he CMG-biotools system presents a stand-alone interface for comparative microbial genomics. The package is a customized operating system, based on Xubuntu 10.10, available through the open source Ubuntu project. The system can be installed on a virtual computer, allowing the user to run the system alongside any other operating system. Source codes for all programs are provided under GNU license, which makes it possible to transfer the programs to other systems if so desired. We here demonstrate the package by comparing and analyzing the diversity within the class Negativicutes, represented by 31 genomes including 10 genera. The analyses include 16S rRNA phylogeny, basic DNA and codon statistics, proteome comparisons using BLAST and graphical analyses of DNA structures.

 Paper: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0060120

Address of the bookmark: http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/biotools/CMGtools/

The University of Idaho is in Moscow, a small college town located in
Northern Idaho on the Washington border. Moscow is widely considered to
be a great place to live, and it's known for a pleasant downtown, active
farmer's market, and nearby recreational opportunities. All of Moscow
is within biking or walking distance of the University of Idaho. For
more information about Moscow, see https://visitmoscowid.com/.

The University of Idaho has very strong faculty in evolution and
genomics in multiple departments and interdisciplinary programs. Of
particular note are the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Program (BCB: https://www.uidaho.edu/sci/bcb/people/faculty) and
the Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST:
https://www.ibest.uidaho.edu/index.php). In addition, the University of
Idaho is only eight miles from Washington State University in Pullman, and
faculty from the two institutions interact and collaborate extensively.

Minimum qualifications include: a Ph.D. in biological sciences,
bioinformatics, or a related discipline; experience conducting research
in genomics or evolutionary biology, as evidenced by publications
in peer-reviewed journals; and evidence of strong written and oral
communication skills. Experience analyzing next-generation sequence
data and familiarity with the genomics of marine fishes are desirable
but not required.

Apply at: https://uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/30003

Review of applications will begin January 15, 2021. The start date
is flexible.

The University of Idaho is an equal opportunity/Affirmative Action/equal
access employer.

Informal inquiries are encouraged and can be directed to Adam Jones
(adamjones@uidaho.edu).

"adamjones@uidaho.edu"

https://www.genome.gov/event-calendar/perspectives-in-comparative-genomics-and-evolution

Address of the bookmark: https://www.genome.gov/event-calendar/perspectives-in-comparative-genomics-and-evolution

In this post, we’ll explore the core methods used in comparative genomics, the questions they help answer, and how they’re shaping our understanding of life.

1. Whole-Genome Alignment
Whole-genome alignment involves mapping the entire genome of one species to another. Tools like MUMmer, MAUVE, and LASTZ perform large-scale sequence alignments to detect conserved regions, rearrangements, insertions, and deletions.

Use Case:
Comparing human and chimpanzee genomes to identify evolutionary conserved sequences (ECS) and regions of divergence.

Key Challenges:
Handling repetitive sequences and genome rearrangements.

Computational complexity in large genomes.

2. Synteny and Collinearity Analysis
Synteny refers to conserved blocks of gene order across species. Tools like MCScanX, SynMap, or CHITRA (for visualizing synteny interactively) detect these blocks to understand chromosomal evolution.

Use Case:
Studying ancient genome duplications in plants.

Investigating chromosomal rearrangements in cancer genomes.

3. Ortholog and Paralog Detection
Orthologs are genes in different species that evolved from a common ancestor, while paralogs are genes duplicated within a genome. Identifying them is crucial for functional annotation and evolutionary studies.

Popular Tools:
OrthoFinder, Orthologous MAtrix (OMA), InParanoid, and EggNOG.

Use Case:
Functional prediction of uncharacterized genes based on orthologs in model organisms.

Tracing gene family evolution.

4. Phylogenomic Analysis
Phylogenomic methods combine phylogenetics and genomics to infer evolutionary trees based on genome-wide data. These methods can handle dozens to hundreds of genomes, using concatenated alignments or gene trees.

