Project description:Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus (OrNV) is a dsDNA virus which has been used as a biocontrol agent to suppress Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Recently a new wave of O. rhinoceros incursions in Oceania is thought to be related to the presence of low virulence isolates of OrNV or virus tolerant haplotypes of beetles. Here, chronically infected beetles were collected from the Philippines, Fiji, PNG and the Solomon Islands (SI). RNAseq was performed to investigate the global viral gene expression profiles and comparative genomic analysis of structural variations. Maximum likelihood phylogenic analysis indicated that OrNV strains from the SI and the Philippines are closely related to while OrNV strains from PNG and Fiji formed a distinct adjacent clade. We detected several polymorphic sites with a frequency higher than 35% in 892 positions of the viral genome. Non-synonymous mutations were detected in several hypothetical proteins, and 15 nudivirus core genes such as gp034, lef-8, lef-4 and vp91. We found limited evidence of variation in viral gene expression among geographic populations. Only a few genes such as gp01, gp022 and gp107 were differentially expressed among different strains. Additionally, small RNA sequencing from SI population suggests that OrNV is targeted by the host RNA interference (RNAi) response with abundant 21nt small RNAs. Some of these structural changes are specific to the geographic population and could be related to particular phenotypic characteristics of the strain, such as viral pathogenicity or transmissibility, and this requires further investigation.
Project description:The history of click-speaking Khoe-San, and African populations in general, remains poorly understood. We genotyped ~2.3 million SNPs in 220 southern Africans and found that the Khoe-San diverged from other populations at least 100,000 years ago, but structure within the Khoe-San dated back to about 35,000 years ago. Genetic variation in various sub-Saharan populations did not localize the origin of modern humans to a single geographic region within Africa, instead, it indicated a history of admixture and stratification. We found evidence of adaptation targeting muscle function and immune response, potential adaptive introgression of UV-light protection, and selection predating modern human diversification involving skeletal and neurological development. These new findings illustrate the importance of African genomic diversity in understanding human evolutionary history .220 samples were analysed with the Illumina HumanOmni2.5-Quad BeadChip and are described herein.
Project description:Characterization of Middle Pleistocene rhinoceros proteins and the phylogenetic relationships between extinct and extanct rhinoceros was investigated by obtaining ancient protein data for two extinct rhinoceros genera (Coelodonta antiquitatis and Stephanorhinus sp.).