Project description:Hyperthermophilic bacteria of the genus Thermotoga are known to utilize a wide range of simple and complex polysaccharides. T. maritima's transcriptional response to a variety of mono- and poly-saccharides was previously studied to assign functions to genes involved in carbohydrate uptake and utilization. To compare and contrast closely-related members of the Thermotoga genus, a four-species microarray was developed by expanding a whole genome T. maritima array to include unique genes from three other species (T. neapolitana, T. petrophila, and T. sp. RQ2). This multi-species array was used to investigate the diversity of the genus, specifically the response of each of the four species to a mixture of polysaccharides (galactomannan, glucomannan, xylan, pectin, lichenan, and carboxymethyl cellulose).
Project description:The genus Flaveria has been extensively used as a model to study the evolution of C4 photosynthesis as it contains both C3 and C4 species as well as a number of species that exhibit intermediate types of photosynthesis. The current phylogenetic tree of the Flaveria genus contains 21 of the 23 known Flaveria species and has been constructed using a combination of morphologicial data and three non-coding DNA sequences (nuclear encoded ETS, ITS and chloroplast encoded trnl-F). However, recent studies have suggested that phylogenetic trees inferred using a small number of molecular sequences may often be incorrect. Moreover, studies in other genera have often shown substantial differences between trees inferred using morphological data and those using molecular sequence. To provide new insight into the phylogeny of the genus Flaveria we utilize RNA-Seq data to construct a multi-gene concatenated phylogenetic tree of 17 Flaveria species. Furthermore, we use this new data to identify 14 C4 specific non-synonymous mutation sites, 12 of which (86%) can be independently verified by public sequence data. We propose that the data collection method provided in this study can be used as a generic method for facilitating phylogenetic tree reconstruction in the absence of reference genomes for the target species. 18 Flaveria sample including 11 species are sequenced, other three samples were also sequenced as out-group. In all, 21 samples.
Project description:Hyperthermophilic bacteria of the genus Thermotoga are known to utilize a wide range of simple and complex polysaccharides. T. maritima's transcriptional response to a variety of mono- and poly-saccharides was previously studied to assign functions to genes involved in carbohydrate uptake and utilization. To compare and contrast closely-related members of the Thermotoga genus, a four-species microarray was developed by expanding a whole genome T. maritima array to include unique genes from three other species (T. neapolitana, T. petrophila, and T. sp. RQ2). This multi-species array was used to investigate the diversity of the genus, specifically the response of each of the four species to a mixture of polysaccharides (galactomannan, glucomannan, xylan, pectin, lichenan, and carboxymethyl cellulose). RNA derived from glucose-grown cultures (glu) was compared to RNA derived from polysaccharide-grown cultures (poly) using a dye swap setup.
Project description:Nosema is a diverse fungal genus of microsporidian unicellular, obligate symbionts of insects and other arthropods. We performed a comparative genomic analysis of N. muscidifuracis, a Nosema species infecting parasitoid wasp genus Muscidifurax, with six other genome-sequenced Nosema species. A sequence motif containing at least three consecutive Cs was significantly enriched immediately upstream of the start codon in all seven Nosema genomes. Interestingly, this motif is present in ~90% of highly expressed genes, compared to ~20% in lowly expressed genes N. muscidifuracis, which may function as a cis-regulatory element for gene expression control and regulation. Our study provides new insights into the gene regulation evolution in Nosema.
Project description:The genus Flaveria has been extensively used as a model to study the evolution of C4 photosynthesis as it contains both C3 and C4 species as well as a number of species that exhibit intermediate types of photosynthesis. The current phylogenetic tree of the Flaveria genus contains 21 of the 23 known Flaveria species and has been constructed using a combination of morphologicial data and three non-coding DNA sequences (nuclear encoded ETS, ITS and chloroplast encoded trnl-F). However, recent studies have suggested that phylogenetic trees inferred using a small number of molecular sequences may often be incorrect. Moreover, studies in other genera have often shown substantial differences between trees inferred using morphological data and those using molecular sequence. To provide new insight into the phylogeny of the genus Flaveria we utilize RNA-Seq data to construct a multi-gene concatenated phylogenetic tree of 17 Flaveria species. Furthermore, we use this new data to identify 14 C4 specific non-synonymous mutation sites, 12 of which (86%) can be independently verified by public sequence data. We propose that the data collection method provided in this study can be used as a generic method for facilitating phylogenetic tree reconstruction in the absence of reference genomes for the target species.
Project description:The Xenopus genus is well known for the high degree of polyploidy observed in its constituent species, but there is minimal information about transcriptional changes observed in these highly polyploid vertebrates. Xenopus andrei, an octoploid species within the Xenopus genus, presents a novel system for assessing a polyploid transcriptome during vertebrate development. RNA-Seq data was generated at nine different developmental stages ranging from unfertilized eggs through late tailbud stages. Additionally, using Trinity, RNA-seq data from all nine stages was pooled to create a draft de novo assembly of the transcriptome. This represents the first published assembly of an octoploid vertebrate transcriptome. This RNA-Seq and transcriptome data will be useful in comparing polyploid transcriptomes across Xenopus species, as well as understanding evolutionary implications of whole-genome duplication in vertebrates.
Project description:Salvia is an important genus from the Lamiaceae with approximately 1000 species distributed globally. Several Salvia species are commercially important because of their medicinal and culinary properties. We report the construction of the first fingerprinting array for Salvia species enriched with polymorphic and divergent DNA sequences and demonstrate the potential of this array for fingerprinting several economically important members of this genus.