pseudoplatystoma reticulatum mitochondrial genome sequence revealed general gene organization, structure, content, and order similar to most vertebrates. Specific sequence and content features were observed and may have functional attributes which are now available for further investigation.

  4. Diverse Lifestyles and Strategies of Plant Pathogenesis Encoded in the Genomes of Eighteen Doethideomycetes Fungi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ohm, Robin A.; Feau, Nicolas; Henrissat, Bernard; Schoch, Conrad L.; Horwitz, Benjamin A.; Barry, Kerrie W.; Condon, Bradford J.; Copeland, Alex C.; Dhillon, Braham; Glaser, Fabien; Hesse, Cedar N.; Kosti, Idit; LaButti, Kurt; Lindquist, Erika A.; Lucas, Susan; Salamov, Asaf A.; Bradshaw, Rosie E.; Ciuffetti, Lynda; Hamelin, Richard C.; Kema, Gert H. J.; Lawrence, Christopher; Scott, James A.; Spatafora, Joseph W.; Turgeon, B. Gillian; de Wit, Pierre J. G. M.; Zhong, Shaobin; Goodwin, Stephen B.; Grigoriev, Igor V.

    2012-03-13

    The class of Dothideomycetes is one of the largest and most diverse groups of fungi. Many are plant pathogens and pose a serious threat to agricultural crops grown for biofuel, food or feed. Most Dothideomycetes have only a single host and related species can have very diverse host plants. Eighteen genomes of Dothideomycetes have currently been sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute and other sequencing centers. Here we describe the results of comparative analyses of the fungi in this group.

  5. Complete genome sequences of three tomato spotted wilt virus isolates from tomato and pepper plants in Korea and their phylogenetic relationship to other TSWV isolates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jong-Seung; Cho, Won Kyong; Kim, Mi-Kyeong; Kwak, Hae-Ryun; Choi, Hong-Soo; Kim, Kook-Hyung

    2011-04-01

    Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) infects numerous host plants and has three genome segments, called L, M and S. Here, we report the complete genome sequences of three Korean TSWV isolates (TSWV-1 to -3) infecting tomato and pepper plants. Although the nucleotide sequence of TSWV-1 genome isolated from tomato is very different from those of TSWV-2 and TSWV-3 isolated from pepper, the deduced amino acid sequences of the five TSWV genes are highly conserved among all three TSWV isolates. In phylogenetic analysis, deduced RdRp protein sequences of TSWV-2 and TSWV-3 were clustered together with two previously reported isolates from Japan and Korea, while TSWV-1 grouped together with a Hawaiian isolate. A phylogenetic tree based on N protein sequences, however, revealed four distinct groups of TSWV isolates, and all three Korean isolates belonged to group II, together with many other isolates, mostly from Europe and Asia. Interestingly, most American isolates grouped together as group I. Together, these results suggested that these newly identified TSWV isolates might have originated from an Asian ancestor and undergone divergence upon infecting different host plants.

  6. Phylogenetic impoverishment of Amazonian tree communities in an experimentally fragmented forest landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Bráulio A; Tabarelli, Marcelo; Melo, Felipe P L; Camargo, José L C; Andrade, Ana; Laurance, Susan G; Laurance, William F

    2014-01-01

    Amazonian rainforests sustain some of the richest tree communities on Earth, but their ecological and evolutionary responses to human threats remain poorly known. We used one of the largest experimental datasets currently available on tree dynamics in fragmented tropical forests and a recent phylogeny of angiosperms to test whether tree communities have lost phylogenetic diversity since their isolation about two decades previously. Our findings revealed an overall trend toward phylogenetic impoverishment across the experimentally fragmented landscape, irrespective of whether tree communities were in 1-ha, 10-ha, or 100-ha forest fragments, near forest edges, or in continuous forest. The magnitude of the phylogenetic diversity loss was low (phylogenetic diversity, we observed a significant decrease of 50% in phylogenetic dispersion since forest isolation, irrespective of plot location. Analyses based on tree genera that have significantly increased (28 genera) or declined (31 genera) in abundance and basal area in the landscape revealed that increasing genera are more phylogenetically related than decreasing ones. Also, the loss of phylogenetic diversity was greater in tree communities where increasing genera proliferated and decreasing genera reduced their importance values, suggesting that this taxonomic replacement is partially underlying the phylogenetic impoverishment at the landscape scale. This finding has clear implications for the current debate about the role human-modified landscapes play in sustaining biodiversity persistence and key ecosystem services, such as carbon storage. Although the generalization of our findings to other fragmented tropical forests is uncertain, it could negatively affect ecosystem productivity and stability and have broader impacts on coevolved organisms.

