Project description:BACKGROUND:The subtropical island of Taiwan is an area of high endemism and a complex topographic environment. Phylogeographic studies indicate that vicariance caused by Taiwan's mountains has subdivided many taxa into genetic phylogroups. We used mitochondrial DNA sequences and nuclear microsatellites to test whether the evolutionary history of an endemic montane bird, Steere's Liocichla (Liocichla steerii), fit the general vicariant paradigm for a montane organism. RESULTS:We found that while mountains appear to channel gene flow they are not a significant barrier for Steere's Liocichla. Recent demographic expansion was evident, and genetic diversity was relatively high across the island, suggesting expansion from multiple areas rather than a few isolated refugia. Ecological niche modeling corroborated the molecular results and suggested that populations of Steere's Liocichla are connected by climatically suitable habitat and that there was less suitable habitat during the Last Glacial Maximum. CONCLUSIONS:Genetic and ecological niche modeling data corroborate a single history--Steere's Liocichla was at lower density during the Last Glacial Maximum and has subsequently expanded in population density. We suggest that such a range-wide density expansion might be an overlooked cause for the genetic patterns of demographic expansion that are regularly reported. We find significant differences among some populations in FST indices and an admixture analysis. Though both of these results are often used to suggest conservation action, we affirm that statistically significant results are not necessarily biologically meaningful and we urge caution when interpreting highly polymorphic data such as microsatellites.
Project description:The DNA isolated from 44 either frozen or FFPE Neuroendocrine Neoplasm (NEN) was analysed by NGS, to identify genes more likely to be subject to sequence variations among 523 cancer-related ones.
Project description:Plasma DNA from 558 malignancies, 263 benign and borderline tumors and 367 healthy control samples were collected and subjected to random short-gun whole genome sequencing.
Project description:This study aims to investigate the DNA methylation patterns at transcription factor binding regions and their evolutionary conservation with respect to binding activity divergence. We combined newly generated bisulfite-sequencing experiments in livers of five mammals (human, macaque, mouse, rat and dog) and matched publicly available ChIP-sequencing data for five transcription factors (CEBPA, HNF4a, CTCF, ONECUT1 and FOXA1). To study the chromatin contexts of TF binding subjected to distinct evolutionary pressures, we integrated publicly available active promoter, active enhancer and primed enhancer calls determined by profiling genome wide patterns of H3K27ac, H3K4me3 and H3K4me1.
Project description:Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) epitomizes successful targeted therapy, with 86% of patients in the chronic phase treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) attaining remission. However, resistance to TKIs occurs during treatment, and patients with resistance to TKIs progress to the acute phase called Blast Crisis (BC), wherein the survival is restricted to 7-11 months. About 80 % of patients in BC are unresponsive to TKIs. This issue can be addressed by identifying a molecular signature which can predict resistance in CML-CP prior to treatment as well as by delineating the molecular mechanism underlying resistance. Herein, we report genomic analysis of CML patients and imatinib-resistant K562 cell line to achieve the same. WGS was performed on imatinib-sensitive and -resistant K562 cells. Library preparation was done by 30x WGS KAPA PCR-Free v2.1 kit, and Illumina HiSeq X sequencer was used for 2 x 150 bp paired-end sequencing. Our study identified accumulation of aberrations on chromosomes 1, 3, 7, 16 and 22 as predictive of occurrence of resistance. Further, recurrent amplification in chromosomal region 8q11.2-12.1 was detected in highly resistant K562 cells as well as CML patients. The genes present in this region were analyzed to understand molecular mechanism of imatinib resistance.
