Mapping of QTLs and eQTLs associated with reaction the "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" in Poncirus trifoliate, Citrus sunki and hybrids

The Centro APTA Citros Sylvio Moreira/IAC has been conducting an extensive breeding program of citrus via directed crosses. In a previous study with Citrushuanglongbing pathosystem (HLB) held in our group, using a population obtained by hybridization between Citrus sunki and Poncirus trifoliata, differences were found in the multiplication of the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), the causal agent of HLB, in the parents and in the progeny. It was observed that the rate of infection and bacterial concentration was higher in C. sunki than in P. trifoliata. Thus, it is important to deepen the studies with this genus and hybrids to increase knowledge of which mechanisms could be involved in the tolerance to HLB, considered the most important disease of citrus currently. In this sense, the objective of this study was to establish sinteny between the linkage groups of the C. sunki and P. trifoliata maps with the genome of Citrus sinensis and to map genomic regions associated to tolerance CLas bacterium through phenotypic analysis (QTLs) and gene expression (eQTLs). With the comparative analysis between maps and genome, it was observed that all the linkage groups showed synteny with reference genome chromosomes used, with the exception of the linkage group 10 of the C. sunki map. For the phenotypic data, a population of 79 F1 hybrids between C. sunki and P. trifoliata was used. The quantification of the bacterium and accumulation of starch in the leaves were evaluated after two years of inoculation with the pathogen. Through the statistical analysis of the mixed model it was possible to group the hybrids into resistant, tolerant and susceptible, being important the validation of these data in the field. The expression of 14 candidate genes related to HLB was performed in 72 hybrids of the population and used as expression data for the mapping of eQTLs. It was possible to locate nine QTLs and 52 eQTLs on the C. sunki genitor map and 17 QTLs and 40 eQTLs were found on the P. trifoliata genitor map. The overlapping eQTLs of the majority genes of QTL (phenotypic data) indicates that the genes are related to the phenotype and are probably responsive to the pathogen infection.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)O Centro APTA Citros Sylvio Moreira/IAC vem realizando um amplo programa de melhoramento genético de citros via cruzamentos dirigidos. Em um estudo prévio com o patossistema Citros-huanglongbing (HLB) realizado pelo nosso grupo, utilizando uma população obtida por hibridação controlada entre Citrus sunki e Poncirus trifoliata, foram verificadas diferenças na multiplicação da bactéria Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), agente causal do HLB, tanto nos genitores quanto na progênie. A taxa de infecção e a concentração de bactéria foi maior em Citrus sunki em relação ao P. trifoliata. Assim, é importante aprofundar os estudos com esses gêneros e seus híbridos para ampliar o conhecimento de quais mecanismos poderiam estar envolvidos na tolerância ao HLB, considerada a mais importante doença dos citros atualmente. O objetivo do trabalho foi estabelecer sintenia entre os grupos de ligação dos mapas de C. sunki e P. trifoliata com o genoma de Citrus sinensis e mapear regiões genômicas associadas à tolerância a CLas por meio de análise fenotípica (QTLs) e de expressão gênica (eQTLs). Com a análise comparativa entre mapas e genoma, foi observado que todos os grupos de ligação apresentaram sintenia com pseudocromossomos do genoma de referência utilizado, com exceção do grupo de ligação 10 do mapa da C. sunki. Para os dados fenotípicos foi utilizada uma população de 79 híbridos F1 entre C. sunki e P. trifoliata, sendo avaliada a quantificação da bactéria e acúmulo de amido nas folhas após dois anos da inoculação com o patógeno. Com a análise estatística utilizando modelo misto foi possível agrupar os híbridos em resistentes, tolerantes e suscetíveis, sendo importante a validação desses dados em campo. A análise de expressão de 14 genes candidatos relacionados ao HLB foi realizada em 72 híbridos da população e utilizados como dados de expressão para o mapeamento de eQTLs. Foram encontrados nove QTLs e 52 eQTLs no mapa do genitor C. sunki enquanto no mapa do genitor P. trifoliata foram encontrados 17 QTLs e 40 eQTLs. A sobreposição de eQTLs da grande maioria dos genes com QTLs dos dados fenotípicos, indicam que os genes têm relação com o fenótipo e que provavelmente são responsivos à infecção do patógeno

Better detection of Torque teno virus in children with leukemia by metagenomic sequencing than by quantitative PCR.

