Massively parallel sequencing analysis of nondegraded and degraded DNA mixtures using the ForenSeq™ system in combination with EuroForMix software.

Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technologies enable the simultaneous analysis of short tandem repeats (STRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). MPS also enables the detection of alleles of the minor contributors in imbalanced DNA mixtures. In this study, 59 STRs (amelogenin, 27 autosomal STRs, 7 X-STRs, and 24 Y-STRs) and 94 identity-informative SNPs of 119 unrelated Taiwanese (50 men, 69 women) were sequenced using a commercial MPS kit. Forty-eight nondegraded and 44 highly degraded two-person artificial DNA mixtures with various minor to major ratios (1:9, 1:19, 1:29, 1:39, 1:79, and 1:99) were analyzed to examine the performance of this system for detecting the alleles of the minor contributors in DNA mixtures. Likelihood ratios based on continuous model were calculated using the EuroForMix for DNA mixture interpretation. The STR and SNP genotypes of these 119 Taiwanese were obtained. Several sequence variants of STRs were observed. Using EuroForMix software based on the sequence data of autosomal STRs and autosomal SNPs, 97.9% (47/48) and 97.7% (42/43) of minor donors were accurately inferred among the successfully analyzed nondegraded and degraded DNA mixtures, respectively. In conclusion, combined with EuroForMix software, this commercial kit is effective for assignment of the minor contributors in nondegraded and degraded DNA mixtures.

A 1204-single nucleotide polymorphism and insertion-deletion polymorphism panel for massively parallel sequencing analysis of DNA mixtures.

Massively parallel sequencing (MPS) technology enables the simultaneous analysis of a huge number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion-deletion polymorphisms (indels). MPS also enables the detection of the alleles of minor contributors in a highly unbalanced DNA mixture. In this study, we established a 1204-marker panel optimized for MPS consisting of 987 autosomal markers (964 SNPs and 23 indels), 27 X-chromosome SNPs, 61 Y-chromosome markers (56 SNPs and 5 indels), and 129 mitochondrial SNPs. The DNA samples of six unrelated individuals (two men and four women), 26 nondegraded DNA mixtures (with minor to major ratios of 1:29, 1:39, 1:79, and 1:99), and eight highly artificially degraded DNA mixtures (with minor to major ratios of 1:29, 1:39, 1:79, and 1:99) were analyzed through MPS by using the panel. A scoring system was developed to determine the minor contributors in DNA mixtures based on the genotypes identified using MPS. The genotypes of the 1204 markers were successfully profiled through MPS by using the custom-designed panel. The efficiency of MPS for analyzing these highly degraded samples was lower than that for analyzing nondegraded samples. All minor contributors in the 26 nondegraded and 8 degraded DNA mixtures were accurately assigned using this scoring system based on 964 autosomal SNPs. An association between the observed reads ratio and theoretical ratio of the minor component was noted for nondegraded mixtures. In conclusion, we established a 1204-marker individual identification panel for MPS that successfully analyzed autosomal, X-chromosome, Y-chromosome, and mitochondrial SNPs and indels simultaneously. In combination with the newly developed scoring system, the panel can accurately identify minor contributors in nondegraded and highly degraded DNA mixtures.

The genome and transcriptome of Phalaenopsis yield insights into floral organ development and flowering regulation.

The Phalaenopsis orchid is an important potted flower of high economic value around the world. We report the 3.1 Gb draft genome assembly of an important winter flowering Phalaenopsis 'KHM190' cultivar. We generated 89.5 Gb RNA-seq and 113 million sRNA-seq reads to use these data to identify 41,153 protein-coding genes and 188 miRNA families. We also generated a draft genome for Phalaenopsis pulcherrima 'B8802,' a summer flowering species, via resequencing. Comparison of genome data between the two Phalaenopsis cultivars allowed the identification of 691,532 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. In this study, we reveal that the key role of PhAGL6b in the regulation of labellum organ development involves alternative splicing in the big lip mutant. Petal or sepal overexpressing PhAGL6b leads to the conversion into a lip-like structure. We also discovered that the gibberellin pathway that regulates the expression of flowering time genes during the reproductive phase change is induced by cool temperature. Our work thus depicted a valuable resource for the flowering control, flower architecture development, and breeding of the Phalaenopsis orchids.

