Project description:The goal of the experiment was to determine whether monocytes from Alzheimer's disease patients with covid had differentially expressed genes when compared to health individuals.
Project description:In this study, we employed massively parallel sequencing technology to identify miRNAs expressed in B-cells from Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians, i.e., those living to a hundred and a human model of exceptional longevity, and younger controls without a family history of longevity. With data from 26.7 million reads comprising 9.4x108 bp from 3 centenarian and 3 control individuals, we discovered a total of 276 known miRNAs and 8 unknown miRNAs ranging several orders of magnitude in expression levels. A total of 22 miRNAs were found to be significantly upregulated, with only 2 miRNAs downregulated, in centenarians as compared to controls.
Project description:Microarray-based enrichment of selected genomic loci is a powerful method for genome complexity reduction. Since the vast majority of exons in vertebrate genomes are smaller than 150 nt, we have explored the use of short fragment libraries (85-110bp) to achieve higher enrichment specificity by reducing carryover and adverse effects of flanking intronic sequences. These short fragment libraries were enriched for 1.69 Mb of exonic sequences, using custom 244K microarrays, and sequenced using AB/SOLiD. High enrichment specificity (60 – 75%) was obtained at 67-213x average coverage, with 77-92% and 90-98% of targeted regions covered with more than 25% and 10% of the average coverage, respectively. As a more appropriate measure of the evenness of coverage, which is relatively independent of sequencing depth, we introduce the evenness of coverage parameter E. E values up to 75% were achieved. To verify the accuracy of SNP/mutation detection we evaluated 384 known non-reference SNPs in the targeted regions. At ~ 200x average sequence coverage, we were able to survey 96.4% of 1.69 Mb of genomic sequence with only 4.2% false negative calls while 3.6% of targeted regions were marked as unsurveyed. A total of 1197 new variants were detected. Verification revealed only 8 false positive calls, resulting in an overall false positive rate of less than 1 per ~200,000 bp (0.0005%, equivalent to an overall phred score of 55).
Project description:Fireflies and their luminous courtships have inspired centuries of scientific study. Today firefly luciferase is widely used in biotechnology, but the evolutionary origin of bioluminescence within beetles remains unclear. To shed light on this long-standing question, we sequenced the genomes of two firefly species that diverged over 100 million-years-ago: the North American Photinus pyralis and Japanese Aquatica lateralis. To compare bioluminescent origins, we also sequenced the genome of a related click beetle, the Caribbean Ignelater luminosus, with bioluminescent biochemistry near-identical to fireflies, but anatomically unique light organs, suggesting the intriguing hypothesis of parallel gains of bioluminescence. Our analyses support independent gains of bioluminescence in fireflies and click beetles, and provide new insights into the genes, chemical defenses, and symbionts that evolved alongside their luminous lifestyle.
Project description:In this study, we employed massively parallel sequencing technology to identify miRNAs expressed in B-cells from Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians, i.e., those living to a hundred and a human model of exceptional longevity, and younger controls without a family history of longevity. With data from 26.7 million reads comprising 9.4x108 bp from 3 centenarian and 3 control individuals, we discovered a total of 276 known miRNAs and 8 unknown miRNAs ranging several orders of magnitude in expression levels. A total of 22 miRNAs were found to be significantly upregulated, with only 2 miRNAs downregulated, in centenarians as compared to controls. Examination of miRNA profile of two different ages
Project description:Microarray-based enrichment of selected genomic loci is a powerful method for genome complexity reduction. Since the vast majority of exons in vertebrate genomes are smaller than 150 nt, we have explored the use of short fragment libraries (85-110bp) to achieve higher enrichment specificity by reducing carryover and adverse effects of flanking intronic sequences. These short fragment libraries were enriched for 1.69 Mb of exonic sequences, using custom 244K microarrays, and sequenced using AB/SOLiD. High enrichment specificity (60 M-bM-^@M-^S 75%) was obtained at 67-213x average coverage, with 77-92% and 90-98% of targeted regions covered with more than 25% and 10% of the average coverage, respectively. As a more appropriate measure of the evenness of coverage, which is relatively independent of sequencing depth, we introduce the evenness of coverage parameter E. E values up to 75% were achieved. To verify the accuracy of SNP/mutation detection we evaluated 384 known non-reference SNPs in the targeted regions. At ~ 200x average sequence coverage, we were able to survey 96.4% of 1.69 Mb of genomic sequence with only 4.2% false negative calls while 3.6% of targeted regions were marked as unsurveyed. A total of 1197 new variants were detected. Verification revealed only 8 false positive calls, resulting in an overall false positive rate of less than 1 per ~200,000 bp (0.0005%, equivalent to an overall phred score of 55). 4 samples + capture design file
Project description:Human lymphoblastoid cell lines (EBV-immortalised B cells, LcL) obtained from subjects of different age (young 28-40 years, centenarians >95 years) were analysed for gene expression at basal culture conditions and after 48 hours of serum starvation. Lymphoid B cells from centenarians were more resistant to apoptosis induction and displayed a more developed lysosomal compartment, the most critical component of phagic machinery. In addition, cells from centenarians were capable of engulfing and digesting other cells, i.e. their siblings (even entire cells). This behavior was improved by nutrient deprivation but, strikingly, it was unaffected by the autophagy modulating drugs rapamycin, an autophagy inducer, and 3-methyladenine, an autophagy inhibitor. 12 samples, divided into 4 groups: young basal, young starved, centenarians basal and centenarians starved.
Project description:Fireflies and their fascinating luminous courtships have inspired centuries of scientific study. Today firefly luciferase is widely used in biotechnology, but the evolutionary origin of their bioluminescence remains unclear. To shed light on this long-standing question, we sequenced the genomes of two firefly species that diverged over 100 million-years-ago: the North American Photinus pyralis and Japanese Aquatica lateralis. To compare bioluminescent origins, we also sequenced the genome of a related click-beetle, the Caribbean Ignelater luminosus, with bioluminescent biochemistry near-identical to fireflies, but anatomically unique light organs, suggesting the intriguing but contentious hypothesis of parallel gains of bioluminescence. Our analyses support two independent gains of bioluminescence between fireflies and click-beetles, and provide new insights into the genes, chemical defenses, and symbionts that evolved alongside their luminous lifestyle.
Project description:Human lymphoblastoid cell lines (EBV-immortalised B cells, LcL) obtained from subjects of different age (young 28-40 years, centenarians >95 years) were analysed for gene expression at basal culture conditions and after 48 hours of serum starvation. Lymphoid B cells from centenarians were more resistant to apoptosis induction and displayed a more developed lysosomal compartment, the most critical component of phagic machinery. In addition, cells from centenarians were capable of engulfing and digesting other cells, i.e. their siblings (even entire cells). This behavior was improved by nutrient deprivation, but strikingly, it was unaffected by the autophagy-modulating drugs rapamycin, an autophagy inducer, and 3-methyladenine, an autophagy inhibitor.