Aptardi predicts polyadenylation sites in sample-specific transcriptomes using high-throughput RNA sequencing and DNA sequence.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lusk R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7955126 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundOrgan-specific gene expression contains rich information about in vivo biological processes. This kind of information, previously gathered through microarray profiling, has been proven fruitful to the understanding of specific mutants, regulatory events, signaling, and development. With the advent of the next-generation sequencing (NGS) of RNAs, more quantitative and detailed information of gene expressions than previously available can now be collected for each organ or organ developmental stages. The combination of an object-oriented experimental design and an efficient treatment of the high volume information generated through a NGS platform may offer a powerful tool for inferring previously intractable developmental processes.ResultsWe collected transcriptomic data over a Solexa/Illumina platform on samples of Ipomoea leaf, sepal, and petals (at three developmental stages), and presented a method for analyzing transcriptomic variations within and between organs. We demonstrated that in vivo signals of transcriptomes can be retrieved de novo through the NGS techniques, proper data handling, bioinformatic tools, and the current understanding of molecular networks. We found that numbers of transcribed genes from both nuclear and chloroplast genomes decreased by the same order of leaf → sepal →petal. Petal resembled leaf in cell division patterns and abundance level of commonly expressed organelle genes. Its chloroplast transcripts constituted a subset of those in leaf. Moreover, reconstructions of multiple metabolic networks for each organ enabled inferences of substance flow, providing transcript evidence for the path of sucrose in leaf to anthocyanin synthesis in petal.ConclusionOur results attest that developmental transcriptomes are highly informative for exploring connections between morphological traits and the associated molecular networks. Significant hypotheses have been developed, including that the petal is a derived organ of leaf and that its color can be modified by fluctuations of substance flow within the associated metabolic networks among organs.
| S-EPMC3819660 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundRNA-Sequencing (RNA-seq) is now commonly used to reveal quantitative spatiotemporal snapshots of the transcriptome, the structures of transcripts (splice variants and fusions) and landscapes of expressed mutations. However, standard approaches for library construction typically require relatively high amounts of input RNA, are labor intensive, and are time consuming. METHODS?: Here, we report the outcome of a systematic effort to optimize and streamline steps in strand-specific RNA-seq library construction. RESULTS?: This work has resulted in the identification of an optimized messenger RNA isolation protocol, a potent reverse transcriptase for cDNA synthesis, and an efficient chemistry and a simplified formulation of library construction reagents. We also present an optimization of bead-based purification and size selection designed to maximize the recovery of cDNA fragments.ConclusionsThese developments have allowed us to assemble a rapid high throughput pipeline that produces high quality data from amounts of total RNA as low as 25 ng. While the focus of this study is on RNA-seq sample preparation, some of these developments are also relevant to other next-generation sequencing library types.
| S-EPMC5499059 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is a widespread phenomenon in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression that generates mRNAs with alternative 3'-untranslated regions (3'UTRs). APA contributes to the pathogenesis of various diseases, including cancer. However, the potential role of APA in the development of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains largely unknown. METHODS:A strategy of sequencing APA sites (SAPAS) based on second-generation sequencing technology was carried out to explore the global patterns of APA sites and identify genes with tandem 3'UTRs in samples from 6 NPC and 6 normal nasopharyngeal epithelial tissue (NNET). Sequencing results were then validated using quantitative RT-PCR in a larger cohort of 16 NPC and 16 NNET samples. RESULTS:The sequencing data showed that the use of tandem APA sites was prevalent in NPC, and numerous genes with APA-switching events were discovered. In total, we identified 195 genes with significant differences in the tandem 3'UTR length between NPC and NNET; including 119 genes switching to distal poly (A) sites and 76 genes switching to proximal poly (A) sites. Several gene ontology (GO) terms were enriched in the list of genes with switched APA sites, including regulation of cell migration, macromolecule catabolic process, protein catabolic process, proteolysis, small conjugating protein ligase activity, and ubiquitin-protein ligase activity. CONCLUSIONS:APA site-switching events are prevalent in NPC. APA-mediated regulation of gene expression may play an important role in the development of NPC, and more detailed studies targeting genes with APA-switching events may contribute to the development of novel future therapeutic strategies for NPC.
