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Fulltext High-quality Schistosoma haematobium genome achieved by single-molecule and long-range sequencing

Stroehlein AJ, Korhonen PK, Chong TM, Lim YL, Chan KG, Webster B, et al.

Gigascience, 2019 Sep 01;8(9).
PMID: 31494670 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/giz108

BACKGROUND: Schistosoma haematobium causes urogenital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease affecting >100 million people worldwide. Chronic infection with this parasitic trematode can lead to urogenital conditions including female genital schistosomiasis and bladder cancer. At the molecular level, little is known about this blood fluke and the pathogenesis of the disease that it causes. To support molecular studies of this carcinogenic worm, we reported a draft genome for S. haematobium in 2012. Although a useful resource, its utility has been somewhat limited by its fragmentation.
FINDINGS: Here, we systematically enhanced the draft genome of S. haematobium using a single-molecule and long-range DNA-sequencing approach. We achieved a major improvement in the accuracy and contiguity of the genome assembly, making it superior or comparable to assemblies for other schistosome species. We transferred curated gene models to this assembly and, using enhanced gene annotation pipelines, inferred a gene set with as many or more complete gene models as those of other well-studied schistosomes. Using conserved, single-copy orthologs, we assessed the phylogenetic position of S. haematobium in relation to other parasitic flatworms for which draft genomes were available.
CONCLUSIONS: We report a substantially enhanced genomic resource that represents a solid foundation for molecular research on S. haematobium and is poised to better underpin population and functional genomic investigations and to accelerate the search for new disease interventions.

Matched MeSH terms: Genome, Helminth*
Genome-wide identification and characterization of long intergenic noncoding RNAs in the regenerative flatworm Macrostomum lignano

Azlan A, Halim MA, Azzam G

Genomics, 2020 03;112(2):1273-1281.
PMID: 31381967 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2019.07.016

The free-living flatworm Macrostoma lignano (M. lignano) is an emerging model organism for aging and regeneration research. Long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) have important roles in many biological processes such as aging, stem cell maintenance and differentiation. However, to date, there is no systematic identification of lincRNAs in M. lignano. By using public RNA-seq data, we identified a total of 2547 lincRNA transcripts in M. lignano genome. We discovered that M. lignano lincRNAs shared many characteristics with other species such as shorter in length, lower GC content, and lower in expression compared to protein-coding genes. Unlike protein-coding genes, M. lignano lincRNAs showed higher tendency to be expressed in temporal and region-specific fashion. Additionally, co-expression network analysis and functional enrichment suggest that M. lignano lincRNAs have potential roles in regeneration. This study will provide important resources and pave the way for investigations on non-coding genes involved in aging and regeneration.

Matched MeSH terms: Genome, Helminth*
Fulltext X-treme loss of sequence diversity linked to neo-X chromosomes in filarial nematodes

Mattick J, Libro S, Bromley R, Chaicumpa W, Chung M, Cook D, et al.

PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2021 Oct;15(10):e0009838.
PMID: 34705823 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009838

The sequence diversity of natural and laboratory populations of Brugia pahangi and Brugia malayi was assessed with Illumina resequencing followed by mapping in order to identify single nucleotide variants and insertions/deletions. In natural and laboratory Brugia populations, there is a lack of sequence diversity on chromosome X relative to the autosomes (πX/πA = 0.2), which is lower than the expected (πX/πA = 0.75). A reduction in diversity is also observed in other filarial nematodes with neo-X chromosome fusions in the genera Onchocerca and Wuchereria, but not those without neo-X chromosome fusions in the genera Loa and Dirofilaria. In the species with neo-X chromosome fusions, chromosome X is abnormally large, containing a third of the genetic material such that a sizable portion of the genome is lacking sequence diversity. Such profound differences in genetic diversity can be consequential, having been associated with drug resistance and adaptability, with the potential to affect filarial eradication.

Matched MeSH terms: Genome, Helminth
Fulltext Draft genome of Brugia pahangi: high similarity between B. pahangi and B. malayi

Lau YL, Lee WC, Xia J, Zhang G, Razali R, Anwar A, et al.

Parasit Vectors, 2015;8:451.
PMID: 26350613 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-015-1064-2

Efforts to completely eradicate lymphatic filariasis from human population may be challenged by the emergence of Brugia pahangi as another zoonotic lymphatic filarial nematode. In this report, a genomic study was conducted to understand this species at molecular level.

Matched MeSH terms: Genome, Helminth/genetics*