Project description:A prototype oligonucleotide microarray was designed to detect and identify viable bacterial species with the potential to grow of common beer spoilage microorganisms from the genera Lactobacillus, Megasphaera, Pediococcus and Pectinatus. Probes targeted the intergenic spacer regions (ISR) between 16S and 23S rRNA, which were amplified in a combination of reverse transcriptase (RT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) prior to hybridization. This method allows the detection and discrimination of single bacterial species in a complex sample. Furthermore, microarrays using oligonucleotide probes targeting the ISR allow the distinction between viable bacteria with the potential to grow and non-growing bacteria. The results demonstrate the feasibility of oligonucleotide microarrays as a contamination control in food industry for the detection and identification of spoilage microorganisms within mixed population. Keywords: microarray, oligonucleotide, species-specific, detection, beer spoilage bacteria
Project description:We present the first genome-wide identification and characterizaion of 422 novel sRNAs in R. capsulatus. In addition we report a comparative analysis of conserved sRNAs across 24 bacterial species.
Project description:Centromeres are chromosomal regions that serve as platforms for kinetochore assembly and spindle attachments, ensuring accurate chromosome segregation during cell division. Despite functional conservation, centromeric sequences are diverse and usually repetitive across species, making them challenging to assemble and identify. Here, we describe centromeres in the model oomycete Phytophthora sojae by combining long-read sequencing-based genome assembly and chromatin immunoprecipitation for the centromeric histone CENP-A followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq). P. sojae centromeres cluster at a single focus in the nucleus at different life stages and during nuclear division. We report a highly contiguous genome assembly of the P. sojae reference strain, which enabled identification of 15 highly enriched CENP-A binding regions as putative centromeres. By focusing on 10 intact regions, we demonstrate that centromeres in P. sojae are regional, spanning 211 to 356 kb. Most of these regions are transposon-rich, poorly transcribed, and lack the euchromatin mark H3K4me2 but are embedded within regions with the heterochromatin marks H3K9me3 and H3K27me3.