原核生物基因组三核苷酸转移概率偏倚的物种特异性及致病关联性

作为DNA序列的重要组成特征,基因组寡核苷酸使用模式及其偏倚的研究已被广泛应用于原核生物基因组的分析。然而,关于寡核苷酸使用模式的偏倚是否具有种群特异性并反映种群的功能这一问题,尚未阐明。我们基于一阶马尔可夫链模型,提出了一个度量寡核苷酸使用模式偏倚的新指标——基因组三核苷酸(trinucleotide,tri-)转移概率偏倚(transition probability bias,TPB)特征向量,或称之为三核苷酸转移概率最大偏倚分布,并分析比较了727条有代表性的原核生物基因组序列tri-TPB特征向量。结果表明,基因组tri-TPB特征向量具有物种特异性,亲缘关系越近的物种,它们的tri-TPB特征向量越相似;同种内的不同菌株具有几乎完全相同的tri-TPB特征向量,并且不依赖于基因组的GC含量;此外,基因组tri-TPB特征向量的相似性与菌株的致病性特征相关。本研究结果为基于全基因组寡核苷酸组成和分布信息的物种及其致病性进化分析提供了新的思路和方法。     

两种DNA探针杂交检测结核分支杆菌方法的研究

为改进结核杆菌DNA探针的特异性与实用性,研制了以生物素标记的两种对结核分支杆菌特异的DNA探针:一个5’端标记的20bp的寡核苷酸探针和一个采用PCR方法合成的188bp长链探针。两种探针分别与结核分支杆菌的全染色体DNA,以及基因组上IS6110序列的一段317bp的PCR扩增产物进行斑点杂交,以碱性磷酸酶(AP)催化的染色反应检测,测试了两个探针的敏感性和特异性。系统地比较研究了两种探针杂交检测条件:探针的浓度选择,杂交温度与洗膜温度的选择,以及杂交与洗膜温度对检测的敏感性与特异性的影响。寡核苷酸探针和188bp探针杂交检测纯化结核分支杆菌基因组DNA的敏感性分别为100ng与6ng,杂交检测PCR产物的敏感性分别是400pg与50pg。两探针的最佳杂交浓度均为40～160ng/ml,最佳杂交温度分别是42℃与68℃,最佳洗膜温度分别是60℃与60～68℃之间。两种探针均仅与结核分支杆菌及BCG有杂交信号,而与其它受试分支杆菌及非分支杆菌杂交结果都呈阴性。它们的特异性都很强,但188bp探针的敏感性约是寡核苷酸探针的7～16倍,而且188bp探针检测本底较低,是检测结核分支杆菌的较佳选择     

用于高通量测序的基因组靶序列捕获方法的建立

文章旨在建立一种基因组目标靶序列捕捉文库的方法,并结合第二代测序技术,以实现候选基因区段的深度测序。利用Agilent公司的eArray在线平台,对1250个基因的11824个外显子共2414977bp的基因组序列进行120个碱基长度的捕捉探针(钓饵)设计,并制备成SureSelect液相靶序列捕获试剂。选用2例人基因组DNA,超声打断后末端补平并磷酸化,连接SOLiD接头,回收150bp～200bp的DNA片段,与靶序列探针杂交捕获目标序列,油包水微乳滴PCR扩增后,磁珠分离富集,上SOLiD测序系统通过工作流程分析(WFA)进行文库质量的评价,或正式测序反应。结果显示对所包含的11147个基因外显子片段设计出并合成了46509个捕捉探针,制备成SureSelect试剂盒。探针可有效地捕捉并富集基因组DNA的目标靶片段,定量PCR显示富集效率可达29倍。WFA分析表明文库可以在SOLiD仪器进行正式测序。测序结果显示靶序列区域的测序数占有效总测序数的比例达到70%,覆盖率均在200×以上。结果表明本研究所建立的SureSelect基因组靶序列捕捉、富集建立测序文库的技术路线可行,可直接用于SOLiD测序仪的测序。     

玉米有丝分裂染色体上玉米BAC探针的FISH杂交体系的构建

本研究分别探讨了玉米和水稻基因组c 0t DNA对探针的封阻、杂交后洗脱的严谨度、杂交液中FAD的浓度变化对BAC-FISH杂交的影响;探讨了玉米BAC探针中重复序列含量对FISH信号的影响.初步形成了一套以玉米BAC探针在玉米有丝分裂染色体上进行FISH杂交的优化技术体系.结果表明,玉米基因组c 0t DNA对探针封阻的c 0t值应小于50;而降低杂交液中FAD浓度和适度控制杂交后洗脱的严谨度,尤其是使用水稻基因组的c 0t 100 DNA封阻探针重复序列对BAC-FISH杂交信号特异性的改善具有明显的效果;同时,验证了选择重复序列含量较少的玉米BAC作为FISH杂交的探针也是获得特异性杂交信号的重要条件.     

