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At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Impact of externally attached loggers on the diving behaviour of the king penguin.

The impact of relatively small externally attached time series recorders on some foraging parameters of seabirds was investigated during the austral summer of 1995 by monitoring the diving behaviour of 10 free-ranging king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) over one foraging trip. Time-depth recorders were implanted in the abdominal cavities of the birds, and half of the animals also had dummy loggers attached on their backs. Although most of the diving behaviour was not significantly affected by the external loggers (P>0.05), the birds with externally attached loggers performed almost twice as many shallow dives, between 0 and 10 m depth, as the birds without external loggers. These shallow dives interrupted more frequently the deep-diving sequences in the case of birds with external loggers (percentage of deep dives followed by deep dives: 46% for birds with implants only vs. 26% for birds with an external attachment). Finally, the distribution pattern of the postdive durations plotted against the hour of the day was more heterogeneous for the birds with an external package. In addition, these penguins had extended surfacing times between two deep dives compared to birds without external attachments (P<0.0001). These results suggest the existence of an extra energy cost induced by externally attached loggers.

Animals↗

Functional significance of a deep intronic mutation in the ATM gene and evidence for an alternative exon 28a.

Screening for ATM mutations is usually performed using genomic DNA as a template for PCR amplification across exonic regions, with the consequence that deep intronic sequences are not analyzed. Here we report a novel pseudoexon-retaining deep intronic mutation (IVS28-159A>G; g.75117A>G based on GenBank U82828.1) in a patient with ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T), as well as the identification of a previously unrecognized alternative exon in the ATM gene (exon 28a) expressed in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL) derived from normal individuals. cDNA analysis using the A-T patient's LCL showed the retention of two aberrant intronic segments of 112 and 190 nt between exons 28 and 29. Minigenes were constructed to determine the functional significance of two genomic changes in the region of aberrant splicing: IVS28-193C>T (g.75083C>T) and IVS28-159A>G, revealing that: 1) the first is a polymorphism; 2) IVS28-159A>G weakens the 5' splice site of the alternative exon 28a and activates a cryptic 5' splice site (ss) 83 nt downstream; and 3) wild-type constructs also retain a 29-nt segment (exon 28a) as part of both the 112- and 190-nt segments. Maximum entropy estimates of ss strengths corroborate the cDNA and minigene findings. Such mutations may prove relevant in planning therapy that targets specific splicing aberrations.

Alternative Splicing↗

Remote triggering of deep earthquakes in the 2002 Tonga sequences.

It is well established that an earthquake in the Earth's crust can trigger subsequent earthquakes, but such triggering has not been documented for deeper earthquakes. Models for shallow fault interactions suggest that static (permanent) stress changes can trigger nearby earthquakes, within a few fault lengths from the causative earthquake, whereas dynamic (transient) stresses carried by seismic waves may trigger earthquakes both nearby and at remote distances. Here we present a detailed analysis of the 19 August 2002 Tonga deep earthquake sequences and show evidence for both static and dynamic triggering. Seven minutes after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurred at a depth of 598 km, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake (664 km depth) occurred 300 km away, in a previously aseismic region. We found that nearby aftershocks of the first mainshock are preferentially located in regions where static stresses are predicted to have been enhanced by the mainshock. But the second mainshock and other triggered events are located at larger distances where static stress increases should be negligible, thus suggesting dynamic triggering. The origin times of the triggered events do not correspond to arrival times of the main seismic waves from the mainshocks and the dynamically triggered earthquakes frequently occur in aseismic regions below or adjacent to the seismic zone. We propose that these events are triggered by transient effects in regions near criticality, but where earthquakes have difficulty nucleating without external influences.

Journal Article↗

The Use of Next-Generation Sequencing in Personalized Medicine.

The revolutionary progress in development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies has made it possible to deliver accurate genomic information in a timely manner. Over the past several years, NGS has transformed biomedical and clinical research and found its application in the field of personalized medicine. Here we discuss the rise of personalized medicine and the history of NGS. We discuss current applications and uses of NGS in medicine, including infectious diseases, oncology, genomic medicine, and dermatology. We provide a brief discussion of selected studies where NGS was used to respond to wide variety of questions in biomedical research and clinical medicine. Finally, we discuss the challenges of implementing NGS into routine clinical use.

Humans↗

Novel eukaryotic lineages inferred from small-subunit rRNA analyses of oxygen-depleted marine environments.