Whole-Genome Sequence of an Epidemic Strain of Burkholderia pseudomallei vgh07 in Taiwan.

Here, we report the complete genome sequence of B. pseudomallei vgh07. This is an epidemic strain that was isolated from a melioidosis patient with arthro-osteomyelitis in Taiwan.

The Complete Plastid Genome Sequence of Madagascar Periwinkle Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don: Plastid Genome Evolution, Molecular Marker Identification, and Phylogenetic Implications in Asterids.

The Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthusroseus in the family Apocynaceae) is an important medicinal plant and is the source of several widely marketed chemotherapeutic drugs. It is also commonly grown for its ornamental values and, due to ease of infection and distinctiveness of symptoms, is often used as the host for studies on phytoplasmas, an important group of uncultivated plant pathogens. To gain insights into the characteristics of apocynaceous plastid genomes (plastomes), we used a reference-assisted approach to assemble the complete plastome of C. roseus, which could be applied to other C. roseus-related studies. The C. roseus plastome is the second completely sequenced plastome in the asterid order Gentianales. We performed comparative analyses with two other representative sequences in the same order, including the complete plastome of Coffeaarabica (from the basal Gentianales family Rubiaceae) and the nearly complete plastome of Asclepiassyriaca (Apocynaceae). The results demonstrated considerable variations in gene content and plastome organization within Apocynaceae, including the presence/absence of three essential genes (i.e., accD, clpP, and ycf1) and large size changes in non-coding regions (e.g., rps2-rpoC2 and IRb-ndhF). To find plastome markers of potential utility for Catharanthus breeding and phylogenetic analyses, we identified 41 C. roseus-specific simple sequence repeats. Furthermore, five intergenic regions with high divergence between C. roseus and three other euasterids I taxa were identified as candidate markers. To resolve the euasterids I interordinal relationships, 82 plastome genes were used for phylogenetic inference. With the addition of representatives from Apocynaceae and sampling of most other asterid orders, a sister relationship between Gentianales and Solanales is supported.

Comparative analysis of the peanut witches'-broom phytoplasma genome reveals horizontal transfer of potential mobile units and effectors.

Phytoplasmas are a group of bacteria that are associated with hundreds of plant diseases. Due to their economical importance and the difficulties involved in the experimental study of these obligate pathogens, genome sequencing and comparative analysis have been utilized as powerful tools to understand phytoplasma biology. To date four complete phytoplasma genome sequences have been published. However, these four strains represent limited phylogenetic diversity. In this study, we report the shotgun sequencing and evolutionary analysis of a peanut witches'-broom (PnWB) phytoplasma genome. The availability of this genome provides the first representative of the 16SrII group and substantially improves the taxon sampling to investigate genome evolution. The draft genome assembly contains 13 chromosomal contigs with a total size of 562,473 bp, covering ∼90% of the chromosome. Additionally, a complete plasmid sequence is included. Comparisons among the five available phytoplasma genomes reveal the differentiations in gene content and metabolic capacity. Notably, phylogenetic inferences of the potential mobile units (PMUs) in these genomes indicate that horizontal transfer may have occurred between divergent phytoplasma lineages. Because many effectors are associated with PMUs, the horizontal transfer of these transposon-like elements can contribute to the adaptation and diversification of these pathogens. In summary, the findings from this study highlight the importance of improving taxon sampling when investigating genome evolution. Moreover, the currently available sequences are inadequate to fully characterize the pan-genome of phytoplasmas. Future genome sequencing efforts to expand phylogenetic diversity are essential in improving our understanding of phytoplasma evolution.