乙型脑炎病毒可视化分型基因芯片的制备

目的:制备乙型脑炎病毒(JEV)可视化分型基因芯片。方法:根据JEV的基因组序列,应用生物学软件设计JEV分型引物及探针,制备其可视化分型基因芯片;用生物素标记的引物PCR扩增目的片段,并与固定于玻片上的探针杂交,加入链霉亲和素标记的纳米金,银增强实现可视化;进行特异性、灵敏性及重复性试验。结果:探针特异地与相应的标记目的基因片段杂交,并在芯片上呈现较强的阳性杂交信号;2号探针能特异性检出JEV,3、4号探针可分别对Ⅰ型和Ⅲ型JEV进行分型;芯片对JEV质粒检测的灵敏度达105拷贝/mL;以蓝耳病病毒等5种病毒为对照,芯片只对JEV响应,具有特异性;制备的基因芯片具有批间、批内重复性。结论:制备的基因芯片具有高特异性、灵敏性及重复性,可以快速、准确、高通量地对JEV进行可视化分型检测。     

豚鼠基因组26个多态性微卫星标记的筛选

目的筛选豚鼠基因组的多态性微卫星标记,为豚鼠遗传质量控制及基因定位等工作奠定基础。方法采用磁珠富集法和豚鼠基因组数据库筛选法获取微卫星位点序列,通过分析和初步筛选,挑选部分候选位点,根据其序列设计引物,对5种不同来源的豚鼠基因组DNA标本进行PCR扩增,以期获得多态性分子标记。结果本实验采用磁珠富集法共获得微卫星序列304个,设计引物125对,最终获得多态性位点1个,暂未发现多态性的特异性位点17个;用数据库筛选法共获得微卫星序列292个,设计并合成相应引物178对,最终发现多态性位点25个,暂未发现多态性的特异性位点28个。结论本实验获得26个多态性微卫星标记,45个潜在的候选标记,为微卫星标记在豚鼠遗传质量监测及突变基因定位等工作的应用奠定了基础。     

基于组合探针识别的大规模细菌分类16 S rRNA基因芯片设计

随着16 S rRNA序列资源的不断丰富,以及寡核苷酸微阵列基因芯片技术的不断进步,检测复杂微生物菌落中的微生物种群构成成为可能．现有的序列特异性探针设计算法缺乏足够的覆盖度、灵活性以及效率,不能满足大规模细菌检测基因芯片的设计要求．很多组特异性探针设计算法的思路多局限于针对某个目标序列组设计唯一的组特异性探针．在很多应用场合,设计单个探针检测组内所有目标序列的目标是很难达到的．因此,设计多个探针通过组合方式进行检测是很有必要的．每个探针能特异性地检测组内一部分目标序列,通过组合就能提高覆盖率．然而,在所有可能的探针组合中找到一个优化的探针组合是很耗时的．提出了一个可行的基于相对熵和遗传算法的组合探针设计算法．     

浙江东部常绿阔叶林次生演替的随机过程模型

植物群落次生演替过程的有限序列在一定意义上构成一随机过程。浙江东部常绿阔叶林次生演替的随机过程系统可以近似地看成线性系统,因而可以用马尔可夫过程描述。本文以群落主要乔木优势种作为马尔可夫过程的状态变量。用“空间序列代替时间序列”的研究方法测得自然次生演替过程和干扰次生演替过程群落主要优势乔木种的更新概率,以此建立了马尔可夫过程的一步平衡转移概率矩阵。应用马尔可夫链模型对常绿阔叶林的自然和干扰次生演     

一种基于寡核苷酸微阵列芯片的多重可扩增探针杂交技术

多重可扩增探针杂交技术(multiplex amplifiable probe hybridization,MAPH)是近年来发展起来的一种用于基因组中DNA拷贝数检测的新技术。并发展了一种基于寡核苷酸微阵列芯片的MAPH技术。该方法根据所检测的DNA序列,制备若干具有通用引物的FCR产物作为可扩增探针组,与固定在尼龙膜上待测的基因组DNA杂交。用磁珠回收特异性杂交的探针,经生物素标记的通用引物扩增后,与相应的寡核苷酸微阵列芯片杂交。该特异性的寡核苷酸微阵列芯片包括10个抗肌营养不良基因的外显子探针和阴性、阳性探针。杂交清冼后,链霉亲和素-Cy3染色用芯片扫描仪得到杂交的荧光图像。分析荧光信号的强度差异给出特定基因片段拷贝数的变化。该方法用微阵列技术代替MAPH中的电泳检测技术,可大幅度增加检测的通量。选择了一个正常男性、一个正常女性和一个肌营养不良症患者的基因组DNA来进行验证。结果表明,该方法能够同时给出抗肌营养不良基因多个外显子中的基因片段拷贝数差异信息。     

ETA基因作为荧光定量PCR靶基因设计TaqMan探针快速检测铜绿假单胞菌的研究

铜绿假单胞菌是临床上常见致病菌, 传统的检测方法有各种弊端。本研究对该细菌的ETA基因用生物信息学方法加以分析, 选取相对保守且高度特异的DNA序列, 设计一对特异性引物和一个TaqMan探针, 建立FQ-PCR (fluorescence quantitative PCR)检测PA的方法。通过对梯度浓度的铜绿假单胞菌基因组DNA样品进行FQ-PCR检测和对多种细菌的DNA进行扩增, 来检测其灵敏度和验证引物和探针的特异性。试验结果表明, 对比现有的检测方法, 以ETA基因为靶基因, 基于TaqMan探针的快速FQ-PCR检测技术有更高的灵敏度和更好的特异性等优点, 具有很好的研究价值和应用前景。     

