Genomic Approaches to Analyze Alternative Splicing, A Key Regulator of Transcriptome and Proteome Diversity in Brachypodium distachyon.

Alternative splicing (AS) promotes transcriptome and proteome diversity in plants, which influences growth and development, and host responses to stress. Advancements in next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics, and computational biology tools have allowed biologists to investigate AS landscapes on a genome-wide scale in several plant species. Furthermore, the development of Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) as a model system for grasses has facilitated comparative studies of AS within the Poaceae. These analyses revealed a plethora of genes in several biological processes that are alternatively spliced and identified conserved AS patterns among monocot and dicot plants. In this chapter, using a Brachypodium-virus pathosystem as a research template, we provide an overview of genomic and bioinformatic tools that can be used to investigate constitutive and alternative splicing in plants.

Antiviral therapy with nucleotide/nucleoside analogues in chronic hepatitis B: A meta-analysis of prospective randomized trials.

Nucleotide/nucleoside analogues (antiviral therapy) are used in the therapy of HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B. We analyzed ten selected randomized controlled with 2557 patients to estimate the effect of antiviral drugs in chronic hepatitis B with compared to placebo. Virological response, biochemical response, histological response, seroconversion of HBeAg, and loss of HBeAg were estimated as primary efficacy measures. The included studies were subjected for heterogeneity and publication bias. The heterogeneity was assessed with χ2 and I(2) statistics. Publication bias was assessed by funnel plot. Greater rates of improvement obtained in antiviral group for virological response [43.96 % vs. 3.15 %, RR = 0.57, 95 % CI = 0.54-0.61, p-value <0.00001], biochemical response [58.37 % vs. 21.87 %, RR = 0.52, 95 % CI = 0.48-0.56, p-value <0.00001], histological response [58.99 % vs. 27.13 %, RR = 0.56, 95 % CI = 0.50-0.63, p-value <0.0001], seroconversion of HBeAg [10.66 % vs. 5.56 %, RR = 0.94, 95 % CI = 0.91-0.97, p-value = 0.0005], and HBeAg loss [14.59 % vs. 9.64 %, RR = 0.92, 95 % CI = 0.88-0.96, p-value = 0.0002]. The safety analysis were carried out for adverse events such as headache [17.22 % vs. 17.34 %, OR = 1.09, 95 % CI = 0.81-1.46, p-value = 0.58], abdominal pain [16.46 % vs. 14.34 %, OR = 1.24, 95 % CI = 0.90-1.72, p-value = 0.19], and pharyngitis [22.22 % vs. 18.23 %, OR = 1.12, 95 % CI = 0.86-1.45, p-value = 0.40]. Excluding adverse events, all primary efficacy measures shown statistical significant result for chronic hepatitis treatment (p-value <0.05). Antiviral therapy provided significant benefit for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B with no measurable adverse effects.