46,175 research outputs found
An improved protocol for small RNA library construction using High Definition adapters
Next generation sequencing of small RNA (sRNA) libraries is widely used for studying sRNAs in various biological systems. However, cDNA libraries of sRNAs are biased for molecules that are ligated to adapters more or less efficiently than other molecules. One approach to reduce this ligation bias is to use a pool of adapters instead of a single adapter sequence, which allows many sRNAs to be ligated efficiently. We previously developed High Definition (HD) adapters for the Illumina sequencing platform, which contain degenerate nucleotides at the ligating ends of the adapters. However, the current commercial kits produced a large amount of 5â adapter â 3â adapter ligation product without the cDNA insert when HD adapters were used to replace the kit adapters. Here, we report a protocol to generate sRNA libraries using HD adapters with dramatically reduced adapter-adapter product. This protocol was developed from the procedure invented by Vaidyanathan et al. The libraries can be completed within two days and can be used for various biological and clinical samples. As examples for using this protocol, we constructed sRNA libraries using total RNA extracted from cultured mammalian cells and plant leaf tissue. The PCR products contained a very small amount of adapter-adapter product. Bioinformatic analysis of the sequencing data revealed sRNAs with diverse sequences and many different miRNA families
Draft Genome Sequences of Campylobacter jejuni Strains That Cause Abortion in Livestock.
Campylobacter jejuni is an intestinal bacterium that can cause abortion in livestock. This publication announces the public release of 15 Campylobacter jejuni genome sequences from isolates linked to abortion in livestock. These isolates are part of the 100K Pathogen Genome Project and are from clinical cases at the University of California (UC) Davis
How do you Play with a Robotic Toy Animal? A long-term study of Pleo
Pleo is one of the more advanced interactive toys currently available for the home market, taking the form of a robotic dinosaur. We present an exploratory study of how it was interacted with and reflected upon in the homes of six families during 2 to 10 months. Our analysis emphasizes a discrepancy between the participantsâ initial desires to borrow a Pleo and what they reported later on about their actual experiences. Further, the data suggests an apparent tension between participants expecting the robot to work as a âtoyâ while making consistent comparisons with real pet animals. We end by discussing a series of implications for design of this category of toys, in order to better maintain interest and engagement over time
Joint assembly and genetic mapping of the Atlantic horseshoe crab genome reveals ancient whole genome duplication
Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods with a fossil record extending back
approximately 450 million years. They exhibit remarkable morphological
stability over their long evolutionary history, retaining a number of ancestral
arthropod traits, and are often cited as examples of "living fossils." As
arthropods, they belong to the Ecdysozoa}, an ancient super-phylum whose
sequenced genomes (including insects and nematodes) have thus far shown more
divergence from the ancestral pattern of eumetazoan genome organization than
cnidarians, deuterostomes, and lophotrochozoans. However, much of ecdysozoan
diversity remains unrepresented in comparative genomic analyses. Here we use a
new strategy of combined de novo assembly and genetic mapping to examine the
chromosome-scale genome organization of the Atlantic horseshoe crab Limulus
polyphemus. We constructed a genetic linkage map of this 2.7 Gbp genome by
sequencing the nuclear DNA of 34 wild-collected, full-sibling embryos and their
parents at a mean redundancy of 1.1x per sample. The map includes 84,307
sequence markers and 5,775 candidate conserved protein coding genes. Comparison
to other metazoan genomes shows that the L. polyphemus genome preserves
ancestral bilaterian linkage groups, and that a common ancestor of modern
horseshoe crabs underwent one or more ancient whole genome duplications (WGDs)
~ 300 MYA, followed by extensive chromosome fusion
Protocol for Metatranscriptomic analysis of Intestinal Microbiota
The objective of this publication is to provide the detailed protocol for metartancriptomisc studies of animal intestinal microbiota. The protocol describes isolation of high quality microbial community RNA from the mammalian intestinal content, subsequent mRNA enrichment, cDNA synthesis and sequencing. Twelve libraries were prepared, pooled in equimolar concentrations into a single library and sequenced on one GS Titanium 70×75 picotiter plate, following this protocol. The total number of reads obtained for 12 libraries was 1,155,062 (average 96,000 per library) and the combined size of 12 libraries was 521 million bases (average 43 million bases per library). The reported size of non-ribosomal RNA library fraction is ~15%, the fraction of non-ribosomal reads is ~17%. Hence we described a robust technique for metranscriptomic studies of animal intestinal microbiota. The double stranded cDNAs, prepared following this protocol, are suitable for pyrosequencing (454, Illumina), clone library construction or could be used to archive and store metaranscriptomic samples
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Optimizing sequencing protocols for leaderboard metagenomics by combining long and short reads.
As metagenomic studies move to increasing numbers of samples, communities like the human gut may benefit more from the assembly of abundant microbes in many samples, rather than the exhaustive assembly of fewer samples. We term this approach leaderboard metagenome sequencing. To explore protocol optimization for leaderboard metagenomics in real samples, we introduce a benchmark of library prep and sequencing using internal references generated by synthetic long-read technology, allowing us to evaluate high-throughput library preparation methods against gold-standard reference genomes derived from the samples themselves. We introduce a low-cost protocol for high-throughput library preparation and sequencing
Public health risk of Giardia and Cryptosporidium posed by reintroduction of beavers into Scotland
Following publication of âScottish Beaver Trial Independent Public Health Monitoring 2009-2014 Report and
Recommendationsâ (Mackie, 2014), two pieces of complementary work were undertaken in parallel to assess
the potential contribution of reintroduced beavers in Scotland to the public health burden of disease
attributed to Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. parasites. The first, a risk assessment,
addressing the question âWhat is the likelihood that re-introduced beavers will have a significant
impact on the contamination of drinking water supplies with Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia
lamblia?â (Appendix 1), was conducted by Scottish Governmentâs Centre of Expertise on Animal
Disease Outbreaks (EPIC). This reviewed evidence from data and publications across the world, as
well as evidence from the beaver trial and SNHâs Tayside beaver reports, and used this to assess the
likely additional contribution of beavers to the risk associated with exposure to these parasites in
Scotland. The second, âWhat is the likelihood that beavers will be an important source of
contamination of drinking water supplies with Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia intestinalis?â
(Appendix 2), was prepared by Health Protection Scotland (HPS), Scottish Parasite Diagnostic
Reference Laboratory (SPDL) and Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland (DWQR). This
reviewed the diagnostics, surveillance and epidemiology of these infections in people in Scotland
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