  7. Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship of Indonesian Local goats using microsatellite DNA markers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Syamsul Arifin Zein

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Genetic diversity is important information in the process of conservation and sustainable utilization of animal genetic resources. Thirteen microsatellite markers were used to estimate the degree of genetic diversity on five Indonesian local goats. Results showed the highest average allele diversity present in the locus MAF70 (5.6 ± 2.9, and the lowest was in the locus MAF035 (1.6 ± 0.6, the average number of alleles per locus was 6 ± 2.3. The lowest average alleles diversity present was in the Gembrong goat (2.2 ± 1.1 and the highest was in the Jawarandu goat (4.9 ± 2.2. There is a unique alleles at loci MCM527 and present in all Indonesian local goat with the highest allele frequency on Peranakan Etawa (37.2% and lowest in Gembrong goat (7.9%. H0 ranged from 0.372 ± 0.173 (Gembrong to 0.540 ± 0.204 (Peranakan Etawa, and HE ranging from 0.249 ± 0.196 (Gembrong to 0.540 ± 0.212 (Peranakan Etawa.The genetic differentiation for inbreeding among population (FIS, within population (FIT, and average genetic differention (FST were 0,0208 (2,08%, 0,1532 (15,32%, and 0,1352 (13,52%, respectively. Locus ILSTS029, BMS1494, MAF035 and INRA0132 had a low PIC value (PIC 0.5. Phylogenetic relationship was consistent with the history of its development based on Kacang goat except was for Gembrong Goat. This research information can be used for conservation strategies and breeding programs on each population of Indonesian local goat.

  8. Limited Genetic Diversity Preceded Extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menzies, Brandon R.; Renfree, Marilyn B.; Heider, Thomas; Mayer, Frieder; Hildebrandt, Thomas B.; Pask, Andrew J.

    2012-01-01

    The Tasmanian tiger or thylacine was the largest carnivorous marsupial when Europeans first reached Australia. Sadly, the last known thylacine died in captivity in 1936. A recent analysis of the genome of the closely related and extant Tasmanian devil demonstrated limited genetic diversity between individuals. While a similar lack of diversity has been reported for the thylacine, this analysis was based on just two individuals. Here we report the sequencing of an additional 12 museum-archived specimens collected between 102 and 159 years ago. We examined a portion of the mitochondrial DNA hyper-variable control region and determined that all sequences were on average 99.5% identical at the nucleotide level. As a measure of accuracy we also sequenced mitochondrial DNA from a mother and two offspring. As expected, these samples were found to be 100% identical, validating our methods. We also used 454 sequencing to reconstruct 2.1 kilobases of the mitochondrial genome, which shared 99.91% identity with the two complete thylacine mitochondrial genomes published previously. Our thylacine genomic data also contained three highly divergent putative nuclear mitochondrial sequences, which grouped phylogenetically with the published thylacine mitochondrial homologs but contained 100-fold more polymorphisms than the conserved fragments. Together, our data suggest that the thylacine population in Tasmania had limited genetic diversity prior to its extinction, possibly as a result of their geographic isolation from mainland Australia approximately 10,000 years ago. PMID:22530022

  9. The phylogenetic position of the roughskin skate Dipturus trachyderma (Krefft & Stehmann, 1975) (Rajiformes, Rajidae) inferred from the mitochondrial genome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vargas-Caro, Carolina; Bustamante, Carlos; Lamilla, Julio; Bennett, Michael B; Ovenden, Jennifer R

    2016-07-01

    The complete mitochondrial genome of the roughskin skate Dipturus trachyderma is described from 1 455 724 sequences obtained using Illumina NGS technology. Total length of the mitogenome was 16 909 base pairs, comprising 2 rRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNAs and 2 non-coding regions. Phylogenetic analysis based on mtDNA revealed low genetic divergence among longnose skates, in particular, those dwelling the continental shelf and slope off the coasts of Chile and Argentina.

  10. Assessment of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Korean native chicken breeds using microsatellite markers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joo Hee Seo