Complete Genome Sequence of Serratia marcescens WW4.

Serratia marcescens WW4 is a biofilm-forming bacterium isolated from paper machine aggregates. Under conditions of phosphate limitation, this bacterium exhibits intergeneric inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, the complete genome sequence of S. marcescens WW4, which consists of one circular chromosome (5,241,455 bp) and one plasmid (pSmWW4; 3,248 bp), was determined.

Comparative genome analysis of Spiroplasma melliferum IPMB4A, a honeybee-associated bacterium.

BACKGROUND: The genus Spiroplasma contains a group of helical, motile, and wall-less bacteria in the class Mollicutes. Similar to other members of this class, such as the animal-pathogenic Mycoplasma and the plant-pathogenic 'Candidatus Phytoplasma', all characterized Spiroplasma species were found to be associated with eukaryotic hosts. While most of the Spiroplasma species appeared to be harmless commensals of insects, a small number of species have evolved pathogenicity toward various arthropods and plants. In this study, we isolated a novel strain of honeybee-associated S. melliferum and investigated its genetic composition and evolutionary history by whole-genome shotgun sequencing and comparative analysis with other Mollicutes genomes. RESULTS: The whole-genome shotgun sequencing of S. melliferum IPMB4A produced a draft assembly that was ~1.1 Mb in size and covered ~80% of the chromosome. Similar to other Spiroplasma genomes that have been studied to date, we found that this genome contains abundant repetitive sequences that originated from plectrovirus insertions. These phage fragments represented a major obstacle in obtaining a complete genome sequence of Spiroplasma with the current sequencing technology. Comparative analysis of S. melliferum IPMB4A with other Spiroplasma genomes revealed that these phages may have facilitated extensive genome rearrangements in these bacteria and contributed to horizontal gene transfers that led to species-specific adaptation to different eukaryotic hosts. In addition, comparison of gene content with other Mollicutes suggested that the common ancestor of the SEM (Spiroplasma, Entomoplasma, and Mycoplasma) clade may have had a relatively large genome and flexible metabolic capacity; the extremely reduced genomes of present day Mycoplasma and 'Candidatus Phytoplasma' species are likely to be the result of independent gene losses in these lineages. CONCLUSIONS: The findings in this study highlighted the significance of phage insertions and horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of bacterial genomes and acquisition of pathogenicity. Furthermore, the inclusion of Spiroplasma in comparative analysis has improved our understanding of genome evolution in Mollicutes. Future improvements in the taxon sampling of available genome sequences in this group are required to provide further insights into the evolution of these important pathogens of humans, animals, and plants.

Comparative analysis of gene content evolution in phytoplasmas and mycoplasmas.

Phytoplasmas and mycoplasmas are two groups of important pathogens in the bacterial class Mollicutes. Because of their economical and clinical importance, these obligate pathogens have attracted much research attention. However, difficulties involved in the empirical study of these bacteria, particularly the fact that phytoplasmas have not yet been successfully cultivated outside of their hosts despite decades of attempts, have greatly hampered research progress. With the rapid advancements in genome sequencing, comparative genome analysis provides a new approach to facilitate our understanding of these bacteria. In this study, our main focus is to investigate the evolution of gene content in phytoplasmas, mycoplasmas, and their common ancestor. By using a phylogenetic framework for comparative analysis of 12 complete genome sequences, we characterized the putative gains and losses of genes in these obligate parasites. Our results demonstrated that the degradation of metabolic capacities in these bacteria has occurred predominantly in the common ancestor of Mollicutes, prior to the evolutionary split of phytoplasmas and mycoplasmas. Furthermore, we identified a list of genes that are acquired by the common ancestor of phytoplasmas and are conserved across all strains with complete genome sequences available. These genes include several putative effectors for the interactions with hosts and may be good candidates for future functional characterization.