Microeukaryotes in oxygen-depleted environments are among the most diverse, as well as the least studied, organisms. We conducted a cultivation-independent, small-subunit (SSU) rRNA-based survey of microeukaryotes in suboxic waters and anoxic sediments in the great Sippewisset salt marsh, Cape Cod, Mass. We generated two clone libraries and analyzed approximately 300 clones, which contained a large diversity of microeukaryotic SSU rRNA signatures. Only a few of these signatures were closely related (sequence similarity of >97%) to the sequences reported earlier. The bulk of our sequences represented deep novel branches within green algae, fungi, cercozoa, stramenopiles, alveolates, euglenozoa and unclassified flagellates. In addition, a significant number of detected rRNA sequences exhibited no affiliation to known organisms and sequences and thus represent novel lineages of the highest taxonomical order, most of them branching off the base of the global phylogenetic tree. This suggests that oxygen-depleted environments harbor diverse communities of novel organisms, which may provide an interesting window into the early evolution of eukaryotes.

Anaerobiosis↗

Identification of Freezing-Responsive microRNAs and Their Targets in Chinese Jujube by Small RNA and Degradome Sequencing.

The jujube tree fruit remains a primary fruit in northern China, yet its geographical distribution and yield are significantly constrained by freezing stress during winter. Numerous studies have highlighted the pivotal regulatory function of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plant responses to low-temperature stress. Nevertheless, the specific miRNAs involved in the response to low temperatures and their associated gene networks in Ziziphus jujuba Mill are not well understood. In this investigation, we utilized high-throughput sequencing to analyze small RNA libraries from branches subjected to temperatures of 4 &#xb0;C and -30 &#xb0;C. Our analysis identified a total of 342 miRNAs, comprising 123 known miRNAs and 219 novel miRNAs. The differential expression analysis revealed that under low-temperature conditions, 177 miRNAs underwent significant changes. Among them, specific upregulation of miR319 in the less cold-resistant variety and miR6483 in sensitive variety was observed. By employing degradome sequencing, we identified a total of 1551 target genes corresponding to 3059 unique miRNA target interaction pairs involving 299 miRNAs. Functional analysis using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways indicated that these target genes are primarily associated with transcriptional regulation, metabolic pathways, and genetic information processing. Through a comprehensive analysis, we pinpointed 11 genes corresponding to 9 miRNAs that are implicated in jujube tree cold stress, and 7 target genes of 7 miRNAs were confirmed by 5'-RACE analysis. These miRNAs are likely to exert crucial regulatory functions in the context of jujube tree cold stress. This study is the first to systematically identify miRNAs and their target genes in the response of Ziziphus jujuba Mill to low-temperature stress, which provides important resources for in-depth analysis of the molecular mechanism of jujube tree cold resistance and for cold-resistant breeding.

Ziziphus↗

Comparative and functional analysis of cardiovascular-related genes.

The ability to detect putative cis-regulatory elements in cardiovascular-related genes has been accelerated by the availability of genomic sequence data from numerous vertebrate species and the recent development of comparative genomic tools. This improvement is anticipated to lead to a better understanding of the complex regulatory architecture of cardiovascular (CV) genes and how genetic variants in these non-coding regions can potentially play a role in cardiovascular disease. This manuscript reviews a recently established database dedicated to the comparative sequence analysis of 250 human CV genes of known importance, 37 of which currently contain sequence comparison data for organisms beyond those of human, mouse and rat. These data have provided a glimpse into the variety of possible insights from deep vertebrate sequence comparisons and the identification of putative gene regulatory elements.

Animals↗

Complete mitochondrial genome DNA sequence for two ophiuroids and a holothuroid: the utility of protein gene sequence and gene maps in the analyses of deep deuterostome phylogeny.

The complete mitochondrial genome sequences have been determined for the holothuroid Cucumaria miniata and two ophiuroid species Ophiopholis aculeata and Ophiura lütkeni. In addition, the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial protein-coding genes for the asteroid Pisaster ochraceus has been completed. Maximum-likelihood and LogDet distance analyses of concatenated protein-coding sequences produced a series of trees that did not conclusively support generally accepted models of echinoderm phylogeny. The ophiuroid data consistently demonstrated accelerated nucleotide divergence rates and lack of stationarity. This confounds the phylogenetic analyses. Molecular investigations using individual protein-coding gene alignments demonstrated that the cytochrome b gene exhibits the least deviation in rate and stationarity and generated some trees consistent with proposed echinoderm phylogenies. Phylogenies based on echinoderm mitochondrial gene rearrangements also proved problematic because of extensive variation in gene order between and within classes. A comparison of the two distinctive ophiuroid mitochondrial gene orders supports the hypothesis that O. lütkeni has a more derived mitochondrial gene order versus O. aculeata. The variation in the echinoderm mitochondrial gene maps reinforces the limitations of the application of mitochondrial gene rearrangements as a global phylogenetic tool.

