Towards the detection of horizontal gene transfer in metagenomic datasets Weizhi Song A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences Faculty of Science March 2019 Surname/Family Name : Song Given Name/s : Weizhi Abbreviation for degree as give in the University calendar : PhD Faculty : Science School : Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences Thesis Title : Towards the detection of horizontal gene transfer in metagenomic datasets Abstract Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is thought to be an important driving force for microbial evolution and adaptation, including the development of antibiotics resistance and niche adaptation. Metagenomics provides an opportunity to study HGT on the level of microbial communities, however, analysis method for this are currently lacking. Here, I developed three bioinformatic pipelines to aid the detection of HGT in metagenomic datasets. Firstly, Binning_refiner was developed to improve the quality of genome bins derived from metagenomic datasets through the combination of different binning programs. The results demonstrated that Binning_refiner can significantly reduce the contamination level of genome bins and increase the total size of contamination-free genome bins. Secondly, HgtSIM was developed to simulate HGT events among microbial community members with user-defined mutation levels. It was developed for testing and benchmarking pipelines for recovering HGTs from complex microbial communities. And thirdly, MetaCHIP was developed to identify HGTs at the community-level through the combination of best-match and phylogenetic approaches. Assessment of its performance on both simulated and real datasets showed that it can effectively predict HGTs with various degrees of genetic divergence from microbial communities. The results also showed that the detection of very recent gene transfers (i.e. those with genetic divergence < 5%) from metagenomic datasets is affected by the read assemble step, as the genomic background of recently transferred genes cannot be recovered with currently available assemblers. And finally, the potential application of long-read sequencing (PacBio) for metagenomics was also explored. A simulated metagenome of pooled genomic DNA from ten marine bacteria with various degrees of genome similarity was sequenced on the PacBio sequencing platform and ten complete high-quality genomes were assembled. The findings and developments made here, including a reference-based read phasing approach for the assembly of highly similar genomes, can be used in the future to design strategies to analyse long- read sequencing data for mixed bacterial communities. 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Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: II Originality Statement ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed …………………………………………….............. Date …………………………………………….............. III COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... Inclusion of Publication Statement UNSW is supportive of candidates publishing their research results during their candidature as detailed in the UNSW Thesis Examination Procedure. Publications can be used in their thesis in lieu of a Chapter if: • The student contributed greater than 50% of the content in the publication and is the “primary author”, ie. the student was responsible primarily for the planning, execution and preparation of the work for publication • The student has approval to include the publication in their thesis in lieu of a Chapter from their supervisor and Postgraduate Coordinator. • The publication is not subject to any obligations or contractual agreements with a third party that would constrain its inclusion in the thesis Please indicate whether this thesis contains published material or not. This thesis contains no publications, either published or submitted for publication ☐ Some of the work described in this thesis has been published and it has been ☐ documented in the relevant Chapters with acknowledgement This thesis has publications (either published or submitted for publication) ☒ incorporated into it in lieu of a chapter and the details are presented below CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I declare that: • I have complied with the Thesis Examination Procedure • where I have used a publication in lieu of a Chapter, the listed publication(s) below meet(s) the requirements to be included in the thesis. Name Signature Date Weizhi Song 26/03/2019 Postgraduate Coordinator’s Declaration I declare that: • the information below is accurate • where listed publication(s) have been used in lieu of Chapter(s), their use complies with the Thesis Examination Procedure • the minimum requirements for the format of the thesis have been met. PGC’s Name PGC’s Signature Date Michael Janitz 26/03/2019 IV Details of publication #1: Full title: Binning_refiner: improving genome bins through the combination of different binning programs Authors: Weizhi Song and Torsten Thomas Journal name: Bioinformatics Volume/page numbers: Volume 33, Pages 1873–1875 Date accepted/published: Accepted: 2017-02-07; Published: 2017-02-10 Accepted and In progress Status Published ü In press (submitted) The Candidate’s Contribution to the Work Weizhi Song contributed about 80% of the content in the publication. Weizhi Song conceived, designed and implemented the algorithm, performed data analyses, prepared figures and tables, as well as wrote the manuscript. Location of the work in the thesis and/or how the work is incorporated in the thesis: This publication was incorporated into this thesis in lieu of the second chapter. This chapter describes a bioinformatic pipeline named Binning_refiner, which was developed to improve the quality of genome bins derived from metagenomic dataset. High-quality metagenome- assembled genomes (MAGs) are of critial importance for the detection of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from metagenomics dataset, as mis-binned sequences (contamination) may introduce false positives in the HGT analysis. Primary Supervisor’s Declaration I declare that: • the information above is accurate • this has been discussed with the PGC and it is agreed that this publication can be included in this thesis in lieu of a Chapter • All of the co-authors of the publication have reviewed the above information and have agreed to its veracity