| S-EPMC6198351 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundOne of the essential processing events during pre-mRNA maturation is the post-transcriptional addition of a polyadenine [poly(A)] tail. The 3'-end poly(A) track protects mRNA from unregulated degradation, and indicates the integrity of mRNA through recognition by mRNA export and translation machinery. The position of a poly(A) site is predetermined by signals in the pre-mRNA sequence that are recognized by a complex of polyadenylation factors. These signals are generally tri-part sequence patterns around the cleavage site that serves as the future poly(A) site. In plants, there is little sequence conservation among these signal elements, which makes it difficult to develop an accurate algorithm to predict the poly(A) site of a given gene. We attempted to solve this problem.ResultsBased on our current working model and the profile of nucleotide sequence distribution of the poly(A) signals and around poly(A) sites in Arabidopsis, we have devised a Generalized Hidden Markov Model based algorithm to predict potential poly(A) sites. The high specificity and sensitivity of the algorithm were demonstrated by testing several datasets, and at the best combinations, both reach 97%. The accuracy of the program, called poly(A) site sleuth or PASS, has been demonstrated by the prediction of many validated poly(A) sites. PASS also predicted the changes of poly(A) site efficiency in poly(A) signal mutants that were constructed and characterized by traditional genetic experiments. The efficacy of PASS was demonstrated by predicting poly(A) sites within long genomic sequences.ConclusionBased on the features of plant poly(A) signals, a computational model was built to effectively predict the poly(A) sites in Arabidopsis genes. The algorithm will be useful in gene annotation because a poly(A) site signifies the end of the transcript. This algorithm can also be used to predict alternative poly(A) sites in known genes, and will be useful in the design of transgenes for crop genetic engineering by predicting and eliminating undesirable poly(A) sites.
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Project description:Ruditapes philippinarum, is an economically important marine bivalve species. The ability to cope with low salinity stress is quite important for the survival of aquatic species under natural conditions. In this study, the transcriptional response of the Manila clam to low salinity stress was characterized using RNA sequencing. The transcriptomes of a low salinity-treatment group (FRp1, FRp2), which survived under low salinity stress, and control group (SRp1, SRp2), which was not subjected to low salinity stress, were sequenced with the Illumina HiSeq platform. A total of 196,578 unigenes were generated. GO and KEGG analyses revealed that signal transduction, immune response, cellular component organization or biogenesis, and energy production processes were the most highly enriched pathways among the genes that were differentially expressed under low salinity stress. All these pathways could be assigned to the following biological functions in the low salinity tolerant Manila clam: signal response to low salinity stress, antioxidant response, intracellular free amino acid transport and metabolism, energy production and conversion, cell signaling pathways, and regulation of ionic content and cell volume. In summary, this is the first study using high-throughput sequencing to identify gene targets that could explain osmotic regulation mechanisms under salinity stress in R. philippinarum.
| S-EPMC5504028 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Genes encoded in vertebrate mitochondrial DNAs are transcribed as a polycistronic transcript for both strands, which is later processed into individual mRNAs, rRNAs and tRNAs, followed by modifications, such as polyadenylation at the 3' end of mRNAs. Although mechanisms of the mitochondrial transcription and RNA processing have been extensively studied using some model organisms, structural variability of mitochondrial mRNAs across different groups of vertebrates is poorly understood. We conducted the high-throughput RNA sequencing to identify major polyadenylation sites for mitochondrial mRNAs in the Japanese grass lizard, Takydromus tachydromoides and compared the polyadenylation profiles with those identified similarly for 23 tetrapod species, featuring sauropsid taxa (reptiles and birds).As compared to the human, a major polyadenylation site for the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 mRNA of the grass lizard was located much closer to its stop codon, resulting in considerable truncation of the 3' untranslated region for the mRNA. Among the other sauropsid taxa, several distinct polyadenylation profiles from the human counterpart were found for different mRNAs. They included various truncations of the 3' untranslated region for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 mRNA in four taxa, bird-specific polyadenylation of the light-strand-transcribed NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 mRNA, and the combination of the ATP synthase subunit 8/6 mRNA with a neighboring mRNA into a tricistronic mRNA in the side-necked turtle Pelusios castaneus. In the last case of P. castaneus, as well as another example for NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 mRNAs of some birds, the association between the polyadenylation site change and the gene overlap was highlighted. The variations in the polyadenylation profile were suggested to have arisen repeatedly in diverse sauropsid lineages. Some of them likely occurred in response to gene rearrangements in the mitochondrial DNA but the others not.These results demonstrate structural variability of mitochondrial mRNAs in sauropsids. The efficient and comprehensive characterization of the mitochondrial mRNAs will contribute to broaden our understanding of their structural and functional evolution.
