Ultra-large alignments using Phylogeny-aware Profiles

Many biological questions, including the estimation of deep evolutionary histories and the detection of remote homology between protein sequences, rely upon multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) and phylogenetic trees of large datasets. However, accurate large-scale multiple sequence alignment is very difficult, especially when the dataset contains fragmentary sequences. We present UPP, an MSA method that uses a new machine learning technique - the Ensemble of Hidden Markov Models - that we propose here. UPP produces highly accurate alignments for both nucleotide and amino acid sequences, even on ultra-large datasets or datasets containing fragmentary sequences. UPP is available at https://github.com/smirarab/sepp.Comment: Online supplemental materials and data are available at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/phylo/software/upp

Evolutionary and molecular foundations of multiple contemporary functions of the nitroreductase superfamily.

Insight regarding how diverse enzymatic functions and reactions have evolved from ancestral scaffolds is fundamental to understanding chemical and evolutionary biology, and for the exploitation of enzymes for biotechnology. We undertook an extensive computational analysis using a unique and comprehensive combination of tools that include large-scale phylogenetic reconstruction to determine the sequence, structural, and functional relationships of the functionally diverse flavin mononucleotide-dependent nitroreductase (NTR) superfamily (>24,000 sequences from all domains of life, 54 structures, and >10 enzymatic functions). Our results suggest an evolutionary model in which contemporary subgroups of the superfamily have diverged in a radial manner from a minimal flavin-binding scaffold. We identified the structural design principle for this divergence: Insertions at key positions in the minimal scaffold that, combined with the fixation of key residues, have led to functional specialization. These results will aid future efforts to delineate the emergence of functional diversity in enzyme superfamilies, provide clues for functional inference for superfamily members of unknown function, and facilitate rational redesign of the NTR scaffold

EMMA: Adding Sequences into a Constraint Alignment with High Accuracy and Scalability (Abstract)

Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is a crucial precursor to many downstream biological analyses, such as phylogeny estimation [Morrison, 2006], RNA structure prediction [Shapiro et al., 2007], protein structure prediction [Jumper et al., 2021], etc. Obtaining an accurate MSA can be challenging, especially when the dataset is large (i.e., more than 1000 sequences). A key technique for large-scale MSA estimation is to add sequences into an existing alignment. For example, biological knowledge can be used to form a reference alignment on a subset of the sequences, and then the remaining sequences can be added to the reference alignment. Another case where adding sequences into an existing alignment occurs is when new sequences or genomes are added to databases, leading to the opportunity to add the new sequences for each gene in the genome into a growing alignment. A third case is for de novo multiple sequence alignment, where a subset of the sequences is selected and aligned, and then the remaining sequences are added into this "backbone alignment" [Nguyen et al., 2015; Park et al., 2023; Shen et al., 2022; Liu and Warnow, 2023; Park and Warnow, 2023; Yamada et al., 2016]. Thus, adding sequences into existing alignments is a natural problem with multiple applications to biological sequence analysis. A few methods have been developed to add sequences into an existing alignment, with MAFFT--add [Katoh and Frith, 2012] perhaps the most well-known. However, several multiple sequence alignment methods that operate in two steps (first extract and align the backbone sequences and then add the remaining sequences into this backbone alignment) also provide utilities for adding sequences into a user-provided alignment. We present EMMA, a new approach for adding "query" sequences into an existing "constraint" alignment. By construction, EMMA never changes the constraint alignment, except through the introduction of additional sites to represent homologies between the query sequences. EMMA uses a divide-and-conquer technique combined with MAFFT--add (using the most accurate setting, MAFFT-linsi--add) to add sequences into a user-provided alignment. We evaluate EMMA by comparing it to MAFFT-linsi--add, MAFFT--add (the default setting), and WITCH-ng-add. We include a range of biological and simulated datasets (nucleotides and proteins) ranging in size from 1000 to almost 200,000 sequences and evaluate alignment accuracy and scalability. MAFFT-linsi--add was the slowest and least scalable method, only able to run on datasets with at most 1000 sequences in this study, but had excellent accuracy (often the best) on those datasets. We also see that EMMA has better recall than WITCH-ng-add and MAFFT--add on large datasets, especially when the backbone alignment is small or clade-based

Capoeta baliki Turan, Kottelat, Ekmekçi & Imamoglu, 2006 a junior synonym of Capoeta tinca (Heckel, 1843) (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

Capoeta baliki was described from Sakarya basin, Turkey. It was distinguished from its nearest congener i.e. C. tinca based on a combination of characters, including fewer serrae along posterior margin of last simple dorsal-fin ray, modally fewer scale rows between lateral line and dorsal-fin origin, fewer vertebrae, deeper and shorter head and slenderer caudal peduncle. We examined the synonymy hypothesis of C.­ baliki and C. tinca by comparing their morphometric, meristic and molecular characters. Based on the results, their morphometric and meristic characters largely overlapped and no character was found to distinguish them. In addition, a low K2P mean genetic divergence of 0.37% C. baliki and C. tinca based on cytb gene and clustering in same clad showed that they are identical in molecular characters. As no character could be found to clearly distinguish these species, we treat C. baliki as a junior synonym of C. tinca

