Comparative and functional genomics of the protozoan parasite Babesia divergens highlighting the invasion and egress processes

Babesiosis is considered an emerging disease because its incidence has significantly increased in the last 30 years, providing evidence of the expanding range of this rare but potentially life-threatening zoonotic disease. Babesia divergens is a causative agent of babesiosis in humans and cattle in Europe. The recently sequenced genome of B. divergens revealed over 3,741 protein coding-genes and the 10.7-Mb high-quality draft become the first reference tool to study the genome structure of B. divergens. Now, by exploiting this sequence data and using new computational tools and assembly strategies, we have significantly improved the quality of the B. divergens genome. The new assembly shows better continuity and has a higher correspondence to B. bovis chromosomes. Moreover, we present a differential expression analysis using RNA sequencing of the two different stages of the asexual lifecycle of B. divergens: the free merozoite capable of invading erythrocytes and the intraerythrocytic parasite stage that remains within the erythrocyte until egress. Comparison of mRNA levels of both stages identified 1,441 differentially expressed genes. From these, around half were upregulated and the other half downregulated in the intraerythrocytic stage. Orthogonal validation by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR confirmed the differential expression. A moderately increased expression level of genes, putatively involved in the invasion and egress processes, were revealed in the intraerythrocytic stage compared with the free merozoite. On the basis of these results and in the absence of molecular models of invasion and egress for B. divergens, we have proposed the identified genes as putative molecular players in the invasion and egress processes. Our results contribute to an understanding of key parasitic strategies and pathogenesis and could be a valuable genomic resource to exploit for the design of diagnostic methods, drugs and vaccines to improve the control of babesiosis.This work was funded by grants from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad from Spain (AGL2010-21774 and AGL2014-56193 R to EM and LMG). ES was awarded a research fellowship from Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (http://www.mineco.gob.es/portal/site/mineco/). Work in CL’s laboratory is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (https://www.nih.gov/) NIH- 1R01HL140625-01. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscriptS

QUIJOTE-CMB experiment: a technical overview

The QUIJOTE-CMB experiment (Q-U-I JOint TEnerife CMB experiment) is an ambitious project to obtain polarization measurements of the sky microwave emission in the 10 to 47 GHz range. With this aim, a pair of 2,5m telescopes and three instruments are being sited at the Teide Observatory, in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). The first telescope and the first instrument (the MFI: Multi Frequency Instrument) are both already operating in the band from 10 to 20 GHz, since November 2012. The second telescope and the second instrument (TGI: Thirty GHz instrument) is planned to be in commissioning by the end of summer 2014, covering the range of 26 to 36 GHz. After that, a third instrument named FGI (Forty GHz instrument) will be designed and manufactured to complete the sky survey in the frequency range from 37 to 47 GHz. In this paper we present an overview of the whole project current status, from the technical point of view

The QUIJOTE TGI

The QUIJOTE TGI instrument is currently being assembled and tested at the IAC in Spain. The TGI is a 31 pixel 26-36 GHz polarimeter array designed to be mounted at the focus of the second QUIJOTE telescope. This follows a first telescope and multi-frequency instrument that have now been observing almost 2 years. The polarimeter design is based on the QUIET polarimeter scheme but with the addition of an extra 90º phase switch which allows for quasiinstantaneous complete QUI measurements through each detector. The advantage of this is a reduction in the systematics associated with differencing two independent radiometer channels. The polarimeters are split into a cold front end and a warm back end. The back end is a highly integrated design by engineers at DICOM. It is also sufficiently modular for testing purposes. In this presentation the high quality wide band components used in the optical design (also designed in DICOM) are presented as well as the novel cryogenic modular design. Each polarimeter chain is accessible individually and can be removed from the cryostat and replaced without having to move the remaining pixels. The optical components work over the complete Ka band showing excellent performance. Results from the sub unit measurements are presented and also a description of the novel calibration technique that allows for bandpass measurement and polar alignment. Terrestrial Calibration for this instrument is very important and will be carried out at three points in the commissioning phase: in the laboratory, at the telescope site and finally a reduce set of calibrations will be carried out on the telescope before measurements of extraterrestrial sources begin. The telescope pointing model is known to be more precise than the expected calibration precision so no further significant error will be added through the telescope optics. The integrated back-end components are presented showing the overall arrangement for mounting on the cryostat. Many of the microwave circuits are in-house designs with performances that go beyond commercially available products. Individual component performance is be presented showing for each of the sub modules

QUIJOTE Experiment: status of telescopes and instrumentation

The QUIJOTE Experiment (Q-U-I JOint TEnerife) is a combined operation of two telescopes and three instruments working in the microwave band to measure the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the northern hemisphere, at medium and large angular scales. The experiment is located at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, one of the seven Canary Islands (Spain). The project is a consortium maintained by several institutions: the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Instituto de Física de Cantabria (IFCA), the Communications Engineering Department (DICOM) at Universidad de Cantabria, and the Universities of Manchester and Cambridge. The consortium is led by the IAC

