Microbes and Metagenomics in Human Health an Overview of Recent Publications Featuring Illumina® Technology TABLE of CONTENTS
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The New Science of Metagenomics: Revealing the Secrets of Our Microbial Planet Is Available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, D.C
THE NATIONALA REPORTIN BRIEF C The New Science of Metagenomics Revealing the Secrets of Our Microbial Planet ADEMIES Although we can’t see them, microbes are essential for every part of human life— indeed all life on Earth. The emerging field of metagenomics provides a new way of viewing the microbial world that will not only transform modern microbiology, but also may revolu- tionize understanding of the entire living world. very part of the biosphere is impacted Eby the seemingly endless ability of microorganisms to transform the world around them. It is microorganisms, or microbes, that convert the key elements of life—carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur—into forms accessible to other living things. They also make necessary nutrients, minerals, and vitamins available to plants and animals. The billions of microbes living in the human gut help humans digest food, break down toxins, and fight off disease-causing pathogens. Microbes also clean up pollutants in the environment, such as oil and Bacteria in human saliva. Trillions of chemical spills. All of these activities are carried bacteria make up the normal microbial com- out not by individual microbes but by complex munity found in and on the human body. microbial communities—intricate, balanced, and The new science of metagenomics can help integrated entities that have a remarkable ability to us understand the role of microbial commu- adapt swiftly to environmental change. nities in human health and the environment. Historically, microbiology has focused on (Image courtesy of Michael Abbey) single species in pure laboratory culture, and thus understanding of microbial communities has lagged behind understanding of their individual mem- bers. -
Recent Advances in Droplet-Based Microfluidic Technologies
micromachines Review Recent Advances in Droplet-based Microfluidic Technologies for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 1, 1, 2, Joel Sánchez Barea y , Juhwa Lee y and Dong-Ku Kang * 1 Department of Chemistry, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, Korea; [email protected] (J.S.B.); [email protected] (J.L.) 2 Department of Chemistry, Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, Korea * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +82-32-835-8094 These authors contribute equally to this article. y Received: 2 May 2019; Accepted: 18 June 2019; Published: 20 June 2019 Abstract: Recently, droplet-based microfluidic systems have been widely used in various biochemical and molecular biological assays. Since this platform technique allows manipulation of large amounts of data and also provides absolute accuracy in comparison to conventional bioanalytical approaches, over the last decade a range of basic biochemical and molecular biological operations have been transferred to drop-based microfluidic formats. In this review, we introduce recent advances and examples of droplet-based microfluidic techniques that have been applied in biochemistry and molecular biology research including genomics, proteomics and cellomics. Their advantages and weaknesses in various applications are also comprehensively discussed here. The purpose of this review is to provide a new point of view and current status in droplet-based microfluidics to biochemists and molecular biologists. We hope that this review will accelerate communications between researchers who are working in droplet-based microfluidics, biochemistry and molecular biology. Keywords: droplet-based microfluidic; biochemistry; molecular biology; digital PCR; biochip; biosensor; digital quantification; microfluidic; single cell analysis 1. -
Metagenomics Approaches for the Detection and Surveillance of Emerging and Recurrent Plant Pathogens
microorganisms Review Metagenomics Approaches for the Detection and Surveillance of Emerging and Recurrent Plant Pathogens Edoardo Piombo 1,2 , Ahmed Abdelfattah 3,4 , Samir Droby 5, Michael Wisniewski 6,7, Davide Spadaro 1,8,* and Leonardo Schena 9 1 Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy; [email protected] 2 Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Uppsala Biocenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7026, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden 3 Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, 8010 Graz, Austria; [email protected] 4 Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, University of Stockholm, Svante Arrhenius väg 20A, 11418 Stockholm, Sweden 5 Department of Postharvest Science, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), The Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel; [email protected] 6 U.S. Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Kearneysville, WV 25430, USA; [email protected] 7 Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Technical University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA 8 AGROINNOVA—Centre of Competence for the Innovation in the Agroenvironmental Sector, University of Torino, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy 9 Department of Agriculture, Università Mediterranea, 89122 Reggio Calabria, Italy; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +39-0116708942 Abstract: Globalization has a dramatic effect on the trade and movement of seeds, fruits and vegeta- bles, with a corresponding increase in economic losses caused by the introduction of transboundary Citation: Piombo, E.; Abdelfattah, A.; plant pathogens. Current diagnostic techniques provide a useful and precise tool to enact surveillance Droby, S.; Wisniewski, M.; Spadaro, protocols regarding specific organisms, but this approach is strictly targeted, while metabarcoding D.; Schena, L. -
