Project description:Mucor species belongs to the Mucorales order within the phylum Mucoromycota, an early diverging fungal lineage. The purpose of this study was to investigate at the transcriptome scale the similarities and differences that could be linked to different lifestyles. Five strains pertaining to five species were studied: M. fuscus and M. lanceolatus, two species used in cheese ripening, M. racemosus, a recurrent cheese spoiler sometimes described as an opportunistic pathogen, M. circinelloides, often described as an opportunistic pathogen and M. endophyticus, a plant endophyte species.
Project description:Somatic cancer driver mutations may result in distinctly diverging phenotypic outputs. Thus, a common driver lesion may result in cancer subtypes with distinct clinical presentations and outcomes. The diverging phenotypic outputs of mutations result from the superimposition of the mutations with distinct progenitor cell populations that have differing lineage potential. However, our ability to test this hypothesis has been challenged by currently available tools. For example, flow cytometry is limited in its inability to resolve lineage commitment of early progenitors. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) may provide higher resolution mapping of the early progenitor populations as long as high throughput technology is available to sequence thousands of single cells. Nevertheless, high throughput scRNA-seq is limited in its inability to jointly and robustly detect the mutational status and the transcriptional profile from the same cell. To overcome these limitations, we propose the use of scRNA-seq combined with targeted mutation sequencing from transcrptional read-outs.
Project description:Somatic cancer driver mutations may result in distinctly diverging phenotypic outputs. Thus, a common driver lesion may result in cancer subtypes with distinct clinical presentations and outcomes. The diverging phenotypic outputs of mutations result from the superimposition of the mutations with distinct progenitor cell populations that have differing lineage potential. However, our ability to test this hypothesis has been challenged by currently available tools. For example, flow cytometry is limited in its inability to resolve lineage commitment of early progenitors. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) may provide higher resolution mapping of the early progenitor populations as long as high throughput technology is available to sequence thousands of single cells. Nevertheless, high throughput scRNA-seq is limited in its inability to jointly and robustly detect the mutational status and the transcriptional profile from the same cell. To overcome these limitations, we propose the use of scRNA-seq combined with targeted mutation sequencing from transcrptional read-outs.
Project description:Blastocladiomycota, early diverging zoosporic (flagellated) lineages of fungi, are vastly understudied. This phylum includes the genus Coelomomyces which consists of more than eighty fungal species that are obligate parasites of arthropods. Coelomomyces lack a complete asexual life cycle, instead surviving through an obligate heteroecious alternation of generations life cycle. Despite their global distribution and interesting life cycle, little is known about Coelomomyces species. To begin to address this, we analyzed transcriptomes from across host-associated life stages including infection of larva and excised mature sporangia from the mosquito, Anopheles quadrimaculatus. We identified differentially expressed genes and over-enriched GO terms both across and within life stages and used these to make hypotheses about C. lativittatus biology. Generally, we found the C. lativittatus transcriptome to be a complex and dynamic expression landscape; GO terms related to metabolism and transport processes were over-enriched during infection and terms related to dispersal were over-enriched during sporulation. The C. lativittatus transcriptomes reported here are a valuable resource and may be leveraged toward furthering understanding of the biology of these and other early diverging fungal lineages.