Sequencing and annotation of the Ophiostoma ulmi genome.

BACKGROUND: The ascomycete fungus Ophiostoma ulmi was responsible for the initial pandemic of the massively destructive Dutch elm disease in Europe and North America in early 1910. Dutch elm disease has ravaged the elm tree population globally and is a major threat to the remaining elm population. O. ulmi is also associated with valuable biomaterials applications. It was recently discovered that proteins from O. ulmi can be used for efficient transformation of amylose in the production of bioplastics. RESULTS: We have sequenced the 31.5 Mb genome of O.ulmi using Illumina next generation sequencing. Applying both de novo and comparative genome annotation methods, we predict a total of 8639 gene models. The quality of the predicted genes was validated using a variety of data sources consisting of EST data, mRNA-seq data and orthologs from related fungal species. Sequence-based computational methods were used to identify candidate virulence-related genes. Metabolic pathways were reconstructed and highlight specific enzymes that may play a role in virulence. CONCLUSIONS: This genome sequence will be a useful resource for further research aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity by O. ulmi. It will also facilitate the identification of enzymes necessary for industrial biotransformation applications.

High quality de novo sequencing and assembly of the Saccharomyces arboricolus genome.

BACKGROUND: Comparative genomics is a formidable tool to identify functional elements throughout a genome. In the past ten years, studies in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a set of closely related species have been instrumental in showing the benefit of analyzing patterns of sequence conservation. Increasing the number of closely related genome sequences makes the comparative genomics approach more powerful and accurate. RESULTS: Here, we report the genome sequence and analysis of Saccharomyces arboricolus, a yeast species recently isolated in China, that is closely related to S. cerevisiae. We obtained high quality de novo sequence and assemblies using a combination of next generation sequencing technologies, established the phylogenetic position of this species and considered its phenotypic profile under multiple environmental conditions in the light of its gene content and phylogeny. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the genome of S. arboricolus will be useful in future comparative genomics analysis of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto yeasts.

Seeds for effective oligonucleotide design.

BACKGROUND: DNA oligonucleotides are a very useful tool in biology. The best algorithms for designing good DNA oligonucleotides are filtering out unsuitable regions using a seeding approach. Determining the quality of the seeds is crucial for the performance of these algorithms. RESULTS: We present a sound framework for evaluating the quality of seeds for oligonucleotide design. The F - score is used to measure the accuracy of each seed. A number of natural candidates are tested: contiguous (BLAST-like), spaced, transitions-constrained, and multiple spaced seeds. Multiple spaced seeds are the best, with more seeds providing better accuracy. Single spaced and transition seeds are very close whereas, as expected, contiguous seeds come last. Increased accuracy comes at the price of reduced efficiency. An exception is that single spaced and transitions-constrained seeds are both more accurate and more efficient than contiguous ones. CONCLUSIONS: Our work confirms another application where multiple spaced seeds perform the best. It will be useful in improving the algorithms for oligonucleotide design.