Animals↗

Human F7 sequence is split into three deep clades that are related to FVII plasma levels.

It is widely accepted that FVII levels are strongly, consistently, and independently related to cardiovascular risk. These levels are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Among the genetic factors, only a limited number of polymorphisms in the F7 gene have been reported, and they explain only a small proportion of the genetic variability. Recently, we have accomplished the complete dissection of the F7 quantitative trait locus responsible for all of the genetic variability observed in FVII levels. Now, we present the thorough study of the haplotype organization of F7 DNA sequence variation among individuals and the evolutionary processes that produced this variation, by sequencing 15 kb of genomic DNA sequence from the F7 locus in 40 unrelated individual (80 chromosomes) from the genetic analysis of idiopathic thrombophilia (GAIT) project as well as four non-human primate species. Our study revealed 49 polymorphisms, of which 39 SNPs were further considered. Genotyping of these DNA variations in the whole family-based GAIT sample helped resolve linkage phases, and a total of 37 distinct haplotypes were identified.Tajima's D was significantly positive in this sample, suggesting balancing selection. This parameter was a reflection of the phylogenetic structure of F7 haplotype, which was deeply split into three well-supported clades or haplogroups, suggesting that functional differences among F7 variants do not depend on a few single-site variations. Moreover, haplogroup 2 was associated with high FVII levels and haplogroup 3 with low levels. In this study, we have for the first time established a clear relation between genotypic variability structure and phenotypic variability of a particular quantitative trait involved in a complex disease.

Animals↗

Microbial diversity and metabolic pathways linked to benzene degradation in petrochemical-polluted groundwater.

The rapid advance in shotgun metagenome sequencing has enabled us to identify uncultivated functional microorganisms in polluted environments. While aerobic petrochemical-degrading pathways have been extensively studied, the anaerobic mechanisms remain less explored. Here, we conducted a study at a petrochemical-polluted groundwater site in Henan Province, Central China. A total of twelve groundwater monitoring wells were installed to collect groundwater samples. Benzene appeared to be the predominant pollutant, detected in 10 out of 12 samples, with concentrations ranging from 1.4&#xa0;&#x3bc;g/L to 5,280&#xa0;&#x3bc;g/L. Due to the low aquifer permeability, pollutant migration occurred slowly, resulting in relatively low benzene concentrations downstream within the heavily polluted area. Deep metagenome sequencing revealed Proteobacteria as the dominant phylum, accounting for over 63&#xa0;% of total abundances. Microbial &#x3b1;-diversity was low in heavily polluted samples, with community compositions substantially differing from those in lightly polluted samples. dmpK encoding the phenol/toluene 2-monooxygenase was detected across all samples, while the dioxygenase bedC1 was not detected, suggesting that aerobic benzene degradation might occur through monooxygenation. Sequence assembly and binning yielded 350 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), with 30 MAGs harboring functional genes associated with aerobic or anaerobic benzene degradation. About 80&#xa0;% of MAGs harboring functional genes associated with anaerobic benzene degradation remained taxonomically unclassified at the genus level, suggesting that our current database coverage of anaerobic benzene-degrading microorganisms is very limited. Furthermore, two genes integral to anaerobic benzene metabolism, i.e, benzoyl-CoA reductase (bamB) and glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase (acd), were not annotated by metagenome functional analyses but were identified within the MAGs, signifying the importance of integrating both contig-based and MAG-based approaches. Together, our efforts of functional annotation and metagenome binning generate a robust blueprint of microbial functional potentials in petrochemical-polluted groundwater, which is crucial for designing proficient bioremediation strategies.

