BOL: Related items

Phased Human Genome Assembly !

Rahul Nayak — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 09:10:54 -0500

The new publicly available assembly (PacBio HG00733) has the fewest gaps of any human genome assembly, with more than half of the genome contained in gapless sequence at least 27 Mb long. The primary contig assembly is 2.89 Gb long and consists of 865 contigs that were assembled with PacBio data generated with the company’s Sequel® System. Using the FALCON-Unzip assembler, maternal and paternal haplotypes were resolved over more than 80% of the genome. Maternal and paternal haplotype blocks were then further phased using Hi-C technology and the FALCON-Phase methoddeveloped in collaboration with Phase Genomics. The genome was then de novo scaffolded using Phase Genomics’ Proximo Hi-C platform, resulting in the first chromosome-scale diploid assembly of a single individual accomplished with only two technologies. More specific details about the assembly are included on the PacBio blog.

The data are available using NCBI accession IDs: BioProject: (PRJNA483067), assembly: [RBJD00000000] and sequence data (SRP155659).

Additional Resources

Interactive map showcasing global initiatives underway to generate reference-quality human genome assemblies for diverse populations
BioReport Podcast on the value of ethnic-specific reference genomes
Nature Reviews Genetics paper from NHGRI: Prioritizing diversity in human genomics research
Article in The Journal of Precision Medicine: “Minority Report – Ethnic Diversity and the Real Promise for Precision Medicine”
Article in Bio-IT World: “Genomic Data Standards Are a Necessity”
NHGRI Project Award: High Quality Human and Non-Human Primate Genome Assemblies

More details are available on the PacBio website:

Blog post: Data Release: Highest-Quality, Most Contiguous Individual Human Genome Assembly to Date
Blog post: For Reference-Grade Human Genome Assemblies, SMRT Sequencing Yields Optimal Results
Webinar: Assembling High-Quality Human Reference Genomes for Global Populations
FALCON-Phase press release and article preprint
PacBio research focus webpage about Human Population Genetics

Ref: https://stockguru.com/2018/10/08/pacific-biosciences-releases-highest-quality-most-contiguous-individual-human-genome-assembly-to-date/

piRNA and Bioinformatics: Decoding the Guardians of the Genome

LEGE — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 02:15:11 -0600

In the symphony of small RNAs, PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) stand out as the protectors of genomic integrity. These small, non-coding RNAs play critical roles in silencing transposable elements, regulating gene expression, and maintaining germline stability. The rise of bioinformatics has revolutionized our understanding of piRNAs, enabling researchers to decipher their biogenesis, functions, and evolutionary significance.

What Are piRNAs?

piRNAs are the largest class of small non-coding RNAs, typically 24–32 nucleotides in length. Unlike microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), piRNAs do not rely on Dicer enzymes for maturation. Instead, they are processed from long single-stranded precursors and associate with PIWI proteins, a subclass of the Argonaute protein family.

The primary functions of piRNAs include:

Silencing Transposable Elements: By targeting transposons, piRNAs prevent genomic instability, particularly in germline cells.
Regulating Gene Expression: piRNAs modulate gene expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.
Epigenetic Modulation: They guide epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, to specific genomic loci.

Challenges in piRNA Research

Studying piRNAs is fraught with challenges, including:

Short Length: Their small size complicates sequencing and alignment.
Lack of Sequence Conservation: Unlike miRNAs, piRNAs exhibit limited sequence conservation across species.
Complex Biogenesis: The intricate pathways of piRNA generation require sophisticated computational tools to unravel.

Bioinformatics: Illuminating the World of piRNAs

Bioinformatics has emerged as an indispensable tool for studying piRNAs, facilitating their discovery, annotation, and functional analysis. Here's how bioinformatics is transforming piRNA research:

1. Identification and Annotation

The discovery of piRNAs relies on next-generation sequencing (NGS) data. Bioinformatics tools such as piRNApredictor and Piano identify piRNA clusters and predict potential targets. Databases like piRBase and piRNAdb curate information about known piRNAs, their sequences, and associated proteins.

