DDBJ working on evaluation and classification of bacterial genes in INSDC

DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) () newly collected and released 12 927 184 entries or 13 787 688 598 bases in the period from July 2005 to June 2006. The released data contain honeybee expressed sequence tags (ESTs), re-examined and re-annotated complete genome data of Escherichia coli K-12 W3110, medaka WGS and human MGA. We also systematically evaluated and classified the genes in the complete bacterial genomes submitted to the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC, ) that is composed of DDBJ, EMBL Bank and GenBank. The examination and classification selected 557 000 genes as reliable ones among all the bacterial genes predicted by us

eGenomics: Cataloguing our complete genome collection III

This meeting report summarizes the proceedings of the “eGenomics: Cataloguing our Complete Genome Collection III” workshop held September 11–13, 2006, at the National Institute for Environmental eScience (NIEeS), Cambridge, United Kingdom. This 3rd workshop of the Genomic Standards Consortium was divided into two parts. The first half of the three-day workshop was dedicated to reviewing the genomic diversity of our current and future genome and metagenome collection, and exploring linkages to a series of existing projects through formal presentations. The second half was dedicated to strategic discussions. Outcomes of the workshop include a revised “Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence” (MIGS) specification (v1.1), consensus on a variety of features to be added to the Genome Catalogue (GCat), agreement by several researchers to adopt MIGS for imminent genome publications, and an agreement by the EBI and NCBI to input their genome collections into GCat for the purpose of quantifying the amount of optional data already available (e.g., for geographic location coordinates) and working towards a single, global list of all public genomes and metagenomes

Developing the MAR databases – Augmenting Genomic Versatility of Sequenced Marine Microbiota

This thesis introduces the MAR databases as marine-specific resources in the genomic landscape. Paper 1 describes the curation effort and development leading to the MAR databases being created. It results in the highly valued reference database MarRef, the broader MarDB, and the marine gene catalog MarCat. Definition of a marine environment, the curation process, and the Marine Metagenomics Portal as a public web-service are described. It facilitates scientists to find marine sequence data for prokaryotes and to explore rich contextual information, secondary metabolites, updated taxonomy, and helps in evaluating genome quality. Many of these database advancements are covered in Paper 2. This includes new entries and development of specific databases on marine fungi (MarFun) and salmon related prokaryotes (SalDB). With the implementation of metagenome assembled and single amplified genomes it leads up to the database quality evaluation discussed in Paper 3. The lack of quality control in primary databases is here discussed based on estimated completeness and contamination in the genomes of the MAR databases. Paper 4 explores the microbiota of skin and gut mucosa of Atlantic salmon. By using a database dependent amplicon analysis, the full-length 16 rRNA gene proved accurate, but not a game-changer in taxonomic classification for this environmental niche. The proportion of dataset sequences lacking clear taxonomic classification suggests lack of diversity in current-day databases and inadequate phylogenetic resolution. Advancing phylogenetic resolution was the subject of Paper 5. Here the highly similar species of genus Aliivibrio became delineated using six genes in a multilocus sequence analysis. Five potentially novel species could in this way be delineated, which coincided with recent genome-wide taxonomy listings. Thus, Paper 4 and 5 parallel those of the MAR databases by providing insight into the inter-relational framework of bioinformatic analysis and marine database sources

Identification, organisation and visualisation of complete proteomes in UniProt throughout all taxonomic ranks :|barchaea, bacteria, eukatyote and virus

