Project description:Background Array-based comparative genome hybridization (aCGH) is commonly used to determine the genomic content of bacterial strains. In aCGH data, systematic errors are comparable to those occurring in transcriptome data. However, especially for microbes, an additional source of variation exists: differences in hybridization due to gene sequence divergence between the strains hybridized. Current normalization methods do not take this source of variation into consideration. Results We present Supervised Lowess, or S-Lowess, an application of the subset Lowess normalization method that does take difference in genomic content into account. The performance of S-Lowess was assessed on aCGH experiments in which differentially labeled genomic DNA fragments of Lactococcus lactis IL1403 and L. lactis MG1363 strains were hybridized to IL1403 microarrays. Since both genome sequences are known (they have only on average 85 % sequence identity), the success rate in detecting deletions in the MG1363 genome of different aCGH normalization methods can be compared. S-Lowess detects 97% of the deletions, whereas other aCGH normalization methods detect up to only 60% of the deletions. Conclusions S-Lowess removes systematic errors from dual-dye aCGH data in two steps: (i) determination of likely homologous genes (LHG); and (ii) estimation of correction factors for systematic errors from spots of LHG and subset Lowess normalization of the remaining spots using these correction factors. It is implemented in a user-friendly web-tool accessible from http://bioinformatics.biol.rug.nl/websoftware/s-lowess. We demonstrate that it outperforms existing normalization methods and maximizes the number of detectable genomic deletions or duplications from microbial aCGH data. Keywords: comparative genome hybridisation In this study, 4 aCGH comparisons (slides) between L. lactis MG1363 and L. lactis IL1403 were performed (including dye swap with biological replicates; see also supplementary materials). The resulting aCGH slide signals were normalized using the different 'likely homologous gene' (LHG) sets (see above) yielding ratios of signals of labelled DNA of MG1363 over those of IL1403. A maximum of 8 ratios per amplicon (gene) were obtained for the 4 hybridized slides (each with 2 replicate spots per amplicon). Only genes with at least 5 measurements were used in this study. The normalization methods evaluated in this study are: a) no normalization, b) total signal normalization, c) grid-based Lowess (implemented in PreP; f = 0.7) [GarcM-CM--a de la Nava, J et al. 2003. Bioinformatics 19:2328-2329], and d) S-Lowess using different subsets of conserved lactococcal genes (for details see above). Results with the MANOR R package (spatial normalization; standard parameters) [Neuvial P, et al. 2006. BMC Bioinformatics 7:264; Liva S, et al. 2006. Nucleic Acids Res 34:W477-W481] are shown in our supplementary materials.

Project description:Recently, we demonstrated that fermentation conditions strongly impact on subsequent survival of Lactococcus lactis strain MG1363 during heat and oxidative stress, two important parameters during spray drying. Moreover, employment of a transcriptome-phenotype matching approach revealed groups of genes associated with robustness towards heat and/or oxidative stress. To investigate if other strains have similar or distinct transcriptome signatures for robustness, we applied a similar transcriptome-robustness phenotype matching approach on the L. lactis strains IL1403, KF147 and SK11. These strains were employed in an identical fermentation regime as was performed earlier for strain MG1363 which consisted of twelve conditions, varying in the presence of salt and/or oxygen, as well as fermentation temperature and pH. In the exponential phase of growth, cells were harvested for transcriptome analysis and assessment of heat and oxidative stress survival phenotypes. The variation in fermentation conditions resulted in differences in heat and oxidative stress survival up to five 10-log units. Effects of the fermentation conditions on stress survival of the L. lactis strains were typically strain-dependent, although the fermentation conditions had mainly similar effects on the growth characteristics of the different strains. Association of transcriptomes and robustness phenotypes identified highly strain-specific transcriptome signatures for robustness, indicating that multiple mechanism exist to increase robustness and, as a consequence, robustness of each strain requires individual optimization. However, a relatively small overlap in the transcriptome responses of the strains was also identified and this generic transcriptome signature included genes previously associated with stress (ctsR and lplL) and novel genes, including nanE and genes encoding transport proteins. The transcript levels of these genes can function as indicators of robustness and could aid in selection of fermentation parameters, potentially resulting in more optimal robustness during spray drying.

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Supervised Lowess normalization of comparative genome hybridization data: application to lactococcal strain comparisons.

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