Groundwater↗

HyLnc: a hybrid deep learning and feature-based approach for long non-coding RNA prediction.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in gene regulation, development and disease, yet accurate identification of lncRNAs from transcriptomic data remains a major computational challenge. Existing methods often rely either on handcrafted sequence features or deep learning approaches, each with their inherent limitations in capturing the full complexity of RNA sequences. In this study, we proposed HyLnc, a computational framework that integrates transformer-based contextual embeddings with biologically meaningful sequence features for improved lncRNA prediction. A custom BERT-based model was first pre-trained on a large corpus of metazoan RNA sequences using a masked language modelling strategy to learn contextual nucleotide dependencies. The model was subsequently fine-tuned on curated datasets of lncRNAs and protein-coding transcripts and 256-dimensional deep sequence embeddings were extracted. Parallelly, 348&#xa0;handcrafted features, including ORF characteristics, untranslated region (UTR) properties, nucleotide composition and Fickett scores, were computed. A multi-stage feature selection strategy was applied to identify the most informative features, resulting in optimized hybrid feature sets. Multiple machine learning classifiers were evaluated, with the RF model achieving the best performance. The proposed framework attained an accuracy of 91.30%, F1-score of 91.23% and MCC of 82.60 on an independent validation dataset, outperforming several existing lncRNA prediction tools. Thus, HyLnc demonstrates that integrating deep contextual representations with biologically interpretable features enhances lncRNA prediction. This approach provides a robust and scalable solution for large-scale transcriptome annotation and can be extended to other sequence-based prediction.

RNA, Long Noncoding↗

Molecular phylogenetics of Australo-Papuan possums and gliders (family Petauridae).

Phylogenetic relationships within the possums of the family Petauridae, including their affinities with the family Pseudocheiridae, were inferred from DNA sequences obtained for the mitochondrial ND2 gene (1040 bp) combined with previously published partial 12S rDNA sequences. Short, deep internodes characterize some of the divergences obtained. The robustness of these nodes was assessed by several methods such as exclusion of taxa and partitioning of characters. In all analyses a monophyletic Pseudocheiridae was evident, whereas a monophyletic Petauridae was not as well supported. Within the Petauridae, Gymnobelideus was more closely related to Dactylopsila-Dactylonax than to Petaurus. This supports the results obtained from microcomplement fixation of albumin and DNA-DNA hybridization studies but conflicts with morphological data.

Animals↗

Genetic variation coincides with geographic structure in the common bush-tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus) complex from Mexico.

Cloud forests are distributed in the Neotropics, from northern Mexico to Argentina, under very specific ecological conditions, namely slopes with high humidity input from clouds and mist. Its distribution in Mesoamerica is highly fragmented, similar to an archipelago, and taxa are thus frequently represented as sets of isolated populations, each restricted to particular mountain ranges and often showing a high degree of divergence, both morphologically and genetically. The common bush-tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus, Aves: Thraupidae) inhabits cloud forests from eastern and southern Mexico south to northwestern Argentina. Here we use 676bp of mtDNA (around the ATPase 8 gene) to explore the genetic variation and phylogeographic structure of the Mexican populations of C. ophthalmicus. Phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA sequences indicate deep genetic structure. Five major clades, which segregate according to geographic breaks, are identified (starting from the deepest one in the phylogeny): (1) Southern Chiapas and Northern Central America, (2) Tuxtlas massif, (3) Sierra Madre del Sur, (4) Eastern Oaxaca and Northern Chiapas, and (5) Sierra Madre Oriental. The long history of isolation undergone by each clade, as suggested by the phylogeny, implies that the species status of each of them should be revised.

Animals↗

Morphological convergence in Hippidion and Equus (Amerhippus) South American equids elucidated by ancient DNA analysis.

Unusual equids named hippidions inhabited South America for more than 2 MY (million years). Like many other animals they succumbed to the worldwide climatic change that occurred 10 KY (thousand years) ago and completely disappeared during the great late Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. According to fossil records and numerous dental, cranial, and postcranial characters, Hippidion and Equus lineages are known to have diverged prior to 10 MY. Some equid bones from Rio Verde and Ultima Esperanza (Patagonia, Chile) dating back to the late Pleistocene period (8-13 KY) have been identified as Hippidion saldiasi, while a few teeth have been assigned to Equus. Six samples of those remains have been obtained from the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam for ancient DNA analysis to try to place Hippidion in the evolutive tree of Perissodactyla. Two samples of Hippidion and one sample of Equus yielded 241-394 bp of the mtDNA control region and 172-296 bp of the cytochrome b gene. Unexpectedly, all the sequences clustered deep inside the Equus genus, casting doubt on the initial identification of the bones. For paleontologists, one of the striking and classical diagnostic characters of Hippidion is their extremely short and massive metapodials, a probable locomotory adaptation to the Andine steep slopes. However, our DNA analysis reveals that a very Hippidion-like metapod might also have been possessed by another South American equid, i.e., Equus (Amerhippus), an interpretation supported by complementary anatomical observations. This adaptive convergence between members of the two South American equid genera may lead paleontologists to limb bone misidentification.