Torque teno virus (TTV) is a group of chronically persisting viruses with a short circular DNA genome. TTV demonstrates a wide sequence diversity and a large majority of humans are chronically infected by one or more types of TTV. As TTV is ubiquitous, and viral replication correlates with immune status, TTV has been studied as a marker to assess global functional immune competence in transplant recipients. Most studies of the prevalence, amounts, and variation in TTV have been performed using PCR assays. We here present a comparison of the most frequently used quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay for TTV with shotgun metagenomic sequencing for detection and characterization of TTV in a cohort of pediatric cancer patients. The results show that TTV is more common than the qPCR assays indicate, and analysis of the TTV genome sequences indicate that a qPCR with primers and probe designed on a conserved region of the TTV genome may fail to detect some of the TTV strains found in this study

Comparison of functional-oil blend and anticoccidial antibiotics effects on performance and microbiota of broiler chickens challenged by coccidiosis.

This study aimed to compare the effects of different levels of cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL) and castor oil (CNSL-castor oil) with growth-promoting antibiotics associated with anticoccidials in broiler chickens challenged with coccidiosis. In this work, 2520 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Cobb) were randomly assigned to 84 pens, containing 30 birds each. The experimental design was completely randomized, with seven treatments: enramycin (8 ppm), virginiamycin (16.5 ppm), and tylosin (55 ppm); different doses of CNSL-castor oil (0.5, 0.75, and 1.00 kg/t); and a control diet (without additives). All treatments received semduramicin + nicarbazin (500 g/t; Aviax® Plus) from 0 to 28 d and monensin sodium (100 ppm; Elanco) from 29 to 35 days of age, when the feed was without antibiotics. The challenge was introduced at 14 days of age by inoculating broiler chickens with sporulated Eimeria tenella, Eimeria acervulina, and Eimeria maxima oocysts via oral gavage. In addition to performance parameters, intestinal contents were collected at 28 and 42 days of age for microbiota analysis by sequencing the 16s rRNA in V3 and V4 regions using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Taxonomy was assigned using the SILVA database (v. 138) with QIIME2 software (v. 2020.11). After one week of challenge, the broilers that received tylosin had a higher body weight gain (BWG) than those in the control group (p < 0.05), while the other treatments presented intermediate values. At 28 d, the BWG was lower for the control, CNSL-Castor oil 0.5 kg/t, enramycin, and virginiamycin treatments than that in the tylosin treatment. The inclusion of CNSL-Castor oil at concentrations of 0.75 and 1 kg/t acted as an intermediate treatment (p < 0.05). For alpha diversity, using the Shannon index, it was possible to observe the effect of age, with substantial diversity at 42 d. The Firmicutes phylum had the highest abundance, with values between 84.33% and 95.16% at 42 d. Tylosin showed better performance indices than other treatments. CNSL-castor oil treatments with concentrations of 0.75 and 1 kg/t showed similar results to those of enramycin and virginiamycin. Furthermore, CNSL-castor oil acted as a modulator of intestinal microbiota, reducing the abundance of pathogenic bacteria

Table1_AnnotaPipeline: An integrated tool to annotate eukaryotic proteins using multi-omics data.XLSX

Assignment of gene function has been a crucial, laborious, and time-consuming step in genomics. Due to a variety of sequencing platforms that generates increasing amounts of data, manual annotation is no longer feasible. Thus, the need for an integrated, automated pipeline allowing the use of experimental data towards validation of in silico prediction of gene function is of utmost relevance. Here, we present a computational workflow named AnnotaPipeline that integrates distinct software and data types on a proteogenomic approach to annotate and validate predicted features in genomic sequences. Based on FASTA (i) nucleotide or (ii) protein sequences or (iii) structural annotation files (GFF3), users can input FASTQ RNA-seq data, MS/MS data from mzXML or similar formats, as the pipeline uses both transcriptomic and proteomic information to corroborate annotations and validate gene prediction, providing transcription and expression evidence for functional annotation. Reannotation of the available Arabidopsis thaliana, Caenorhabditis elegans, Candida albicans, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Trypanosoma rangeli genomes was performed using the AnnotaPipeline, resulting in a higher proportion of annotated proteins and a reduced proportion of hypothetical proteins when compared to the annotations publicly available for these organisms. AnnotaPipeline is a Unix-based pipeline developed using Python and is available at: https://github.com/bioinformatics-ufsc/AnnotaPipeline.</p