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Project description:Substantial effort is currently devoted to identifying cancer-associated alterations using genomics. Here, we show that standard blood collection procedures rapidly change the transcriptional and posttranscriptional landscapes of hematopoietic cells, resulting in biased activation of specific biological pathways; up-regulation of pseudogenes, antisense RNAs, and unannotated coding isoforms; and RNA surveillance inhibition. Affected genes include common mutational targets and thousands of other genes participating in processes such as chromatin modification, RNA splicing, T- and B-cell activation, and NF-?B signaling. The majority of published leukemic transcriptomes exhibit signals of this incubation-induced dysregulation, explaining up to 40% of differences in gene expression and alternative splicing between leukemias and reference normal transcriptomes. The effects of sample processing are particularly evident in pan-cancer analyses. We provide biomarkers that detect prolonged incubation of individual samples and show that keeping blood on ice markedly reduces changes to the transcriptome. In addition to highlighting the potentially confounding effects of technical artifacts in cancer genomics data, our study emphasizes the need to survey the diversity of normal as well as neoplastic cells when characterizing tumors.
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Project description:Phytoplankton is the basis for aquatic food webs and mirrors the water quality. Conventionally, phytoplankton analysis has been done using time consuming and partly subjective microscopic observations, but next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies provide promising potential for rapid automated examination of environmental samples. Because many phytoplankton species have tough cell walls, methods for cell lysis and DNA or RNA isolation need to be efficient to allow unbiased nucleic acid retrieval. Here, we analyzed how two phytoplankton preservation methods, three commercial DNA extraction kits and their improvements, three RNA extraction methods, and two data analysis procedures affected the results of the NGS analysis. A mock community was pooled from phytoplankton species with variation in nucleus size and cell wall hardness. Although the study showed potential for studying Lugol-preserved sample collections, it demonstrated critical challenges in the DNA-based phytoplankton analysis in overall. The 18S rRNA gene sequencing output was highly affected by the variation in the rRNA gene copy numbers per cell, while sample preservation and nucleic acid extraction methods formed another source of variation. At the top, sequence-specific variation in the data quality introduced unexpected bioinformatics bias when the sliding-window method was used for the quality trimming of the Ion Torrent data. While DNA-based analyses did not correlate with biomasses or cell numbers of the mock community, rRNA-based analyses were less affected by different RNA extraction procedures and had better match with the biomasses, dry weight and carbon contents, and are therefore recommended for quantitative phytoplankton analyses.
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Project description:Maize kernel development is a complex biological process that involves the temporal and spatial expression of many genes and fine gene regulation at a transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, and microRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles during this process. To gain insight into miRNA-mediated regulation of maize kernel development, a deep-sequencing technique was used to investigate the dynamic expression of miRNAs in the embryo and endosperm at three developmental stages in B73. By miRNA transcriptomic analysis, we characterized 132 known miRNAs and six novel miRNAs in developing maize kernel, among which, 15 and 14 miRNAs were commonly differentially expressed between the embryo and endosperm at 9 days after pollination (DAP), 15 DAP and 20 DAP respectively. Conserved miRNA families such as miR159, miR160, miR166, miR390, miR319, miR528 and miR529 were highly expressed in developing embryos; miR164, miR171, miR393 and miR2118 were highly expressed in developing endosperm. Genes targeted by those highly expressed miRNAs were found to be largely related to a regulation category, including the transcription, macromolecule biosynthetic and metabolic process in the embryo as well as the vitamin biosynthetic and metabolic process in the endosperm. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that these miRNAs displayed a negative correlation with the levels of their corresponding target genes. Importantly, our findings revealed that members of the miR169 family were highly and dynamically expressed in the developing kernel, which will help to exploit new players functioning in maize kernel development.
| S-EPMC5748703 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Alternative transcription start (ATS) and alternative polyadenylation (APA) create alternative RNA isoforms and modulate many aspects of RNA expression and protein production. However, ATS and APA remain difficult to detect in RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Here, we developed mountainClimber, a de novo cumulative-sum-based approach to identify ATS and APA as change points. Unlike many existing methods, mountainClimber runs on a single sample and identifies multiple ATS or APA sites anywhere in the transcript. We analyzed 2,342 GTEx samples (36 tissues, 215 individuals) and found that tissue type is the predominant driver of transcript end variations. 75% and 65% of genes exhibited differential APA and ATS across tissues, respectively. In particular, testis displayed longer 5' untranslated regions (UTRs) and shorter 3' UTRs, often in genes related to testis-specific biology. Overall, we report the largest study of transcript ends across human tissues to our knowledge. mountainClimber is available at github.com/gxiaolab/mountainClimber.
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