Project description:Bartonelloses are neglected emerging infectious diseases caused by facultatively intracellular bacteria transmitted between vertebrate hosts by various arthropod vectors. The highest diversity of Bartonella species has been identified in rodents. Within this study we focused on the edible dormouse (Glis glis), a rodent with unique life-history traits that often enters households and whose possible role in the epidemiology of Bartonella infections had been previously unknown. We identified and cultivated two distinct Bartonella sub(species) significantly diverging from previously described species, which were characterized using growth characteristics, biochemical tests, and various molecular techniques including also proteomics. Two novel (sub)species were described: Bartonella grahamii subsp. shimonis subsp. nov. and Bartonella gliris sp. nov.We sequenced two individual strains per each described (sub)species. During exploratory genomic analyses comparing two genotypes ultimately belonging to the same species, both factually and most importantly even spatiotemporally, we noticed unexpectedly significant structural variation between them. We found that most of the detected structural variants could be explained either by prophage excision or integration. Based on a detailed study of one such event, we argue that prophage deletion represents the most probable explanation of the observed phenomena.Moreover, in one strain of Bartonella grahamii subsp. shimonis subsp. nov. we identified a deletion related to Bartonella Adhesin A, a major pathogenicity factor that modulates bacteria-host interactions. Altogether, our results suggest that even a limited number of passages induced sufficient selective pressure to promote significant changes at the level of the genome.
Project description:The domestic goat, Capra hircus (2n=60), is one of the most important domestic livestock species in the world. Here we report its high quality reference genome generated by combining Illumina short reads sequencing and a new automated and high throughput whole genome mapping system based on the optical mapping technology which was used to generate extremely long super-scaffolds. The N50 size of contigs, scaffolds, and super-scaffolds for the sequence assembly reported herein are 18.7 kb, 3.06 Mb, and 18.2 Mb, respectively. Almost 95% of the supper-scaffolds are anchored on chromosomes based on conserved syntenic information with cattle. The assembly is strongly supported by the RH map of goat chromosome 1. We annotated 22,175 protein-coding genes, most of which are recovered by RNA-seq data of ten tissues. Rapidly evolving genes and gene families are enriched in metabolism and immune systems, consistent with the fact that the goat is one of the most adaptable and geographically widespread livestock species. Comparative transcriptomic analysis of the primary and secondary follicles of a cashmere goat revealed 51 genes that were significantly differentially expressed between the two types of hair follicles. This study not only provides a high quality reference genome for an important livestock species, but also shows that the new automated optical mapping technology can be used in a de novo assembly of large genomes. Corresponding whole genome sequencing is available in NCBI BioProject PRJNA158393. We have sequenced a 3-year-old female Yunnan black goat and constructed a reference sequence for this breed. In order to improve quality of gene models, RNA samples of ten tissues (Bladder, Brain, Heart, Kidney, Liver, Lung, Lymph, Muscle, Ovarian, Spleen) were extracted from the same goat which was sequenced. To investigate the genic basis underlying the development of cashmere fibers using the goat reference genome assembly and annotated genes, we extracted RNA samples of primary hair follicle and secondary hair follicle from three Inner Mongolia cashmere goats and conducted transcriptome sequencing and DGE analysis. This submission represents RNA-Seq component of study.