SyntTax: a web server linking synteny to prokaryotic taxonomy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study of the conservation of gene order or synteny constitutes a powerful methodology to assess the orthology of genomic regions and to predict functional relationships between genes. The exponential growth of microbial genomic databases is expected to improve synteny predictions significantly. Paradoxically, this genomic data plethora, without information on organisms relatedness, could impair the performance of synteny analysis programs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this work, I present SyntTax, a synteny web service designed to take full advantage of the large amount or archaeal and bacterial genomes by linking them through taxonomic relationships. SyntTax incorporates a full hierarchical taxonomic tree allowing intuitive access to all completely sequenced prokaryotes. Single or multiple organisms can be chosen on the basis of their lineage by selecting the corresponding rank nodes in the tree. The synteny methodology is built upon our previously described Absynte algorithm with several additional improvements.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>SyntTax aims to produce robust syntenies by providing prompt access to the taxonomic relationships connecting all completely sequenced microbial genomes. The reduction in redundancy offered by lineage selection presents the benefit of increasing accuracy while reducing computation time. This web tool was used to resolve successfully several conserved complex gene clusters described in the literature. In addition, particular features of SyntTax permit the confirmation of the involvement of the four components constituting the <it>E. coli</it> YgjD multiprotein complex responsible for tRNA modification. By analyzing the clustering evolution of alternative gene fusions, new proteins potentially interacting with this complex could be proposed. The web service is available at <url>http://archaea.u-psud.fr/SyntTax</url>.</p

Functional and evolutionary insights from the genomes of three Parasitoid nasonia species

We report here genome sequences and comparative analyses of three closely related parasitoid wasps: Nasonia vitripennis, N. giraulti, and N. tongicomis. Parasitoids are important regulators of arthropod populations, including major agricultural pests and disease vectors, and Nasonia is an emerging genetic model, particularly for evolutionary and developmental genetics. Key findings include the identification of a functional DNA methylation tool kit; hymenopteran-spedfic genes including diverse venoms; lateral gene transfers among Pox viruses, Wolbachia, and Nasonia; and the rapid evolution of genes involved in nuclearmitochondrial interactions that are implicated in spedation. Newly developed genome resources advance Nasonia for genetic research, accelerate mapping and cloning of quantitative trait loci, and will ultimately provide tools and knowledge for further increasing the utility of parasitoids as pest insect-control agents