The Pathogenomics and Evolution of Anthrax-Like Bacillus Cereus Isolates and Plasmids
The Pathogenomics and Evolution of Anthrax-like Bacillus cereus Isolates and Plasmids A white paper proposal submitted by: Geraldine A. Van der Auwera, Ph.D. Harvard Medical School Michael Feldgarden, Ph.D. Genomic Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard 1 Executive summary A key member of the Bacillus cereus group, Bacillus anthracis is defined by phenotypic and molecular characteristics that are conferred by two large plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. However the very concept of B. anthracis as a distinct species has been called into question by recent discoveries of “intermediate” isolates identified as B. cereus and B. thuringiensis but possessing features similar to those of B. anthracis, including large plasmids that share a common backbone with pXO1 and/or pXO2. Many of these “intermediate” isolates possess potential or demonstrated lethal pathogenic properties and are sometimes called “anthrax-like”, even though they do not meet the strict definition of anthrax-causing B. anthracis. We recently showed that pXO1- and pXO2- like plasmids are widely prevalent in environmental isolates of the B. cereus group. Because B. anthracis-like isolates do not possess all the molecular hallmarks of typical B. anthracis, there is a significant risk that they would escape being flagged as dangerous. Consequently, accidental infection by naturally occurring pathotypes which are not immediately recognized as life-threatening could present a serious health concern. Such cases have already been reported, some with a fatal outcome. The second risk posed by these B. anthracis-like isolates could be the intentional use as “stealth anthrax” bioweapon, either in natural form or with genetic modifications that would require only minimal skills and facilities to produce. -
Coming-Of-Age Characterization of Soil Viruses: a User's Guide To
Review Coming-of-Age Characterization of Soil Viruses: A User’s Guide to Virus Isolation, Detection within Metagenomes, and Viromics Gareth Trubl 1,* , Paul Hyman 2 , Simon Roux 3 and Stephen T. Abedon 4,* 1 Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA 2 Department of Biology/Toxicology, Ashland University, Ashland, OH 44805, USA; [email protected] 3 DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; [email protected] 4 Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Mansfield, OH 44906, USA * Correspondence: [email protected] (G.T.); [email protected] (S.T.A.) Received: 25 February 2020; Accepted: 17 April 2020; Published: 21 April 2020 Abstract: The study of soil viruses, though not new, has languished relative to the study of marine viruses. This is particularly due to challenges associated with separating virions from harboring soils. Generally, three approaches to analyzing soil viruses have been employed: (1) Isolation, to characterize virus genotypes and phenotypes, the primary method used prior to the start of the 21st century. (2) Metagenomics, which has revealed a vast diversity of viruses while also allowing insights into viral community ecology, although with limitations due to DNA from cellular organisms obscuring viral DNA. (3) Viromics (targeted metagenomics of virus-like-particles), which has provided a more focused development of ‘virus-sequence-to-ecology’ pipelines, a result of separation of presumptive virions from cellular organisms prior to DNA extraction. This separation permits greater sequencing emphasis on virus DNA and thereby more targeted molecular and ecological characterization of viruses. -
Interfacing to Biological Systems Using Microfluidics
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2018 Interfacing to Biological Systems Using Microfluidics Peter Golden Shankles University of Tennessee, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Shankles, Peter Golden, "Interfacing to Biological Systems Using Microfluidics. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2018. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5315 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Peter Golden Shankles entitled "Interfacing to Biological Systems Using Microfluidics." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Energy Science and Engineering. Scott T. Retterer, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Steven M. Abel, Mitchel J. Doctycz, Jennifer L. Morrell-Falvey Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Interfacing to Biological Systems Using Microfluidics A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Peter Golden Shankles December 2018 Copyright © 2018 by Peter Golden Shankles All rights reserved. -
What Is Metagenomics? - an Introduction