Estudio del perfil genético en pacientes con Amiloidosis de cadenas ligeras

Oral Presentation [CO-130] Introducción: Los estudios de secuenciación masiva (NGS) han permitido profundizar en el conocimiento de las gammapatías monoclonales tales como el mieloma múltiple (MM) y la macroglobulinemia de Waldesntröm’s (WM). Desafortunadamente, la baja incidencia de la amiloidosis de cadenas ligeras (AL) y la baja carga tumoral que presenta, a menudo enmascarada por un fondo policlonal de células plasmáticas (PC), explica la poca información que hay sobre la biología de la célula tumoral. Por ello, se desconoce si la AL presenta alguna mutación común como ocurre en la WM, si existen mutaciones recurrentes, y si estas podrían coincidir con las observadas en MM. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una secuenciación de exoma (WES) en una serie de pacientes con AL y comparar su perfil mutacional con el de MM. Métodos: En este estudio se incluyeron 28 pacientes con AL. Se realizó un WES, incluyendo las regiones reguladoras UTR (SureSelect Human All Exon V6 + UTRs (Agilent)) en 56 muestras pareadas sorteadas de células plasmáticas patológicas y sangre periférica como muestra control. Cada muestra tumoral fue capturada por triplicado y secuenciada en la plataforma NextSeq 500 (Illumina). Para el análisis de variantes somáticas se utilizaron los programas Strelka y ANNOVAR. . Las firmas mutacionales se analizaron con el software DeconstructSigs. Para comparar el perfil mutacional de AL con MM se utilizó la base de datos MMRF CoMMpass con 895 pacientes. Además, se han determinado los reordenamientos de los genes de las inmunoglobulinas (Igs) mediante NGS. Resultados: La cobertura media de secuenciación para las muestras de control y tumor fue de 64x y 186x, respectivamente. Se detectaron un total de 1983 SNV y 133 INDEL con una media de 71 (20-281) SNV y 5 (0-25) INDEL por paciente. Al comparar con MM (media 66 SNV y 2.5 INDEL) se observó una carga mutacional similar. Los únicos genes mutados tanto en AL como en MM fueron MUC16 (recurrencia 17% y 8%, respectivamente) e IGLL5 (recurrencia 17%, en ambas), siendo además los genes más frecuentemente mutados en AL Las firmas mutacionales más frecuentes que se identificaron fueron la 1 (desaminación espontánea de citosinas metiladas en sitios CpG), la 3 (fallo en la reparación de la ruptura de la doble cadena de ADN mediante recombinación homóloga), y la 9 (transveriones T> G en trinucleótidos ApTpN y TpTpN), identificadas en el 96%, 54% y 46% de los pacientes, respectivamente. Respecto al repertorio de los genes de las Igs, se observó que el 26% de los pacientes con AL presentan más de un clon, siendo esta heterogeneidad clonal similar a la encontrada en MM (23%). El gen IGHV3-30 fue identificado con mayor frecuencia tanto en AL como en MM, 10% y 12% de recurrencia, respectivamente. Conclusiones: Este es el primer estudio de WES en una serie de pacientes con AL. Los resultados muestran que no hay una mutación común driver en esta enfermedad, que podrían estar implicados múltiples procesos mutacionales, y que los genes descritos más frecuentemente mutados en AL y MM no coinciden. En conjunto, estos resultados suponen un avance en el entendimiento de la patogénesis de la AL

The status of the Quijote multi-frequency instrument

The QUIJOTE-CMB project has been described in previous publications. Here we present the current status of the QUIJOTE multi-frequency instrument (MFI) with five separate polarimeters (providing 5 independent sky pixels): two which operate at 10-14 GHz, two which operate at 16-20 GHz, and a central polarimeter at 30 GHz. The optical arrangement includes 5 conical corrugated feedhorns staring into a dual reflector crossed-draconian system, which provides optimal cross-polarization properties (designed to be < -35 dB) and symmetric beams. Each horn feeds a novel cryogenic on-axis rotating polar modulator which can rotate at a speed of up to 1 Hz. The science driver for this first instrument is the characterization of the galactic emission. The polarimeters use the polar modulator to derive linear polar parameters Q, U and I and switch out various systematics. The detection system provides optimum sensitivity through 2 correlated and 2 total power channels. The system is calibrated using bright polarized celestial sources and through a secondary calibration source and antenna. The acquisition system, telescope control and housekeeping are all linked through a real-time gigabit Ethernet network. All communication, power and helium gas are passed through a central rotary joint. The time stamp is synchronized to a GPS time signal. The acquisition software is based on PLCs written in Beckhoffs TwinCat and ethercat. The user interface is written in LABVIEW. The status of the QUIJOTE MFI will be presented including pre-commissioning results and laboratory testing

Telomerase activity, estrogen receptors (α, β), Bcl-2 expression in human breast cancer and treatment response

BACKGROUND: The mechanism for maintaining telomere integrity is controlled by telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein enzyme that specifically restores telomere sequences, lost during replication by means of an intrinsic RNA component as a template for polymerization. Among the telomerase subunits, hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) is expressed concomitantly with the activation of telomerase. The role of estrogens and their receptors in the transcriptional regulation of hTERT has been demonstrated. The current study determines the possible association between telomerase activity, the expression of both molecular forms of estrogen receptor (ERα and ERβ) and the protein bcl-2, and their relative associations with clinical parameters. METHODS: Tissue samples from 44 patients with breast cancer were used to assess telomerase activity using the TRAP method and the expression of ERα, ERβ and bcl-2 by means of immunocytochemical techniques. RESULTS: Telomerase activity was detected in 59% of the 44 breast tumors examined. Telomerase activity ranged from 0 to 49.93 units of total product generated (TPG). A correlation was found between telomerase activity and differentiation grade (p = 0.03). The only significant independent marker of response to treatment was clinical stage. We found differences between the frequency of expression of ERα (88%) and ERβ (36%) (p = 0.007); bcl-2 was expressed in 79.5% of invasive breast carcinomas. We also found a significant correlation between low levels of telomerase activity and a lack of ERβ expression (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Lower telomerase activity was found among tumors that did not express estrogen receptor beta. This is the first published study demonstrating that the absence of expression of ERβ is associated with low levels of telomerase activity