Genetic characteristics of human papillomavirus type 16, 18, 52 and 58 in southern China.

Persistent infections of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the leading cause of cervical cancers. We collected cervical exfoliated cell samples from females in Changsha city, Hunan Province and obtained 338 viral genomes of four major HPV types, including HPV 16 (n = 82), 18 (n = 35), 52 (n = 121) and 58 (n = 100). The lineage/sublineage distribution of the four HPVs confirmed previous epidemiological reports, with the predominant prevailing sublineage as A4 (50%), A1 (37%) and A3 (13%) for HPV16, A1 (83%) for HPV18, B2 (86%) for HPV52 and A1 (65%), A3 (19%) and A2 (12%) for HPV58. We also identified two potentially novel HPV18 sublineages, i.e. A6 and A7. Virus mutation analysis further revealed the presence of HPV16 and HPV58 sublineages associated with potentially high oncogenicity. These findings expanded our knowledge of the HPV genetic diversity in China, providing valuable evidence to facilitate HPV DNA screening, vaccine effectiveness evaluation and control strategy development.

Germline and somatic variant identification using BGISEQ-500 and HiSeq X Ten whole genome sequencing.

Technological innovation and increased affordability have contributed to the widespread adoption of genome sequencing technologies in biomedical research. In particular large cancer research consortia have embraced next generation sequencing, and have used the technology to define the somatic mutation landscape of multiple cancer types. These studies have primarily utilised the Illumina HiSeq platforms. In this study we performed whole genome sequencing of three malignant pleural mesothelioma and matched normal samples using a new platform, the BGISEQ-500, and compared the results obtained with Illumina HiSeq X Ten. Germline and somatic, single nucleotide variants and small insertions or deletions were independently identified from data aligned human genome reference. The BGISEQ-500 and HiSeq X Ten platforms showed high concordance for germline calls with genotypes from SNP arrays (>99%). The germline and somatic single nucleotide variants identified in both sequencing platforms were highly concordant (86% and 72% respectively). These results indicate the potential applicability of the BGISEQ-500 platform for the identification of somatic and germline single nucleotide variants by whole genome sequencing. The BGISEQ-500 datasets described here represent the first publicly-available cancer genome sequencing performed using this platform.

Comparative performance of the BGISEQ-500 vs Illumina HiSeq2500 sequencing platforms for palaeogenomic sequencing.

Ancient DNA research has been revolutionized following development of next-generation sequencing platforms. Although a number of such platforms have been applied to ancient DNA samples, the Illumina series are the dominant choice today, mainly because of high production capacities and short read production. Recently a potentially attractive alternative platform for palaeogenomic data generation has been developed, the BGISEQ-500, whose sequence output are comparable with the Illumina series. In this study, we modified the standard BGISEQ-500 library preparation specifically for use on degraded DNA, then directly compared the sequencing performance and data quality of the BGISEQ-500 to the Illumina HiSeq2500 platform on DNA extracted from 8 historic and ancient dog and wolf samples. The data generated were largely comparable between sequencing platforms, with no statistically significant difference observed for parameters including level (P = 0.371) and average sequence length (P = 0718) of endogenous nuclear DNA, sequence GC content (P = 0.311), double-stranded DNA damage rate (v. 0.309), and sequence clonality (P = 0.093). Small significant differences were found in single-strand DNA damage rate (δS; slightly lower for the BGISEQ-500, P = 0.011) and the background rate of difference from the reference genome (θ; slightly higher for BGISEQ-500, P = 0.012). This may result from the differences in amplification cycles used to polymerase chain reaction-amplify the libraries. A significant difference was also observed in the mitochondrial DNA percentages recovered (P = 0.018), although we believe this is likely a stochastic effect relating to the extremely low levels of mitochondria that were sequenced from 3 of the samples with overall very low levels of endogenous DNA. Although we acknowledge that our analyses were limited to animal material, our observations suggest that the BGISEQ-500 holds the potential to represent a valid and potentially valuable alternative platform for palaeogenomic data generation that is worthy of future exploration by those interested in the sequencing and analysis of degraded DNA.

Generation of outbred Ace2 knockout mice by RNA transfection of TALENs displaying colitis reminiscent pathophysiology and inflammation.

The angiotensin I converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a key factor in the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis. Dysregulation of homeostasis can lead to inflammation of the colon (colitis), which can cause life-threatening enfeeblement or even cancer. Animal models are valuable surrogates in deciphering the pathology behind such human conditions and for screening of putative therapeutic targets or treatment paradigms. However, development of disease models can be time-consuming and technical demanding, which might hamper their application-value. In this study, we genetically disrupted the mouse Ace2 gene by direct injection of in vitro transcribed mRNA coding for transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) into the cytoplasm of outbred Kunming mouse zygotes. Consequently, somatic mutations were induced with an efficiency of 57%, of which 39% were frameshift mutations. Moreover, all modifications were stably transferred during germline transmission. In Ace2-knockout male mice (Ace2(-/y)), we observed severe chemical induced colitis, characterized by considerable weight loss, diarrhea and a shortened colon length. Histologically, Ace2 mutations resulted in the infiltration of leukocytes and the overt damage of the intestinal mucosal barrier. In addition, we detected an increased expression of inflammatory cytokines in the colon tissue of Ace2(-/y) mice. Collectively, the data indicate that high targeting efficiency and heritability can be achieved in an outbred mouse model by zygote injection of TALEN mRNA. Furthermore, the generated Ace2(-/y) mice display phenotypic traits reminiscent of colitis and we anticipate that such mice can be of value in studies of the intestinal microbiome or fecal transplantation.