What is Metagenomics? - an Introduction Josef Korbinian Vogt Information Age Do you remember? DNA Sequencing Reading the order of bases in DNA fragments How? Do you remember? Sequencing timeline Do you remember? ‘53 ‘77 ‘83 ‘86 ‘90 ‘95 ‘96 ‘00 ‘03 ‘04 ‘06 2010 - Human Genome Pyro- Completion of 3rd Generation Sanger sequencing Project starts sequencing Human Genome Sequencing Project Illumina Sequencing Polymerase chain First complete reaction developed genome of free- living organisms 454 Discovery of DNA double Pyrosequencing Helix by Watson & Crick Applied Biosystems “Next Generation” markets first automated Sequencing DNA sequencing 2nd Generation sequencing Do you remember? Reading the order of bases in DNA bases From genomics to metagenomics From genomics to metagenomics Genomics E. coli, Science, 1997 Human, Nature/Science, 2001 Metagenomics Saragasso sea, Science, 2004 Human gut, Nature, 2010 Metagenomics What is Metagenomics? Metagenomics (Environmental Genomics, Ecogenomics or Community Genomics) is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples. Chen & Pachter, Metagenomics is application of modern genomic techniques to the 2005 study of communities of microbial organisms directly in their natural environments, bypassing the need for isolation and lab cultivation of individual species Environments Metagenomics • Investigate all genomic content (i.e. bacteria, phages, plasmids…) • culture/non-culturable (~99% of microbial species cannot be cultivated) • known/unknown 16S rRNA How to? How to? How to? Methods Makes analysis hard… • Lack of references (for novel metagenomes) • Assembly: shared/similar regions between genomes work as repeats, assign contigs • Varying abundance • High diversity, large datasets Genomic vs Metagenomics Genomic vs Metagenomics Genomic vs Metagenomics Why bother? • Discovery: • novel products (e.g. -
A Flexible Microfluidic System for Single-Cell Transcriptome Profiling
www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A fexible microfuidic system for single‑cell transcriptome profling elucidates phased transcriptional regulators of cell cycle Karen Davey1,7, Daniel Wong2,7, Filip Konopacki2, Eugene Kwa1, Tony Ly3, Heike Fiegler2 & Christopher R. Sibley 1,4,5,6* Single cell transcriptome profling has emerged as a breakthrough technology for the high‑resolution understanding of complex cellular systems. Here we report a fexible, cost‑efective and user‑ friendly droplet‑based microfuidics system, called the Nadia Instrument, that can allow 3′ mRNA capture of ~ 50,000 single cells or individual nuclei in a single run. The precise pressure‑based system demonstrates highly reproducible droplet size, low doublet rates and high mRNA capture efciencies that compare favorably in the feld. Moreover, when combined with the Nadia Innovate, the system can be transformed into an adaptable setup that enables use of diferent bufers and barcoded bead confgurations to facilitate diverse applications. Finally, by 3′ mRNA profling asynchronous human and mouse cells at diferent phases of the cell cycle, we demonstrate the system’s ability to readily distinguish distinct cell populations and infer underlying transcriptional regulatory networks. Notably this provided supportive evidence for multiple transcription factors that had little or no known link to the cell cycle (e.g. DRAP1, ZKSCAN1 and CEBPZ). In summary, the Nadia platform represents a promising and fexible technology for future transcriptomic studies, and other related applications, at cell resolution. Single cell transcriptome profling has recently emerged as a breakthrough technology for understanding how cellular heterogeneity contributes to complex biological systems. Indeed, cultured cells, microorganisms, biopsies, blood and other tissues can be rapidly profled for quantifcation of gene expression at cell resolution. -
For Immediate Release. Oct. 8Th, 2010 Microbesonline.Org Enhanced for Metagenomics and Metabolism
For Immediate Release. Oct. 8th, 2010 MicrobesOnline.org Enhanced for Metagenomics and Metabolism & The Arkin lab (genomics.lbl.gov) computational biology and bioinformatics team, as part of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI, www.jbei.org) and the Virtual Institute for Microbial Stress and Survival (VIMSS, vimss.lbl.gov), has added significant new functionality to the MicrobesOnline.org web resource for comparative and functional analysis of microbial genomes. This work, led by Dylan Chivian with John Bates, Keith Keller, Morgan Price, Paramvir Dehal, under the guidance of Adam Arkin, offers the scientific community new capabilities for metagenomic and metabolic analyses. metaMicrobesOnline Figure 1. metaMicrobesOnline permits the user to select metagenomes and isolates they want to study and then perform easy searches for keywords or gene families (e.g. “amylase” or “PFAM00128”). Scanning electron microscopy image of microbial compost community courtesy Bernhard Knierim and Manfred Auer. The new meta.MicrobesOnline.org web resource, which currently contains over 1600 genomes from bacterial, archaeal, and microeukaryotic isolates, offers combined phylogenetic gene tree analysis of millions of genes from over 150 ecological and organismal metagenomes. These trees are built using our FastTree [1] program, which offers rapid highly accurate tree building, even for very large trees. Such combined analysis is superior to BLAST-based homology approaches in that trees offers the ability to place genes from environmental samples into an evolutionary context and permits more precise functional grouping within a gene family, yielding information about the key genes for a given environment. Additionally, comparison with isolate genomes gives researchers clues for which additional genes to look for to complete the components of systems, or may possess phylogenetic markers to aid in assigning the species for environmental sequence fragments, permitting the determination of which community members are responsible for which roles. -