Table2_AnnotaPipeline: An integrated tool to annotate eukaryotic proteins using multi-omics data.docx

Assignment of gene function has been a crucial, laborious, and time-consuming step in genomics. Due to a variety of sequencing platforms that generates increasing amounts of data, manual annotation is no longer feasible. Thus, the need for an integrated, automated pipeline allowing the use of experimental data towards validation of in silico prediction of gene function is of utmost relevance. Here, we present a computational workflow named AnnotaPipeline that integrates distinct software and data types on a proteogenomic approach to annotate and validate predicted features in genomic sequences. Based on FASTA (i) nucleotide or (ii) protein sequences or (iii) structural annotation files (GFF3), users can input FASTQ RNA-seq data, MS/MS data from mzXML or similar formats, as the pipeline uses both transcriptomic and proteomic information to corroborate annotations and validate gene prediction, providing transcription and expression evidence for functional annotation. Reannotation of the available Arabidopsis thaliana, Caenorhabditis elegans, Candida albicans, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Trypanosoma rangeli genomes was performed using the AnnotaPipeline, resulting in a higher proportion of annotated proteins and a reduced proportion of hypothetical proteins when compared to the annotations publicly available for these organisms. AnnotaPipeline is a Unix-based pipeline developed using Python and is available at: https://github.com/bioinformatics-ufsc/AnnotaPipeline.</p

Modulation of the intestinal microbiota of broilers supplemented with monensin or functional oils in response to challenge by Eimeria spp.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of supplementation with 100ppm sodium monensin or 0.15% of a blend of functional oils (cashew nut oil + castor oil) on the intestinal microbiota of broilers challenged with three different Eimeria spp. The challenge was accomplished by inoculating broiler chicks with sporulated oocysts of Eimeria tenella, Eimeria acervulina, and Eimeria maxima via oral gavage. A total of 864, day-old male broiler chicks (Cobb) were randomly assigned to six treatments (eight pens/treatment; 18 broilers/pen) in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, composed of three additives (control, monensin or blend), with or without Eimeria challenge. Intestinal contents was collected at 28 days of age for microbiota analysis by sequencing 16s rRNA in V3 and V4 regions using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Taxonomy was assigned through the SILVA database version 132, using the QIIME 2 software version 2019.1. No treatment effects (p > 0.05) were observed in the microbial richness at the family level estimated by Chao1 and the biodiversity assessed by Simpson's index, except for Shannon's index (p < 0.05). The intestinal microbiota was dominated by members of the order Clostridiales and Lactobacillales, followed by the families Ruminococcaceae, Bacteroidaceae, and Lactobacillaceae, regardless of treatment. When the controls were compared, in the challenged control group there was an increase in Erysipelotrichaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Streptococcaceae, and Peptostreptococcaceae, and a decrease in Ruminococcaceae. Similar results were found for a challenged group that received monensin, while the blend partially mitigated this variation. Therefore, the blend alleviated the impact of coccidiosis challenge on the microbiome of broilers compared to monensin

Emergence of Two Distinct SARS-CoV-2 Gamma Variants and the Rapid Spread of P.1-like-II SARS-CoV-2 during the Second Wave of COVID-19 in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil

The western mesoregion of the state of Santa Catarina (SC), Southern Brazil, was heavily affected as a whole by the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021. This study aimed to evaluate the dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading patterns in the SC state from March 2020 to April 2021 using genomic surveillance. During this period, there were 23 distinct variants, including Beta and Gamma, among which the Gamma and related lineages were predominant in the second pandemic wave within SC. A regionalization of P.1-like-II in the Western SC region was observed, concomitant to the increase in cases, mortality, and the case fatality rate (CFR) index. This is the first evidence of the regionalization of the SARS-CoV-2 transmission in SC and it highlights the importance of tracking the variants, dispersion, and impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the public health systems