2. Mapping and Alignment

piRNAs often originate from repetitive regions, making their alignment challenging. Tools like Bowtie and STAR handle the unique mapping requirements of piRNAs, enabling accurate identification of piRNA clusters in genomes.

3. Functional Analysis

Bioinformatics approaches predict piRNA functions by analyzing their interactions with transposons, genes, and epigenetic marks. Algorithms such as TargetFinder and RIblast explore piRNA-mRNA interactions, shedding light on regulatory networks.

4. Evolutionary Studies

piRNAs are evolutionarily diverse, reflecting their roles in species-specific genomic defense. Comparative genomics tools help trace the evolution of piRNA clusters and their associated PIWI proteins across species.

5. Epigenomic Insights

piRNAs are key players in epigenetic regulation. Bioinformatics pipelines integrate piRNA data with chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) and DNA methylation data to uncover their role in shaping the epigenome.

Case Study: piRNAs in Germline Integrity

One of the hallmark functions of piRNAs is the suppression of transposable elements in the germline. For example, in Drosophila melanogaster, piRNAs target retrotransposons like gypsy and copia. Bioinformatics analyses revealed that these piRNAs guide PIWI proteins to transposon-derived RNA, ensuring genome stability during gametogenesis.

Clinical Relevance of piRNAs

Recent studies suggest that piRNAs may serve as biomarkers for diseases such as cancer, infertility, and neurodegenerative disorders. For instance:

Cancer: Dysregulated piRNA expression has been linked to tumorigenesis, making them potential targets for cancer therapies.
Infertility: Aberrant piRNA pathways are implicated in male infertility due to their role in spermatogenesis.
Neurodegeneration: piRNAs may regulate neuronal gene expression, highlighting their potential in neurological research.

Future Directions

The integration of bioinformatics with emerging technologies offers exciting opportunities for piRNA research:

Single-Cell Sequencing: Unveiling cell-specific piRNA expression and function.
Machine Learning: Predicting piRNA functions and targets with greater accuracy.
CRISPR-Based Tools: Editing piRNA clusters to explore their roles in vivo.

Conclusion

piRNAs are the unsung guardians of the genome, safeguarding genetic material from transposable elements and contributing to gene regulation and epigenetic programming. Bioinformatics has opened the floodgates of discovery, unraveling the complexities of piRNAs and their myriad roles in biology and disease.

As we continue to decode the piRNA landscape, these small RNAs promise to unveil big secrets about genome stability, evolution, and human health, cementing their place as a fascinating frontier in molecular biology.

320000 viruses in mammals yet to sequenced in future!!!

Rahul Agarwal — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 08:35:30 -0500

With current biological technique improvements, finally it is now possible to look at millions of unknown viruses at genomic level and understand the mechanism. According to available data, close to 70 per cent of emerging viral diseases such as HIV/AIDS, West Nile, Ebola, SARS, and influenza, are zoonoses - infections of animals that cross into humans.

To address the challenges of describing and estimating virodiversity, a team of investigators from Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) and EcoHealth Alliance began in jungles of Bangladesh - home to the flying fox.

Reference:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/mammals-harbour-at-least-320000-new-viruses/articleshow/22253268.cms

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23932400

DnaSP: DNA Sequence Polymorphism, is a software package for the analysis of DNA polymorphisms

Neel — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 19:51:38 -0600

DnaSP, DNA Sequence Polymorphism, is a software package for the analysis of DNA polymorphisms using data from a single locus (a multiple sequence aligned -MSA data), or from several loci (a Multiple-MSA data, such as formats generated by some assembler RAD-seq software). DnaSP can estimate several measures of DNA sequence variation within and between populations in noncoding, synonymous or nonsynonymous sites, or in various sorts of codon positions), as well as linkage disequilibrium, recombination, gene flow and gene conversion parameters.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.ub.edu/dnasp/

ASAR: Advanced metagenomic Sequence Analysis in R

Jit — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 05:20:50 -0500

An interactive data analysis tool for selection, aggregation and visualization of metagenomic data is presented. Functional analysis with a SEED hierarchy and pathway diagram based on KEGG orthology based upon MG-RAST annotation results is available.