Genome and Pangenome Analysis of Lactobacillus Hilgardii FLUB—A New Strain Isolated from Mead
International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Genome and Pangenome Analysis of Lactobacillus hilgardii FLUB—A New Strain Isolated from Mead Klaudia Gustaw 1,* , Piotr Koper 2,* , Magdalena Polak-Berecka 1 , Kamila Rachwał 1, Katarzyna Skrzypczak 3 and Adam Wa´sko 1 1 Department of Biotechnology, Microbiology and Human Nutrition, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Skromna 8, 20-704 Lublin, Poland; [email protected] (M.P.-B.); [email protected] (K.R.); [email protected] (A.W.) 2 Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland 3 Department of Fruits, Vegetables and Mushrooms Technology, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Skromna 8, 20-704 Lublin, Poland; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] (K.G.); [email protected] (P.K.) Abstract: The production of mead holds great value for the Polish liquor industry, which is why the bacterium that spoils mead has become an object of concern and scientific interest. This article describes, for the first time, Lactobacillus hilgardii FLUB newly isolated from mead, as a mead spoilage bacteria. Whole genome sequencing of L. hilgardii FLUB revealed a 3 Mbp chromosome and five plasmids, which is the largest reported genome of this species. An extensive phylogenetic analysis and digital DNA-DNA hybridization confirmed the membership of the strain in the L. hilgardii species. The genome of L. hilgardii FLUB encodes 3043 genes, 2871 of which are protein coding sequences, Citation: Gustaw, K.; Koper, P.; 79 code for RNA, and 93 are pseudogenes. -
14S802 - Strain Specific Pathogenicity of Staphylococcus Aureus Final Report
14S802 - Strain Specific Pathogenicity of Staphylococcus aureus Final Report This project was funded under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Competitive Funding Programme. SUMMARY Mastitis is a costly endemic disease for the dairy industry. It is primarily caused by bacterial infection and is the most common reason for antibiotic use in dairy cows in Ireland. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common mastitis pathogen in Ireland and the S. aureus strains that cause mastitis belong to specific bovine-adapted lineages. Current selection for mastitis-resistance is based on the host immune response, as determined by somatic cell count (SCC). However, the ability of S. aureus to evade and subvert the host immune response is well known, including the ability to internalise and survive within host cells. This project tested the hypothesis that bovine intramammary infection with different S. aureus strains results in differential activation of the host immune response. Supporting this hypothesis, significant differences between S. aureus lineages in their ability to internalise within bovine mammary epithelial cells were found with some strains internalising at higher levels than others. It was also found that some strains induced higher expression of cytokines and chemokines responsible for attracting immune cells and these strains induced mammary epithelial cells to produce factors that attracted somatic cells, while other strains did not. Differences in disease presentation in vivo in cows infected with different strains were also observed, indicating strain-specific virulence. Significantly higher somatic cell count and anti- Staphylococcus IgG and significantly lower milk yield were observed in response to infection with a more virulent strain. -
RNA-Seq and Microfluidic Digital PCR Identification of Transcriptionally Active Spirochetes in Termite Gut Microbial Communities
4-1 RNA-Seq and microfluidic digital PCR identification of transcriptionally active spirochetes in termite gut microbial communities Abstract CO2-reductive acetogenesis in termite hindguts is a bacterial process with significant impact on the nutrition of wood-feeding termites. Acetogenic spirochetes have been identified as key mediators of acetogenesis. Here, we use high-throughput, short transcript sequencing (RNA-Seq) and microfluidic, multiplex digital PCR to identify uncultured termite gut spirochetes transcribing genes for hydrogenase-linked formate dehydrogenase (FDHH) enzymes, which are required for acetogenic metabolism in the spirochete, Treponema primitia. To assess FDHH gene (fdhF) transcription within the gut community of a wood-feeding termite, we sequenced ca. 28,000,000 short transcript reads of gut microbial community RNA using Illumina Solexa technology. RNA-Seq results indicate that fdhF transcription in the gut is dominated by two fdhF genotypes: ZnD2sec and Zn2cys. This finding was independently corroborated with cDNA inventory and qRT-PCR transcription measurements. We, therefore, propose that RNA-Seq mapping of microbial community transcripts is specific and quantitative. Following transcriptional assessments, we performed microfluidic, multiplex digital PCR on single termite gut bacterial cells to discover the identity of uncultured bacteria encoding fdhF 4-2 genotypes ZnD2sec and Zn2cys. We identified the specific 16S rRNA gene ribotype of the bacterium encoding Zn2cys fdhF and report that the bacterium is a spirochete. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that this uncultured spirochete, like T. primitia, possesses genes for acetogenic metabolism – formyl-tetra-hydrofolate synthetase and both selenocysteine and cysteine variants of formate dehydrogenase. Microfluidic results also imply a spirochetal origin for ZnD2sec fdhF, but further gene pair associations are required for verification.