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Objective This study was conducted to investigate the basic information on genetic structure and characteristics of Korean Native chickens (NC and foreign breeds through the analysis of the pure chicken populations and commercial chicken lines of the Hanhyup Company which are popular in the NC market, using the 20 microsatellite markers. Methods In this study, the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of 445 NC from five different breeds (NC, Leghorn [LH], Cornish [CS], Rhode Island Red [RIR], and Hanhyup [HH] commercial line were investigated by performing genotyping using 20 microsatellite markers. Results The highest genetic distance was observed between RIR and LH (18.9%, whereas the lowest genetic distance was observed between HH and NC (2.7%. In the principal coordinates analysis (PCoA illustrated by the first component, LH was clearly separated from the other groups. The correspondence analysis showed close relationship among individuals belonging to the NC, CS, and HH lines. From the STRUCTURE program, the presence of 5 clusters was detected and it was found that the proportion of membership in the different clusters was almost comparable among the breeds with the exception of one breed (HH, although it was highest in LH (0.987 and lowest in CS (0.578. For the cluster 1 it was high in HH (0.582 and in CS (0.368, while for the cluster 4 it was relatively higher in HH (0.392 than other breeds. Conclusion Our study showed useful genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship data that can be utilized for NC breeding and development by the commercial chicken industry to meet consumer demands.

  11. Genomic and Phylogenetic Characterization of Novel, Recombinant H5N2 Avian Influenza Virus Strains Isolated from Vaccinated Chickens with Clinical Symptoms in China

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    Huaiying Xu

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Infection of poultry with diverse lineages of H5N2 avian influenza viruses has been documented for over three decades in different parts of the world, with limited outbreaks caused by this highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. In the present study, three avian H5N2 influenza viruses, A/chicken/Shijiazhuang/1209/2013, A/chicken/Chiping/0321/2014, and A/chicken/Laiwu/0313/2014, were isolated from chickens with clinical symptoms of avian influenza. Complete genomic and phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that all three isolates are novel recombinant viruses with hemagglutinin (HA and matrix (M genes derived from H5N1, and remaining genes derived from H9N2-like viruses. The HA cleavage motif in all three strains (PQIEGRRRKR/GL is characteristic of a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus strain. These results indicate the occurrence of H5N2 recombination and highlight the importance of continued surveillance of the H5N2 subtype virus and reformulation of vaccine strains.

  12. Comparative genomics reveals mobile pathogenicity chromosomes in Fusarium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ma, Li Jun; van der Does, H. C.; Borkovich, Katherine A.; Coleman, Jeffrey J.; Daboussi, Marie-Jose; Di Pietro, Antonio; Dufresne, Marie; Freitag, Michael; Grabherr, Manfred; Henrissat, Bernard; Houterman, Petra M.; Kang, Seogchan; Shim, Won-Bo; Wolochuk, Charles; Xie, Xiaohui; Xu, Jin Rong; Antoniw, John; Baker, Scott E.; Bluhm, Burton H.; Breakspear, Andrew; Brown, Daren W.; Butchko, Robert A.; Chapman, Sinead; Coulson, Richard; Coutinho, Pedro M.; Danchin, Etienne G.; Diener, Andrew; Gale, Liane R.; Gardiner, Donald; Goff, Steven; Hammond-Kossack, Kim; Hilburn, Karen; Hua-Van, Aurelie; Jonkers, Wilfried; Kazan, Kemal; Kodira, Chinnappa D.; Koehrsen, Michael; Kumar, Lokesh; Lee, Yong Hwan; Li, Liande; Manners, John M.; Miranda-Saavedra, Diego; Mukherjee, Mala; Park, Gyungsoon; Park, Jongsun; Park, Sook Young; Proctor, Robert H.; Regev, Aviv; Ruiz-Roldan, M. C.; Sain, Divya; Sakthikumar, Sharadha; Sykes, Sean; Schwartz, David C.; Turgeon, Barbara G.; Wapinski, Ilan; Yoder, Olen; Young, Sarah; Zeng, Qiandong; Zhou, Shiguo; Galagan, James; Cuomo, Christina A.; Kistler, H. Corby; Rep, Martijn

    2010-03-18

    Fusarium species are among the most important phytopathogenic and toxigenic fungi, having significant impact on crop production and animal health. Distinctively, members of the F. oxysporum species complex exhibit wide host range but discontinuously distributed host specificity, reflecting remarkable genetic adaptability. To understand the molecular underpinnings of diverse phenotypic traits and their evolution in Fusarium, we compared the genomes of three economically important and phylogenetically related, yet phenotypically diverse plant-pathogenic species, F. graminearum, F. verticillioides and F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Our analysis revealed greatly expanded lineage-specific (LS) genomic regions in F. oxysporum that include four entire chromosomes, accounting for more than one-quarter of the genome. LS regions are rich in transposons and genes with distinct evolutionary profiles but related to pathogenicity. Experimentally, we demonstrate for the first time the transfer of two LS chromosomes between strains of F. oxysporum, resulting in the conversion of a non-pathogenic strain into a pathogen. Transfer of LS chromosomes between otherwise genetically isolated strains explains the polyphyletic origin of host specificity and the emergence of new pathogenic lineages in the F. oxysporum species complex, putting the evolution of fungal pathogenicity into a new perspective.