To read the manual, please click the link https://askarbek-orakov.github.io/ASAR/

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/Askarbek-orakov/ASAR

deepTools

Martin Jones — Sat, 08 Nov 2014 15:02:08 -0600

deepTools addresses the challenge of handling the large amounts of data that are now routinely generated from DNA sequencing centers. To do so, deepTools contains useful modules to process the mapped reads data to create coverage files in standard bedGraph and bigWig file formats. By doing so, deepTools allows the creation of normalized coverage files or the comparison between two files (for example, treatment and control). Finally, using such normalized and standardized files, multiple visualizations can be created to identify enrichments with functional annotations of the genome.

Publicaton: http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/05/05/nar.gku365.full

Source Code and Wiki: https://github.com/fidelram/deepTools/wiki

Galaxy Tool Shed repository: http://toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/view/bgruening/deeptools

and example Galaxy workflows: http://toolshed.g2.bx.psu.edu/view/bgruening/deeptools_workflows

Rosalind Bioinformatics problems !!!

Abhi — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:32:48 -0600

Rosalind is a platform for learning bioinformatics and programming through problem solving. Take a tour to get the hang of how Rosalind works.

http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/

Address of the bookmark: http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/

LASTZ

Abhi — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 04:41:55 -0500

LASTZ is a program for aligning DNA sequences, a pairwise aligner. Originally designed to handle sequences the size of human chromosomes and from different species, it is also useful for sequences produced by NGS sequencing technologies such as Roche 454.

More at http://www.bx.psu.edu/~rsharris/lastz/

Thesis: http://www.bx.psu.edu/~rsharris/rsharris_phd_thesis_2007.pdf

Address of the bookmark: http://www.bx.psu.edu/~rsharris/lastz/

Ensembl comparative genomics resources

Jitendra Narayan — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 17:10:20 -0600

The Ensembl comparative genomics resources are one such reference set that facilitates comprehensive and reproducible analysis of chordate genome data. Ensembl computes pairwise and multiple whole-genome alignments from which large-scale synteny, per-base conservation scores and constrained elements are obtained. Gene alignments are used to define Ensembl Protein Families, GeneTrees and homologies for both protein-coding and non-coding RNA genes. These resources are updated frequently and have a consistent informatics infrastructure and data presentation across all supported species. Specialized web-based visualizations are also available including synteny displays, collapsible gene tree plots, a gene family locator and different alignment views. The Ensembl comparative genomics infrastructure is extensively reused for the analysis of non-vertebrate species by other projects including Ensembl Genomes and Gramene and much of the information here is relevant to these projects. The consistency of the annotation across species and the focus on vertebrates makes Ensembl an ideal system to perform and support vertebrate comparative genomic analyses. We use robust software and pipelines to produce reference comparative data and make it freely available.

Database URL: http://www.ensembl.org.

Address of the bookmark: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4761110/

YASS :: genomic similarity search tool

Jit — Mon, 02 May 2016 09:26:00 -0500

YASS is a genomic similarity search tool, for nucleic (DNA/RNA) sequences in fasta or plain text format (it produces local pairwise alignments). Like most of the heuristic pairwise local alignment tools for DNA sequences (FASTA, BLAST, PATTERNHUNTER, BLASTZ/LASTZ, LAST ...), YASS uses seeds to detect potential similarity regions, and then tries to extend them to local alignments. This genomic search tool uses multiple transition constrained spaced seeds that enable to search more fuzzy repeats, as non-coding DNA/RNA. Another simple, but interesting feature is that you can specify the seed pattern used in the search step (as provided for example by iedera).

Main features of YASS are:

multiple, possibly overlapping seeds and a new hit criterion to ensure a good sensitivity/selectivity trade-off
transition-constrained spaced seeds to improve sensitivity (transition mutations are purine to purine [A<->G] or pyrimidine to pyrimidine [C<->T])
using different scoring schemes with bit-score and E-value evaluated according to the sequence background frequencies
parameterizable output filter for low complexity repeats
reporting of various alignment statistical parameters (mutation bias along triplets, transition/transversion)
post-processing step to group gapped alignments

Address of the bookmark: http://bioinfo.lifl.fr/yass/