Project description:ZIKV strains belong to three phylogenetic lineages: East African, West African, and Asian/American. RNA virus genomes exist as populations of genetically-related sequences whose heterogeneity may impact viral fitness, evolution, and virulence. The genetic diversity of representative ZIKVs (N=7) from each lineage was examined using next generation sequencing (NGS) paired with downstream Shannon entropy calculation and single nucleotide variant (SNV) analysis. This comprehensive analysis of ZIKV genetic diversity provides insight into the genetic diversity of ZKIV and repository of SNV positions across lineages.
Project description:Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted positive-sense RNA virus in the family Flaviviridae. ZIKV infections are associated with neurodevelopmental deficiencies termed Congenital Zika Syndrome. ZIKV strains are grouped into three phylogenetic lineages: East African, West African, and Asian, which contains the American lineage. RNA virus genomes exist as genetically-related sequences. The heterogeneity of these viral populations is implicated in viral fitness, and genome diversity is correlated to virulence. This study examines genetic diversity of representative ZIKV strains from all lineages utilizing next generation sequencing (NGS). Inter-lineage diversity results indicate that ZIKV lineages differ broadly from each other; however, intra-lineage comparisons of American ZIKV strains isolated from human serum or placenta show differences in diversity when compared to ZIKVs from Asia and West Africa. This study describes the first comprehensive NGS analysis of all ZIKV lineages and posits that sub-consensus-level diversity may provide a framework for understanding ZIKV fitness during infection.
Project description:Chromatin immunoprecipitation of Klf4 in NMuMG cells identifies gene promoter sequences that are directly bound by Klf4. Chromatin immunoprecipitation using a Klf4-specific antibody in NMuMG cells followed by next generation sequencing (ChIP-Seq).
Project description:Despite various efforts to develop tools to detect and compare the activity and catabolic potential and activity for pollutant degradation of microorganisms in environmental samples, an open-source, curated and reliable method is still required. Here we report on a customize normalization system that can be applied to any microarray design, allowing the assessment of reliability of signals and enabling cross-experiment comparisons. Probes for the underlying catabolic gene array were designed based on manually curated databases for catabolic key genes. Signals were assigned to the respective catabolic protein subfamily that allows to inferring the functions and substrate specificity. The placement of probes for critical degradation nodes and subsequent metabolic steps allows the retrieval of information on the metabolic net. Information on gene localization from genome surveys was correlated to signals of putative hosts to generate phylogenetic community information. Hence, this novel array system was validated using genomic DNA of genome sequenced bacterial strains hosting biodegradation functions and applied to genomic DNA and RNA extracted from environmental samples under aromatic pollution pressure.
Project description:The most common congenital heart disease (CHD) is the ventricular septal defect (VSD), which is also a subfeature of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) representing the most common form of cyanotic CHD. The underlying causes for the majority of CHDs are still unclear and most probably consist of combinations of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors. DNA methylation is the most widely studied epigenetic modification and several cardiac regulators have already been shown to be differentially methylated in CHD patients. Here, we present the first analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation data obtained from cardiac biopsies of TOF and VSD patients. We applied affinity-based enrichment of methylated DNA sequences with methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins followed by next-generation sequencing (MBD-Seq). MBD-seq on cardiac biopsies of patients with Tetralogy of Fallot and ventricular septal defect
Project description:Formaldehyde assisted isolation of regulatory element (FAIRE) enrichment was used to recover open chromatin from A. aegypti embryos. Next-generation sequencing of FAIRE DNA was performed. Computational detection and analysis of FAIRE-enriched DNA sequences followed.