Tools:
RAxML, IQ-TREE, ASTRAL, Phylip, BEAST.

Use Case:
Resolving the evolutionary relationships between microbial species.

Studying speciation events.

5. Pan-Genome Analysis
The pan-genome consists of the core genome (shared by all strains) and the accessory genome (strain-specific genes). This is especially popular in microbial genomics.

Tools:
Roary, Panaroo, BPGA, PGAP.

Use Case:
Understanding virulence factor diversity in E. coli.

Designing broad-spectrum vaccines.

6. Comparative Transcriptomics
Comparing transcriptomes across species or conditions reveals conserved and unique expression patterns. RNA-seq data can be mapped to reference genomes to identify orthologous expression profiles.

Use Case:
Comparing stress response in extremophiles and model species.

Studying conserved regulatory networks.

7. Functional Element Comparison
Beyond genes, comparative genomics also targets non-coding regions—enhancers, promoters, miRNAs. Conservation across species often implies functional importance.

Tools:
PhastCons, GERP, phyloP (based on multiple alignments).

Use Case:
Detecting conserved non-coding elements in vertebrates.

Studying regulatory divergence in human evolution.

8. Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) Detection
In microbes, genes often jump across species boundaries. Comparative genomics can detect HGT by identifying genes that defy the expected phylogenetic pattern.

Tools:
HGTector, DarkHorse, AlienHunter, SIGI-HMM.

Use Case:
Tracing antibiotic resistance genes.

Exploring microbial adaptability in extreme environments.

Final Thoughts
Comparative genomics is a powerful lens to observe the diversity and unity of life. With a broad toolkit—from aligners to orthology pipelines, phylogenetic engines to visualization tools—it allows scientists to ask big questions: How did genomes evolve? What makes species unique? Where do new genes come from?

Whether you're studying extremophiles, building better crops, or exploring human ancestry, comparative genomics offers the methods to connect the dots across the tree of life.

Collaborative python library used in the DYOGEN teamfor studying the evolution of gene order in vertebrates.

http://www.ibens.ens.fr/?rubrique43&lang=fr

Address of the bookmark: https://github.com/DyogenIBENS/LibsDyogen

Compare structural and functional annotations of proteins between sequenced genomes.

An exciting opportunity exists for a highly motivated and enthusiastic bioinformatics researcher to work in the Exosome, Secretome and Systems Biology laboratory of Dr Suresh Mathivanan. This position is funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) USA, to study the role of extracellular RNA or ExRNA in intercellular communication.

The successful applicant will be involved in collaborative bioinformatics research with more than 30 American Universities/Institutes. The ExRNA consortium is a multi-institute USD 17 million funded program which has 5 primary aims: to understand the biogenesis of ExRNA (vesicles and non-vesicles), to explore the use of ExRNA in biomarker research, to establish a reference profile of ExRNA in various disease conditions, to explore the role of ExRNA in therapeutic purposes and to manage the generated data through a reference portal. The bioinformatics component is critical in managing and analysing the data generated by the entire consortium. The researcher is required to contribute to the management and perform the analysis of ExRNA data.

The candidate to succeed, you will possess:

Experience in the analysis and modelling of data, including the capacity to integrate data from a range of sources and of uneven quality.

Evidence of experience in research and of the ability to work effectively under limited supervision or independently.

A record of contribution to publications, conference papers and/or reports, or professional or technical contributions which provide evidence of research potential.

Completion of a doctoral degree in bioinformatics or biostatistics with a focus on transcriptomic data will be highly regarded.

Preference will be given to applicants with competence in programming (JavaScript, Perl/Python), any web-based applications (PHP, ZOPE) and relational databases (MySQL).

Closing date: 30 September 2013

Position Enquiries: Dr Suresh Mathivanan (s.mathivanan@latrobe.edu.au)

More at http://www.mathivananlab.org/

Lab page @ http://krishna.gs.washington.edu/index.html

More @ http://www.bioinf.manchester.ac.uk/dbbrowser/index.php