Users of uniprot.org want to be able to query, retrieve and download proteome sets for an organism of their choice. They expect the data to be easily accessed, complete and up to date based on current available knowledge. UniProt release 2012_01 (25th Jan 2012) contains the proteomes of 2,923 organisms; 50% of which are bacteria, 38% viruses, 8% eukaryota and 4% archaea. Note that the term 'organism' is used in a broad sense to include subspecies, strains and isolates. Each completely sequenced organism is processed as an independent organism, hence the availability of 38 strain-specific proteomes Escherichia coli that are accessible for download. There is a project within UniProt dedicated to the mammoth task of maintaining the “Proteomes database”. This active resource is essential for UniProt to continually provide high quality proteome sets to the users. Accurate identification and incorporation of new, publically available, proteomes as well as the maintenance of existing proteomes permits sustained growth of the proteomes project. This is a huge, complicated and vital task accomplished by the activities of both curators and programmers. This thesis explains the data input and output of the proteomes database: the flow of genome project data from the nucleotide database into the proteomes database, then from each genome how a proteome is identified, augmented and made visible to uniprot.org users. Along this journey of discovery many issues arose, puzzles concerning data gathering, data integrity and also data visualisation. All were resolved and the outcome is a well-documented, actively maintained database that strives to provide optimal proteome information to its users

Evaluation of DNA barcode libraries used in the UK and developing an action plan to fill priority gaps

There are approximately 76,000 eukaryote species recognised in the UK, and while we know some of them in great detail, the majority of these species are poorly known, and hundreds of new species are discovered each year. DNA barcoding uses a short, standardised segment of an organism’s genome for identification by comparison to a reference library; however, the UK lags behind several countries in Europe and North America in that we lack trusted, reliable and openly accessible reference sequences for key UK taxa. This report is the first step in rectifying this by engaging diverse stakeholders to facilitate collaboration and coordination; providing robust stakeholder-based and independent assessment of the current state of reference libraries available for all known UK taxa; and prioritising key taxa. A survey was developed and shared with the UK research and end user community, receiving 80 responses from a wide range of stakeholders and covering the focal taxa / assemblages and habitats; the DNA reference libraries in use, their quality assurance and perceived coverage. A formal gap analysis of the public DNA data in major DNA reference libraries highlighted that an estimated 52% of UK species have publicly available DNA data of some sort; however, coverage in gene specific reference libraries varies greatly (eg 2 – 52%), as does the associated quality assurance. Priority taxa highlighted by end users had coverage in reference libraries ranging from almost complete, in the case of known invasive non-native species, to significant coverage (71%) for taxa with conservation designations. However, these data also vary by kingdom and reference library, as does the associated quality assurance. If taking a strict requirement of DNA data provided by UK specimens and held in UK repositories, for robust QC and QA, then the proportion of UK species with public DNA data in reference libraries falls to less than 4% in the largest reference library assessed (BOLD). While standard genes for DNA-based identification have essentially been established, more work is required to establish the priority taxa required for regulatory delivery in contrast to taxa that are surveyed in a non-regulatory framework. Several barriers to the development of barcode libraries were highlighted, the most relevant being sustained large scale funding, expertise, capacity, laboratory skills and equipment, quality control and assurance, collecting logistics (eg permits and access) and communication. Significant opportunities identified include a large network of interested experts, several organisations with significant delivery capabilities, current large-scale projects and funding opportunities, emerging technologies and the economy of scale for DNA sequencing. Following a stakeholder workshop, we have outlined a concise action plan to provide reliable, open access reference sequences, linked to open access vouchers, identified by known experts, to facilitate UK academic and regulatory aims.This report is published by Natural England under the Open Government Licence - OGLv3.0 for public sector information. You are encouraged to use, and reuse, information subject to certain conditions. For details of the licence visit Copyright. Natural England photographs are only available for non-commercial purposes. If any other information such as maps or data cannot be used commercially this will be made clear within the report. ISBN 978-1-78354-671-8 © Natural England and other parties 2020 © Trustees of the Natural History Museum, Londo

PHA4GE quality control contextual data tags:standardized annotations for sharing public health sequence datasets with known quality issues to facilitate testing and training