  13. Phylogenetic analysis of New Zealand earthworms (Oligochaeta: Megascolecidae) reveals ancient clades and cryptic taxonomic diversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Thomas R; James, Sam; Allwood, Julia; Bartlam, Scott; Howitt, Robyn; Prada, Diana

    2011-01-01

    We have constructed the first ever phylogeny for the New Zealand earthworm fauna (Megascolecinae and Acanthodrilinae) including representatives from other major continental regions. Bayesian and maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed from 427 base pairs from the mitochondrial large subunit (16S) rRNA gene and 661 base pairs from the nuclear large subunit (28S) rRNA gene. Within the Acanthodrilinae we were able to identify a number of well-supported clades that were restricted to continental landmasses. Estimates of nodal support for these major clades were generally high, but relationships among clades were poorly resolved. The phylogenetic analyses revealed several independent lineages in New Zealand, some of which had a comparable phylogenetic depth to monophyletic groups sampled from Madagascar, Africa, North America and Australia. These results are consistent with at least some of these clades having inhabited New Zealand since rifting from Gondwana in the Late Cretaceous. Within the New Zealand Acanthodrilinae, major clades tended to be restricted to specific regions of New Zealand, with the central North Island and Cook Strait representing major biogeographic boundaries. Our field surveys of New Zealand and subsequent identification has also revealed extensive cryptic taxonomic diversity with approximately 48 new species sampled in addition to the 199 species recognized by previous authors. Our results indicate that further survey and taxonomic work is required to establish a foundation for future biogeographic and ecological research on this vitally important component of the New Zealand biota. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Genetic diversity and trait genomic prediction in a pea diversity panel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burstin, Judith; Salloignon, Pauline; Chabert-Martinello, Marianne; Magnin-Robert, Jean-Bernard; Siol, Mathieu; Jacquin, Françoise; Chauveau, Aurélie; Pont, Caroline; Aubert, Grégoire; Delaitre, Catherine; Truntzer, Caroline; Duc, Gérard

    2015-02-21

    Pea (Pisum sativum L.), a major pulse crop grown for its protein-rich seeds, is an important component of agroecological cropping systems in diverse regions of the world. New breeding challenges imposed by global climate change and new regulations urge pea breeders to undertake more efficient methods of selection and better take advantage of the large genetic diversity present in the Pisum sativum genepool. Diversity studies conducted so far in pea used Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) and Retrotransposon Based Insertion Polymorphism (RBIP) markers. Recently, SNP marker panels have been developed that will be useful for genetic diversity assessment and marker-assisted selection. A collection of diverse pea accessions, including landraces and cultivars of garden, field or fodder peas as well as wild peas was characterised at the molecular level using newly developed SNP markers, as well as SSR markers and RBIP markers. The three types of markers were used to describe the structure of the collection and revealed different pictures of the genetic diversity among the collection. SSR showed the fastest rate of evolution and RBIP the slowest rate of evolution, pointing to their contrasted mode of evolution. SNP markers were then used to predict phenotypes -the date of flowering (BegFlo), the number of seeds per plant (Nseed) and thousand seed weight (TSW)- that were recorded for the collection. Different statistical methods were tested including the LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage ans Selection Operator), PLS (Partial Least Squares), SPLS (Sparse Partial Least Squares), Bayes A, Bayes B and GBLUP (Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Prediction) methods and the structure of the collection was taken into account in the prediction. Despite a limited number of 331 markers used for prediction, TSW was reliably predicted. The development of marker assisted selection has not reached its full potential in pea until now. This paper shows that the high-throughput SNP arrays that are being

  15. Revisiting Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica, Causative Agent of Tularemia in Germany With Bioinformatics: New Insights in Genome Structure, DNA Methylation and Comparative Phylogenetic Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anne Busch

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Francisella (F. tularensis is a highly virulent, Gram-negative bacterial pathogen and the causative agent of the zoonotic disease tularemia. Here, we generated, analyzed and characterized a high quality circular genome sequence of the F. tularensis subsp. holarctica strain 12T0050 that caused fatal tularemia in a hare. Besides the genomic structure, we focused on the analysis of oriC, unique to the Francisella genus and regulating replication in and outside hosts and the first report on genomic DNA methylation of a Francisella strain. The high quality genome was used to establish and evaluate a diagnostic whole genome sequencing pipeline. A genotyping strategy for F. tularensis was developed using various bioinformatics tools for genotyping. Additionally, whole genome sequences of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica isolates isolated in the years 2008–2015 in Germany were generated. A phylogenetic analysis allowed to determine the genetic relatedness of these isolates and confirmed the highly conserved nature of F. tularensis subsp. holarctica.

