Project description:Imposex, the superimposition of male sexual characteristics in females, is caused by tributyltin (TBT) and provides one of the best ecological examples of anthropogenically-induced endocrine disruption in aquatic ecosystems. We used combinations of 454 Roche pyrosequencing and microarray technologies to understand the functional genomic basis of imposex in the prosobranch gastropod, Nucella lapillus, a recognised sentinel for TBT-induced imposex.
Project description:Genome assemblies can form the basis of comparative analyses fostering insight into the evolutionary genetics. Genome evolution influences a parasite’s pathogenicity, host–pathogen interactions, environmental constraints and invasion biology. Comparative genomics and epigenomics analyses will provide deep understanding of parasitism biology for future diagnosis and prevention of trchinellosis. We provide a near-complete new T.p reference genome using SMRT technology, first time confirmed and characterized T.p DNA methylome, enabling full annotation. Based on this new version, we show repetitive sequences play important role in genome expansion, in synergy with DNA methylation during evolution. We further portrait the genomic and epigenomic regulation on E-S products in relation with their parasitism differences, especially for two super-families, including DNase II and EGF-like domain proteins.
Project description:Our results provide a foundation for comparative gene expression studies between eudicots and basal angiosperms. We identified whorl-specific gene expression patterns in Eschscholzia, and examined the floral expression of several gene families, such as MADS-box, bHLH and MYB. Interestingly, most homologs of genes important for flower development, except for MADS-box genes, show different expression patterns between Eschscholzia and Arabidopsis. Our comparative transcriptomics study highlights the unique evolutionary position of Eschscholzia compared with basal angiosperms and core eudicots.
Project description:Our results provide a foundation for comparative gene expression studies between eudicots and basal angiosperms. We identified whorl-specific gene expression patterns in Eschscholzia, and examined the floral expression of several gene families, such as MADS-box, bHLH and MYB. Interestingly, most homologs of genes important for flower development, except for MADS-box genes, show different expression patterns between Eschscholzia and Arabidopsis. Our comparative transcriptomics study highlights the unique evolutionary position of Eschscholzia compared with basal angiosperms and core eudicots. Custom microarrays targeting 6446 Eschscholzia floral unigenes were used to measure expression levels in eight tissues using an interwoven double-loop design for 16 arrays.
Project description:Proteins preform the vast majority of functions in all biological domains but their large-scale investigation has lagged behind for technological reasons. Since the first essentially complete eukaryotic proteome was reported1, advances in mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics2 have enabled increasingly comprehensive identification and quantification of the human proteome3456. However, there are few comparisons across species, especially compared to genomics initiatives7. Here, we employ an advanced proteomics workflow, in which the peptide separation step is performed by a microstructured and extremely reproducible chromatographic system, for the in-depth measurement of 100 taxonomically diverse organisms. With two million peptide and 340,000 stringent protein identifications obtained in a standardized manner, we double the number of proteins with solid experimental evidence known to the scientific community. The data also provide a foundation for machine learning, as we demonstrate by experimentally confirming predicted peptide properties of bacteroides uniformis. Our results provide a comparative view into the functional organization of organisms across the entire evolutionary range. A remarkably high fraction of the total proteome mass in all kingdoms is dedicated to protein homeostasis and folding, highlighting the challenge of maintaining protein structure across all of life. Likewise, a constantly high fraction is involved in supplying energy resources, although the pathways range from photosynthesis through iron sulphur metabolism to carbohydrate metabolism.
Project description:Proteins preform the vast majority of functions in all biological domains but their large-scale investigation has lagged behind for technological reasons. Since the first essentially complete eukaryotic proteome was reported1, advances in mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics2 have enabled increasingly comprehensive identification and quantification of the human proteome3456. However, there are few comparisons across species, especially compared to genomics initiatives7. Here, we employ an advanced proteomics workflow, in which the peptide separation step is performed by a microstructured and extremely reproducible chromatographic system, for the in-depth measurement of 100 taxonomically diverse organisms. With two million peptide and 340,000 stringent protein identifications obtained in a standardized manner, we double the number of proteins with solid experimental evidence known to the scientific community. The data also provide a foundation for machine learning, as we demonstrate by experimentally confirming predicted peptide properties of bacteroides uniformis. Our results provide a comparative view into the functional organization of organisms across the entire evolutionary range. A remarkably high fraction of the total proteome mass in all kingdoms is dedicated to protein homeostasis and folding, highlighting the challenge of maintaining protein structure across all of life. Likewise, a constantly high fraction is involved in supplying energy resources, although the pathways range from photosynthesis through iron sulphur metabolism to carbohydrate metabolism.