As public health laboratories expand their genomic sequencing and bioinformatics capacity for the surveillance of different pathogens, labs must carry out robust validation, training, and optimization of wet- and dry-lab procedures. Achieving these goals for algorithms, pipelines and instruments often requires that lower quality datasets be made available for analysis and comparison alongside those of higher quality. This range of data quality in reference sets can complicate the sharing of sub-optimal datasets that are vital for the community and for the reproducibility of assays. Sharing of useful, but sub-optimal datasets requires careful annotation and documentation of known issues to enable appropriate interpretation, avoid being mistaken for better quality information, and for these data (and their derivatives) to be easily identifiable in repositories. Unfortunately, there are currently no standardized attributes or mechanisms for tagging poor-quality datasets, or datasets generated for a specific purpose, to maximize their utility, searchability, accessibility and reuse. The Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHA4GE) is an international community of scientists from public health, industry and academia focused on improving the reproducibility, interoperability, portability, and openness of public health bioinformatic software, skills, tools and data. To address the challenges of sharing lower quality datasets, PHA4GE has developed a set of standardized contextual data tags, namely fields and terms, that can be included in public repository submissions as a means of flagging pathogen sequence data with known quality issues, increasing their discoverability. The contextual data tags were developed through consultations with the community including input from the International Nucleotide Sequence Data Collaboration (INSDC), and have been standardized using ontologies - community-based resources for defining the tag properties and the relationships between them. The standardized tags are agnostic to the organism and the sequencing technique used and thus can be applied to data generated from any pathogen using an array of sequencing techniques. The tags can also be applied to synthetic (lab created) data. The list of standardized tags is maintained by PHA4GE and can be found at https://github.com/pha4ge/contextual_data_QC_tags. Definitions, ontology IDs, examples of use, as well as a JSON representation, are provided. The PHA4GE QC tags were tested, and are now implemented, by the FDA's GenomeTrakr laboratory network as part of its routine submission process for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance. We hope that these simple, standardized tags will help improve communication regarding quality control in public repositories, in addition to making datasets of variable quality more easily identifiable. Suggestions for additional tags can be submitted to PHA4GE via the New Term Request Form in the GitHub repository. By providing a mechanism for feedback and suggestions, we also expect that the tags will evolve with the needs of the community.</p

PulseNet International: vision for the implementation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for global food-borne disease surveillance

FWD-NEXT Expert Panel - Portugal/INSA - Vítor Borges (Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal)PulseNet International is a global network dedicated to laboratory-based surveillance for food-borne diseases. The network comprises the national and regional laboratory networks of Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and the United States. The PulseNet International vision is the standardised use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to identify and subtype food-borne bacterial pathogens worldwide, replacing traditional methods to strengthen preparedness and response, reduce global social and economic disease burden, and save lives. To meet the needs of real-time surveillance, the PulseNet International network will standardise subtyping via WGS using whole genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST), which delivers sufficiently high resolution and epidemiological concordance, plus unambiguous nomenclature for the purposes of surveillance. Standardised protocols, validation studies, quality control programmes, database and nomenclature development, and training should support the implementation and decentralisation of WGS. Ideally, WGS data collected for surveillance purposes should be publicly available, in real time where possible, respecting data protection policies. WGS data are suitable for surveillance and outbreak purposes and for answering scientific questions pertaining to source attribution, antimicrobial resistance, transmission patterns, and virulence, which will further enable the protection and improvement of public health with respect to food-borne disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Euro Surveill

PulseNet International is a global network dedicated to laboratory-based surveillance for food-borne diseases. The network comprises the national and regional laboratory networks of Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and the United States. The PulseNet International vision is the standardised use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to identify and subtype food-borne bacterial pathogens worldwide, replacing traditional methods to strengthen preparedness and response, reduce global social and economic disease burden, and save lives. To meet the needs of real-time surveillance, the PulseNet International network will standardise subtyping via WGS using whole genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST), which delivers sufficiently high resolution and epidemiological concordance, plus unambiguous nomenclature for the purposes of surveillance. Standardised protocols, validation studies, quality control programmes, database and nomenclature development, and training should support the implementation and decentralisation of WGS. Ideally, WGS data collected for surveillance purposes should be publicly available, in real time where possible, respecting data protection policies. WGS data are suitable for surveillance and outbreak purposes and for answering scientific questions pertaining to source attribution, antimicrobial resistance, transmission patterns, and virulence, which will further enable the protection and improvement of public health with respect to food-borne disease.001/WHO_/World Health OrganizationInternational/U01 CA207167/CA/NCI NIH HHSUnited States/28662764PMC54799771196