Animals↗

DNA footprints of European hedgehogs, Erinaceus europaeus and E. concolor: Pleistocene refugia, postglacial expansion and colonization routes.

European hedgehogs, Erinaceus europaeus and E. concolor, are among the many European plant and animal taxa that have been subjected to cyclical restriction to glacial refugia and interglacial expansion. An analysis of 95 mitotypes, comprising partial cytochrome b and control region sequences, shows deep divergence between the two hedgehog species. Three europaeus and two concolor clades are clearly identified and are consistent with previously identified refugia for Europe: the Iberian peninsula, Italy, and the Balkans. The degree of mitochondrial divergence among these clades suggests pre-Pleistocene separation of the refugial populations. In contrast, analysis of two nuclear introns clearly separates the two concolor clades, as in the mitochondrial data, but cannot discriminate the three europaeus clades. This discrepancy between nuclear and mitochondrial data is attributed to historical differences in the refugial population size of europaeus and concolor. The geographical distribution of mitotypes is analysed using nested clade analysis. This method, by including unobserved ('missing') mitotypes, can identify mitotype groupings that remain undetected in conventional analyses. However, the application of nested clade analysis to the study of refugial populations may be hampered by such factors as the loss of haplotypes from the refugial areas by repeated contractions of the population and the recent time scale of colonization relative to mutation rate.

Animals↗

Transfer RNA genes from the hyperthermophilic Archaeon, Methanopyrus kandleri.

Genes encoding the Leu (GAG), Ser (UGA), Gln (UUG) and Lys (UUU) tRNAs have been cloned and sequenced from the deep sea hyperthermophilic Archaeon, Methanopyrus kandleri. Sequences conforming to the TATA box element established for methanogen promoters are located upstream of the tRNA(Gln) and tRNA(Lys) genes. All four of the tRNA genes appear to encode the 3' terminal CCA residues of the mature tRNA. These methanogen tRNAs are predicted to contain most, but not all, invariant residues and are characterized by a high level of G + C base pairing, consistent with the 98 degrees C optimum growth temperature of M. kandleri.

Base Sequence↗

Molecular evolution of the 5'-terminal domain of large-subunit rRNA from lower eukaryotes. A broad phylogeny covering photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic protists.

This paper summarizes the present status of an analysis of protist phylogeny using rapid partial sequencing of 28S rRNA. Data from 12 protistan phyla are now available and have been used to construct a tentative dendrogram based on a distance matrix method. The tree is robust and has considerable internal consistency. The following salient points are observed: a number of flagellate groups (particularly Euglenozoa) emerge very early among eukaryotes, whereas ciliates and dinoflagellates emerge late, suggesting that some characteristics that had been considered as primitive may in fact be derived. Both chlorophytic and chromophytic photosynthetic protists emerge very late in the tree, close to the Metazoa-Metaphyta-Fungi radiation, suggesting relatively late occurrence of the photosynthetic symbiosis. Taxonomic and phylogenetic information is also obtained within a phylum where rRNA of enough species are sequenced. A deep trichotomy is thus observed within the ciliates. The data are discussed with respect to classical protist phylogenies.

Animals↗

A deep metagenomic atlas of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau lakes reveals their microbial diversity and salinity adaptation mechanisms.

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QXP), harboring the planet's highest density of plateau lakes, offers an exceptional biogeographic environment for studying extremophilic microbial communities and their adaptation to salinity. Through deep metagenomic sequencing, we construct the Qinghai-Xizang Lake Sediment Genome (QXLSG) catalog, a high-resolution genomic catalog comprising 5,866 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), 58.16 million non-redundant protein encoding genes, and 19,008 biosynthetic gene clusters. Notably, 80.78% of the 2,742 species-level MAGs represent undescribed taxa, significantly expanding the known microbial diversity. Salinity emerges as the primary environmental factor influencing microbial community. Functional annotation highlights that the "salt-out" strategy, particularly the uptake of glycine betaine, is the main mechanism for salinity tolerance. This strategy is prevalent in both hypersaline lake communities and the dominant microbial phyla. Overall, this study provides a crucial genetic resource for future bioprospecting and deepens our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of microbial adaptation to extreme saline environments.

Lakes↗