Alignment uncertainty, regressive alignment and large scale deployment

A multiple sequence alignment (MSA) provides a description of the relationship between biological sequences where columns represent a shared ancestry through an implied set of evolutionary events. The majority of research in the field has focused on improving the accuracy of alignments within the progressive alignment framework and has allowed for powerful inferences including phylogenetic reconstruction, homology modelling and disease prediction. Notwithstanding this, when applied to modern genomics datasets - often comprising tens of thousands of sequences - new challenges arise in the construction of accurate MSA. These issues can be generalised to form three basic problems. Foremost, as the number of sequences increases, progressive alignment methodologies exhibit a dramatic decrease in alignment accuracy. Additionally, for any given dataset many possible MSA solutions exist, a problem which is exacerbated with an increasing number of sequences due to alignment uncertainty. Finally, technical difficulties hamper the deployment of such genomic analysis workflows - especially in a reproducible manner - often presenting a high barrier for even skilled practitioners. This work aims to address this trifecta of problems through a web server for fast homology extension based MSA, two new methods for improved phylogenetic bootstrap supports incorporating alignment uncertainty, a novel alignment procedure that improves large scale alignments termed regressive MSA and finally a workflow framework that enables the deployment of large scale reproducible analyses across clusters and clouds titled Nextflow. Together, this work can be seen to provide both conceptual and technical advances which deliver substantial improvements to existing MSA methods and the resulting inferences.Un alineament de seqüència múltiple (MSA) proporciona una descripció de la relació entre seqüències biològiques on les columnes representen una ascendència compartida a través d'un conjunt implicat d'esdeveniments evolutius. La majoria de la investigació en el camp s'ha centrat a millorar la precisió dels alineaments dins del marc d'alineació progressiva i ha permès inferències poderoses, incloent-hi la reconstrucció filogenètica, el modelatge d'homologia i la predicció de malalties. Malgrat això, quan s'aplica als conjunts de dades de genòmica moderns, que sovint comprenen desenes de milers de seqüències, sorgeixen nous reptes en la construcció d'un MSA precís. Aquests problemes es poden generalitzar per formar tres problemes bàsics. En primer lloc, a mesura que augmenta el nombre de seqüències, les metodologies d'alineació progressiva presenten una disminució espectacular de la precisió de l'alineació. A més, per a un conjunt de dades, existeixen molts MSA com a possibles solucions un problema que s'agreuja amb un nombre creixent de seqüències a causa de la incertesa d'alineació. Finalment, les dificultats tècniques obstaculitzen el desplegament d'aquests fluxos de treball d'anàlisi genòmica, especialment de manera reproduïble, sovint presenten una gran barrera per als professionals fins i tot qualificats. Aquest treball té com a objectiu abordar aquesta trifecta de problemes a través d'un servidor web per a l'extensió ràpida d'homologia basada en MSA, dos nous mètodes per a la millora de l'arrencada filogenètica permeten incorporar incertesa d'alineació, un nou procediment d'alineació que millora els alineaments a gran escala anomenat MSA regressivu i, finalment, un marc de flux de treball permet el desplegament d'anàlisis reproduïbles a gran escala a través de clústers i computació al núvol anomenat Nextflow. En conjunt, es pot veure que aquest treball proporciona tant avanços conceptuals com tècniques que proporcionen millores substancials als mètodes MSA existents i les conseqüències resultants

Evolution of mitochondrial and nuclear genomes in Pennatulacea

We examine the phylogeny of sea pens using sequences of whole mitochondrial genomes and the nuclear ribosomal cluster generated through low coverage Illumina sequencing. Taxon sampling includes 30 species in 19 genera representing 13 families. Ancestral state reconstruction shows that most sea pen mitochondrial genomes have the ancestral gene order, and that Pennatulacea with diverse gene orders are found in a single clade. The monophyly of Pennatulidae and Protoptilidae are rejected by both the mitochondrial and nuclear dataset, while the mitochondrial dataset further rejects monophyly of Virgulariidae, and the nuclear dataset rejects monophyly of Kophobelemnidae. We show discordance between nuclear ribosomal gene cluster phylogenies and whole mitochondrial genome phylogenies and highlight key Pennatulacea taxa that could be included in cnidarian genome-wide studies to better resolve the sea pen tree of life. We further illustrate how well frequently sequenced markers capture the overall diversity of the mitochondrial genome and the nuclear ribosomal genes in sea pens