Exotoxin A-PLGA nanoconjugate vaccine against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection: protectivity in murine model

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal amplification technique. Because of its short detection cycle and high specificity, it has been applied in various fields. However, the design of probe on the efficiency of RPA is not well understood and the effect of sequence mismatches of oligonucleotides on the performance of RPA is rarely discussed. In this study, we found that different primers with the same probe have a slight effect on the efficiency of fluorescent RPA, and different probes with the same amplified region have a great influence on the efficiency of fluorescent RPA. We summarized the design rules of probes suitable for fluorescent RPA by analyzing the experimental data. The rule is that the best distance between fluorescent groups in the probe is 1–2 bases, and the G content should be reduced as far as possible. In addition, we verified this rule by designing a series of probes. Furthermore, we found the base mismatches of the probe had a significant effect on RPA, which can lead to false positives and can change the amplification efficiency. However, 1–3 mismatches covering the center of the primer sequence only affect the amplification efficiency of RPA, not its specificity. And with an increase in the number of primer mismatches, the efficiency of RPA will decrease accordingly. This study suggests that the efficiency of fluorescent RPA is closely related to the probe. We recommend that when designing a fluorescent probe, one must consider the presence of closely related non-targets and specific bases.

     

Using high-density exon arrays to profile gene expression in closely related species

Global comparisons of gene expression profiles between species provide significant insight into gene regulation, evolutionary processes and disease mechanisms. In this work, we describe a flexible and intuitive approach for global expression profiling of closely related species, using high-density exon arrays designed for a single reference genome. The high-density probe coverage of exon arrays allows us to select identical sets of perfect-match probes to measure expression levels of orthologous genes. This eliminates a serious confounding factor in probe affinity effects of species-specific microarray probes, and enables direct comparisons of estimated expression indexes across species. Using a newly designed Affymetrix exon array, with eight probes per exon for approximately 315 000 exons in the human genome, we conducted expression profiling in corresponding tissues from humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of differentially expressed candidate genes is highly concordant with microarray data, yielding a validation rate of 21/22 for human versus chimpanzee differences, and 11/11 for human versus rhesus differences. This method has the potential to greatly facilitate biomedical and evolutionary studies of gene expression in nonhuman primates and can be easily extended to expression array design and comparative analysis of other animals and plants.     

PathogenMIPer: a tool for the design of molecular inversion probes to detect multiple pathogens

Background  

Here we describe PathogenMIPer, a software program for designing molecular inversion probe (MIP) oligonucleotides for use in pathogen identification and detection. The software designs unique and specific oligonucleotide probes targeting microbial or other genomes. The tool tailors all probe sequence components (including target-specific sequences, barcode sequences, universal primers and restriction sites) and combines these components into ready-to-order probes for use in a MIP assay. The system can harness the genetic variability available in an entire genome in designing specific probes for the detection of multiple co-infections in a single tube using a MIP assay.     

Bayesian restoration of a hidden Markov chain with applications to DNA sequencing.

Hidden Markov models (HMMs) are a class of stochastic models that have proven to be powerful tools for the analysis of molecular sequence data. A hidden Markov model can be viewed as a black box that generates sequences of observations. The unobservable internal state of the box is stochastic and is determined by a finite state Markov chain. The observable output is stochastic with distribution determined by the state of the hidden Markov chain. We present a Bayesian solution to the problem of restoring the sequence of states visited by the hidden Markov chain from a given sequence of observed outputs. Our approach is based on a Monte Carlo Markov chain algorithm that allows us to draw samples from the full posterior distribution of the hidden Markov chain paths. The problem of estimating the probability of individual paths and the associated Monte Carlo error of these estimates is addressed. The method is illustrated by considering a problem of DNA sequence multiple alignment. The special structure for the hidden Markov model used in the sequence alignment problem is considered in detail. In conclusion, we discuss certain interesting aspects of biological sequence alignments that become accessible through the Bayesian approach to HMM restoration.     

Quality control in manufacturing oligo arrays: a combinatorial design approach.

The advent of the DNA microarray technology has brought with it the exciting possibility of simultaneously observing the expression levels of all genes in an organism. One such microarray technology, called "oligo arrays," manufactures short single strands of DNA (called probes) onto a glass surface using photolithography. An altered or missed step in such a manufacturing protocol can adversely affect all probes using this failed step and is in general impossible to disentangle from experimental variation when using such a defective array. The idea of designing special quality control probes to detect a failed step was first formulated by Hubbell and Pevzner (1999). We consider an alternative formulation of this problem and use a combinatorial design approach to solve it. Our results improve over prior work in guaranteeing coverage of all protocol steps and in being able to tolerate a greater number of unreliable probe intensities.