Project description:The short length of miRNAs results in a high dynamic range of melting temperatures and therefore impedes a proper selection of detection probes or optimized PCR primers. While miRNA microarrays allow for massive parallel and accurate relative measurement of all known miRNAs, they have so far been less useful as an assay for absolute quantification. Here we developed a new method based not only to the hybridization process that presents the limits before described, but integrating the hybridization to an enzymatic reaction. Moreover we introduced spike-in in the hybridization-enzymatic reaction allowing the quantification of miRNAs respect to them, canceling biases related to sequence, labeling, or hybridization. An alternative method for the absolute miRNA quantization was recently proposed by Bissels (Absolute quantification of microRNAs by using a universal reference. RNA). It was based on the Absolute quantification of microRNAs by using a universal reference consisting of 954 synthetic human, mouse, rat, and viral miRNAs, with each individual oligoribonucleotide present in equimolar concentrations with tested miRNAs. Thereby, any single miRNA detected on a microarray can be quantified by directly comparing its signal intensity with the one obtained by the same miRNA sequence present in the universal reference adjusting for biases related to sequence, labeling, hybridization, or signal detection. Our method allowed the detection of a comparable concentration of miRNA (10^-18 moles to 10^-14 moles in a linear range), but allows controlling the hybridization quality and reproducibility basing on the results of the interpolation of the spike-in dependent curve. Moreover, our method does not influenced by phenomena imputable to different labeling process due to different sequences because labeling was due only to the incorporation of biotin-d(A) if the hybridized miRNA acted as primer for the klenow enzyme. This method allowed the discussion of miRNA genes expression in 9 different tissues relating them with tissue functionality in the cardiocirculatory system.
Project description:The short length of miRNAs results in a high dynamic range of melting temperatures and therefore impedes a proper selection of detection probes or optimized PCR primers. While miRNA microarrays allow for massive parallel and accurate relative measurement of all known miRNAs, they have so far been less useful as an assay for absolute quantification. Here we developed a new method based not only to the hybridization process that presents the limits before described, but integrating the hybridization to an enzymatic reaction. Moreover we introduced spike-in in the hybridization-enzymatic reaction allowing the quantification of miRNAs respect to them, canceling biases related to sequence, labeling, or hybridization. An alternative method for the absolute miRNA quantization was recently proposed by Bissels (Absolute quantification of microRNAs by using a universal reference. RNA). It was based on the Absolute quantification of microRNAs by using a universal reference consisting of 954 synthetic human, mouse, rat, and viral miRNAs, with each individual oligoribonucleotide present in equimolar concentrations with tested miRNAs. Thereby, any single miRNA detected on a microarray can be quantified by directly comparing its signal intensity with the one obtained by the same miRNA sequence present in the universal reference adjusting for biases related to sequence, labeling, hybridization, or signal detection. Our method allowed the detection of a comparable concentration of miRNA (10-18 moles to 10-14 moles in a linear range) (see Figure), but allows controlling the hybridization quality and reproducibility basing on the results of the interpolation of the spike-in dependent curve. Moreover, our method does not influenced by phenomena imputable to different labeling process due to different sequences because labeling was due only to the incorporation of biotin-d(A) if the hybridized miRNA acted as primer for the klenow enzyme. This method allowed the discussion of miRNA genes expression in 14 different tissues relating it with tissue anatomical proximity and functional similarity.
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:Live-attenuated viral vaccines have been successfully used to combat infectious disease for decades but due to their empirical derivation, little is known about their mechanisms of attenuation. This lack of understanding makes the development of next generation live attenuated vaccines difficult. The success of the 17D vaccine and availability of the parent virus, Asibi, makes it an excellent model to understand the molecular basis of attenuation of a live attenuated vaccine and the effects of viral diversity on vaccine function. Due to the differences in genetic diversity between WT Asibi virus and its 17D vaccine derivative, we investigated the changes in genetic diversity of 17D and Asibi viruses following treatment with ribavirin.