Palaeoparasitology and palaeogenetics: review and perspectives for the study of ancient human parasites.

While some species of parasites can be identified to species level from archaeological remains using microscopy (i.e. Enterobius vermicularis, Clonorchis sinensis), others can only be identified to family or genus level as different species produce eggs with similar morphology (i.e. Tænia sp. and Echinococcus sp.). Molecular and immunological approaches offer the possibility to provide more precise determination at the species level. They can also identify taxa when classic parasite markers such as eggs or cysts have been destroyed over time. However, biomolecules can be poorly preserved and modern reference DNA is available only for a limited number of species of parasites, leading to the conclusion that classic microscopic observation should be combined with molecular analyses. Here we present a review of the molecular approaches used over the past two decades to identify human pathogenic helminths (Ascaris sp., Trichuris sp., E. vermicularis, Fasciola sp. etc.) or protists (Giardia sp., Trypanosoma sp., Leishmania sp. etc.). We also discuss the prospects for studying the evolution of parasites with genetics and genomics.

Systematic investigations of gene effects on both topologies and supports: An Echinococcus illustration.

In this paper, we propose a high performance computing toolbox implementing efficient statistical methods for the study of phylogenies. This toolbox, which implements logit models and LASSO-type penalties, gives a way to better understand, measure, and compare the impact of each gene on a global phylogeny. As an application, we study the Echinococcus phylogeny, which is often considered as a particularly difficult example. Mitochondrial and nuclear genomes (19 coding sequences) of nine Echinococcus species are considered in order to investigate the molecular phylogeny of this genus. First, we check that the 19 gene trees lead to 19 totally different unsupported topologies (a topology is the sister relationship when both branch lengths and supports are ignored in a phylogenetic tree), while using the 19 genes as a whole are not sufficient for estimating the phylogeny. In order to circumvent this issue and understand the impact of the genes, we computed 43,796 trees using combinations ranging from 13 to 19 genes. By doing so, 15 topologies are obtained. Four particular topologies, appearing more robust and frequent, are then selected for more precise investigation. Refining further our statistical analysis, a particularly robust topology is extracted. We also carefully demonstrate the influence of nuclear genes on the likelihood of the phylogeny.

A New High-Throughput Approach to Genotype Ancient Human Gastrointestinal Parasites.

Human gastrointestinal parasites are good indicators for hygienic conditions and health status of past and present individuals and communities. While microscopic analysis of eggs in sediments of archeological sites often allows their taxonomic identification, this method is rarely effective at the species level, and requires both the survival of intact eggs and their proper identification. Genotyping via PCR-based approaches has the potential to achieve a precise species-level taxonomic determination. However, so far it has mostly been applied to individual eggs isolated from archeological samples. To increase the throughput and taxonomic accuracy, as well as reduce costs of genotyping methods, we adapted a PCR-based approach coupled with next-generation sequencing to perform precise taxonomic identification of parasitic helminths directly from archeological sediments. Our study of twenty-five 100 to 7,200 year-old archeological samples proved this to be a powerful, reliable and efficient approach for species determination even in the absence of preserved eggs, either as a stand-alone method or as a complement to microscopic studies.

Is protein folding problem really a NP-complete one? First investigations.

To determine the 3D conformation of proteins is a necessity to understand their functions or interactions with other molecules. It is commonly admitted that, when proteins fold from their primary linear structures to their final 3D conformations, they tend to choose the ones that minimize their free energy. To find the 3D conformation of a protein knowing its amino acid sequence, bioinformaticians use various models of different resolutions and artificial intelligence tools, as the protein folding prediction problem is a NP complete one. More precisely, to determine the backbone structure of the protein using the low resolution models (2D HP square and 3D HP cubic), by finding the conformation that minimizes free energy, is intractable exactly. Both proofs of NP-completeness and the 2D prediction consider that acceptable conformations have to satisfy a self-avoiding walk (SAW) requirement, as two different amino acids cannot occupy a same position in the lattice. It is shown in this document that the SAW requirement considered when proving NP-completeness is different from the SAW requirement used in various prediction programs, and that they are different from the real biological requirement. Indeed, the proof of NP completeness and the predictions in silico consider conformations that are not possible in practice. Consequences of this fact are investigated in this research work.