  16. Consequences for diversity when animals are prioritized for conservation of the whole genome or of one specific allele

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelsma, K.A.; Veerkamp, R.F.; Calus, M.P.L.; Windig, J.J.

    2014-01-01

    When animals are selected for one specific allele, for example for inclusion in a gene bank, this may result in the loss of diversity in other parts of the genome. The aim of this study was to quantify the risk of losing diversity across the genome when targeting a single allele for conservation

  17. Activity and Phylogenetic Diversity of Bacterial Cells with High and Low Nucleic Acid Content and Electron Transport System Activity in an Upwelling Ecosystem

    OpenAIRE

    Longnecker, K.; Sherr, B. F.; Sherr, E. B.

    2005-01-01

    We evaluated whether bacteria with higher cell-specific nucleic acid content (HNA) or an active electron transport system, i.e., positive for reduction of 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC), were responsible for the bulk of bacterioplankton metabolic activity. We also examined whether the phylogenetic diversity of HNA and CTC-positive cells differed from the diversity of Bacteria with low nucleic acid content (LNA). Bacterial assemblages were sampled both in eutrophic shelf waters...

  18. Deleterious mutation accumulation in organelle genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch, M; Blanchard, J L

    1998-01-01

    It is well established on theoretical grounds that the accumulation of mildly deleterious mutations in nonrecombining genomes is a major extinction risk in obligately asexual populations. Sexual populations can also incur mutational deterioration in genomic regions that experience little or no recombination, i.e., autosomal regions near centromeres, Y chromosomes, and organelle genomes. Our results suggest, for a wide array of genes (transfer RNAs, ribosomal RNAs, and proteins) in a diverse collection of species (animals, plants, and fungi), an almost universal increase in the fixation probabilities of mildly deleterious mutations arising in mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes relative to those arising in the recombining nuclear genome. This enhanced width of the selective sieve in organelle genomes does not appear to be a consequence of relaxed selection, but can be explained by the decline in the efficiency of selection that results from the reduction of effective population size induced by uniparental inheritance. Because of the very low mutation rates of organelle genomes (on the order of 10(-4) per genome per year), the reduction in fitness resulting from mutation accumulation in such genomes is a very long-term process, not likely to imperil many species on time scales of less than a million years, but perhaps playing some role in phylogenetic lineage sorting on time scales of 10 to 100 million years.

  19. The Fair Proportion is a Shapley Value on phylogenetic networks too

    OpenAIRE

    Coronado, Tomás M.; Riera, Gabriel; Rosselló, Francesc

    2018-01-01

    The Fair Proportion of a species in a phylogenetic tree is a very simple measure that has been used to assess its value relative to the overall phylogenetic diversity represented by the tree. It has recently been proved by Fuchs and Jin to be equal to the Shapley Value of the coallitional game that sends each subset of species to its rooted Phylogenetic Diversity in the tree. We prove in this paper that this result extends to the natural translations of the Fair Proportion and the rooted Phyl...

  20. Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Determinants of Functional Composition of Bolivian Bat Assemblages.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis F Aguirre

    Full Text Available Understanding diversity patterns and the potential mechanisms driving them is a fundamental goal in ecology. Examination of different dimensions of biodiversity can provide insights into the relative importance of different processes acting upon biotas to shape communities. Unfortunately, patterns of diversity are still poorly understood in hyper-diverse tropical countries. Here, we assess spatial variation of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of bat assemblages in one of the least studied Neotropical countries, Bolivia, and determine whether changes in biodiversity are explained by the replacement of species or functional groups, or by differences in richness (i.e., gain or loss of species or functional groups. Further, we evaluate the contribution of phylogenetic and taxonomic changes in the resulting patterns of functional diversity of bats. Using well-sampled assemblages from published studies we examine noctilionoid bats at ten study sites across five ecoregions in Bolivia. Bat assemblages differed from each other in all dimensions of biodiversity considered; however, diversity patterns for each dimension were likely structured by different mechanisms. Within ecoregions, differences were largely explained by species richness, suggesting that the gain or loss of species or functional groups (as opposed to replacement was driving dissimilarity patterns. Overall, our results suggest that whereas evolutionary processes (i.e., historical connection and dispersal routes across Bolivia create a template of diversity patterns across the country, ecological mechanisms modify these templates, decoupling the observed patterns of functional, taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity in Bolivian bats. Our results suggests that elevation represents an important source of variability among diversity patterns for each dimension of diversity considered. Further, we found that neither phylogenetic nor taxonomic diversity can fully account for