Project description:Natural epigenetic variation provides a source for the generation of phenotypic diversity, but to understand its contribution to phenotypic diversity, its interaction with genetic variation requires further investigation. MethylC-seq from naturally-occurring Arabidopsis accessions
Project description:Anthropogenic nutrient inputs alter soil biodiversity; however, it remains largely unknown whether changes in soil microeukaryotes (fungi and protists) are primarily driven by direct effects, such as modifications in soil properties, or by indirect effects, such as plant diversity loss. To disentangle these mechanisms, we investigated the long-term effects (11 years) of fertilization and manipulated plant diversity (1, 2, or 4 plant species) on soil microeukaryote communities in a temperate grassland experiment using long-amplicon rRNA sequencing. Our results indicate that fertilization generally had a stronger influence on microeukaryote communities than plant species richness. Fertilization altered the community composition of fungi and protists, increased OTU richness by 20.8% and 52.7%, respectively, and shifted community dominance from fungi to protists. Regarding plant diversity, we observed an effect exclusively on the protist community. Changes were primarily explained by increased plant biomass (driven by both fertilization and plant diversity) and by higher soil phosphorus and lower soil pH levels (driven exclusively by fertilization). Regarding life strategies, we observed synergistic treatment effects: fertilization primarily enhanced fungal saprophytes (only richness), fungal animal pathogens, and protist consumers, whereas plant diversity affected phototrophic protists (reduction) and protist animal pathogens (enhancement). Notably, fertilization and plant diversity decline together led to a cumulative increase in fungal plant pathogens. In conclusion, we highlight that fertilisation alone has a significant effect on soil microeukaryotes, while the additional decline in plant diversity affects different soil groups that are not directly affected by fertilisation. This synergistic pattern indicates that fertilization can influence the entire microeukaryote community through direct and indirect mechanisms, with a cumulative enhancement on certain groups, such as plant pathogens.
Project description:Comparative genomic hybridisation of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from a single clonal complex, in order to determine genomic diversity. Isolates were selected from a range of tissue types and serotypes in order to cover the full diversity of the clone, and also in order to try and identify tissue-specific genes
Project description:The Global Diversity lines are a resource collection of 87 strains of Drosophila melanogaster (Grenier JK et al 2015. PMID 25673134). In this experiment, whole adult flies from the Global Diversity Lines (87 inbred lines derived from natural populations) were profiled using a spotted-oligo microarray to determine natural variation in gene expression patterns.
Project description:There are very few studies exploring the genetic diversity of tick-borne encephalitis complex viruses. Most of the viruses have been sequenced using capillary electrophoresis, however, very few viruses have been analyzed using deep sequencing to look at the genotypes in each virus population. In this study, different viruses and strains belonging to the tick-borne encephalitis complex were sequenced and genetic diversity was analyzed. Shannon entropy and single nucleotide variants were used to compare the viruses. Then genetic diversity was compared to the phylogenetic relationship of the viruses.
Project description:ZIKV strains belong to three phylogenetic lineages: East African, West African, and Asian/American. RNA virus genomes exist as populations of genetically-related sequences whose heterogeneity may impact viral fitness, evolution, and virulence. The genetic diversity of representative ZIKVs (N=7) from each lineage was examined using next generation sequencing (NGS) paired with downstream Shannon entropy calculation and single nucleotide variant (SNV) analysis. This comprehensive analysis of ZIKV genetic diversity provides insight into the genetic diversity of ZKIV and repository of SNV positions across lineages.
Project description:How functional cellular heterogeneities are regulated is fundamental for understanding the molecular basis of complex organs. Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are an ideal model to investigate the regulation of cellular heterogeneity. The “one-neuron-one-receptor” organization and topographical mapping ensure the detection and precise translation of odor signals to the central neural system. Besides the diversity of OR genes and other molecular guiding axon sorting processes, single-cell transcriptome analysis revealed an OSN subpopulation, defined by Cd36, a lipid receptor gene. The function study exhibited lipid odor identification was impaired in Cd36-deficient mice. In this study, we systematically depicted the transcriptome diversity, spatial distribution, and specific functions of Cd36+ OSNs in the mouse olfactory epithelium. The specific molecular features of Cd36+ OSN we revealed implemented the programmed cellular diversity may be driven by their olfaction function. Furthermore, with the integrative analysis of single-cell transcriptome and epigenome profiles, we revealed the cis and trans regulatory signatures in Cd36+ OSN and identified Tshz1 and Mef2 as the key regulators that may directly regulate and promote the expression of Cd36 and drive the cellular diversity of OSNs. Especially, we demonstrated that Tshz1 is expressed coordinately with the choices of ORs, earlier than the expression of Cd36, which indicates it may act as a pioneer factor that instructs the lineage-specific expression of Cd36 and other genes, eventually leading to the cellular diversity of Cd36+ OSN. Our results provide novel knowledge on the regulation mechanism of cellular diversity of complex organs.