Survey of simple sequence repeats in completed fungal genomes

The use of simple sequence repeats or microsatellites as genetic markers has become very popular because of their abundance and length variation between different individuals. SSRs are tandem repeat units of 1 to 6 base pairs that are found abundantly in many prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. This is the first study examining and comparing SSRs in completely sequenced fungal genomes. We analyzed and compared the occurrences, relative abundance, relative density, most common, and longest SSRs in nine taxonomically different fungal species: Aspergillus nidulans, Cryptococcus neoformans, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, Fusarium graminearum, Magnaporthe grisea, Neurospora crassa, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and Ustilago maydis. Our analysis revealed that, in all of the genomes studied, the occurrence, abundance, and relative density of SSRs varied and was not influenced by the genome sizes. No correlation between relative abundance and the genome sizes was observed, but it was shown that N. crassa, the largest genome analyzed had the highest relative abundance of SSRs. In most genomes, mononucleotide, dinucleotide, and trinucleotide repeats were more abundant than the longer repeated SSRs. Generally, in each organism, the occurrence, relative abundance, and relative density of SSRs decreased as the repeat unit increased. Furthermore, each organism had its own common and longest SSRs. Our analysis showed that the relative abundance of SSRs in fungi is low compared with the human genome and that longer SSRs in fungi are rare. In addition to providing new information concerning the abundance of SSRs for each of these fungi, the results provide a general source of molecular markers that could be useful for a variety of applications such as population genetics and strain identification of fungal organisms.     

Distribution and evolution of short tandem repeats in closely related bacterial genomes

Simultaneous identification and comparison of perfect and imperfect microsatellites within a genome is a valuable tool both to overcome the lack of a consensus definition of SSRs and to assess repeat history. Detailed analysis of the overall distribution of perfect and imperfect microsatellites in closely related bacterial taxa is expected to give new insight into the evolution of prokaryotic genomes. We have performed a genome-wide analysis of microsatellite distribution in four Escherichia coli and seven Chlamydial strains. Chlamydial strains generally have a higher density of SSRs and show greater intra-group differences of SSR distribution patterns than E. coli genomes. In most investigated genomes the distribution of the total lengths of matching perfect and imperfect trinucleotide repeats are highly similar, with the notable exception of C. muridarum. Closely related strains show more similar repeat distribution patterns than strains separated by a longer divergence time. The discrepancy between the preferred classes of perfect and imperfect repeats in C. muridarum implies accelerated evolution of SSRs in this particular strain. Our results suggest that microsatellites, although considerably less abundant than in eukaryotic genomes, may nevertheless play an important role in the evolution of prokaryotic genomes and several gene families.     

Occurrence and analysis of imperfect microsatellites in diverse potyvirus genomes

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are known to exhibit ubiquitous across all kingdoms of life including viruses. However, imperfections in simple sequence repeats have been analyzed in genomes of human, Escherichia coli and Human Immunodeficiency virus. The assessment of compound microsatellites in plant viral genomes is yet to be studied. Potyviruses severely affect crop plant growth and reduce economic yield in diverse cropping systems worldwide. Hence, we analyze the nature and distribution of compound microsatellites present in complete genome of 45 potyvirus species. The results indicate that compound microsatellites accounted for about 0% to 15.15% of all microsatellites and have low complexity as compared to that of prokaryotic genomes. Overall, 14% of compound microsatellites were of similar motifs and such motif duplications were observed for CA, TA and AG repeats. Among all 45 potyvirus genomes analyzed, SSR couple (AG)-x-(AC) was found to be the most abundant one. Hence it is apparent that in contrast to eukaryotes, majority of compound microsatellites in potyviruses were composed of variant motifs. We also highlight the relative frequency of different classes of compound microsatellites as well as their patterns of distribution and correlate with biology of potyviruses. Further characterization of such variation is important for elucidating the origin, mutational processes, and structure of these widely used, but incompletely understood sequences.     

埃博拉病毒基因组中微卫星序列的分布分析

微卫星或简单重复序列(simple sequence repeat, SSR)在真核和原核生物以及病毒基因组中普遍存在,并被广泛用于遗传与进化研究。本研究从NCBI中下载埃博拉病毒属的四个不同种的埃博拉病毒全基因组序列,筛选36条作为实验材料,利用IMEx在线提取软件提取SSRs,用Python编程统计数据,从而分析SSRs在埃博拉病毒全基因组序列中的分布情况。分析得出,埃博拉病毒基因组序列中二型SSRs含量最为丰富,其次是一型SSRs,三型SSRs有少量,四型SSRs则更少,没有发现五型和六型SSRs。在更深入的分析中得出在埃博拉病毒属四个种中,含A/T碱基的SSRs含量远远大于含C/G碱基的SSRs。分析得出一型SSRs中(A)n/(T)n远多于(G)n/(C)n,二型SSRs中不存在(GC/CG)n,三型中也不存在(GGC/CGG/GCG/CCG/CGC/GCC) n。上述发现可能跟埃博拉病毒的致病机理有密切联系。通过对埃博拉病毒基因组序列中SSRs的分析,为研究埃博拉病毒的变异情况及致病机制提供更多参考。     

甲型流感病毒HA基因的简单重复序列分布分析

以GenBank公开的甲型流感病毒亚型的血凝素(hemagglutinin,HA)核苷酸序列为材料,从简单重复序列(simple se-quence repeat,SSR)分布的分析角度出发,分析了来自于亚洲、非洲、北美洲、南美洲、欧洲、大洋洲的49个地区的76株甲流病毒的HA片段。分析表明:所分析序列的SSRs的分布都很相似,其中单碱基重复的相对丰度值和相对密度值均高于其它五种碱基重复的相对丰度值和相对密度值;甲流病毒HA片段的SSRs与HIV-1[16]基因中的SSRs相比,前者的相对丰度值和相对密度值高于后者。这些结果表明甲流病毒基因中的SSRs可能与甲流病毒的快速变异相关。     

Integrated analysis of three newly sequenced fern chloroplast genomes: Genome structure and comparative analysis

BackgroundSome ferns have medicinal properties and are used in therapeutic interventions. However, the classification and phylogenetic relationships of ferns remain incompletely reported. Considering that chloroplast genomes provide ideal information for species identification and evolution, in this study, three unpublished and one published ferns were sequenced and compared with other ferns to obtain comprehensive information on their classification and evolution.Materials and MethodsThe complete chloroplast genomes of Dryopteris goeringiana (Kunze) Koidz, D. crassirhizoma Nakai, Athyrium brevifrons Nakai ex Kitagawa, and Polystichum tripteron (Kunze) Presl were sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq 4,000 platform. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs), nucleotide diversity analysis, and RNA editing were investigated in all four species. Genome comparison and inverted repeats (IR) boundary expansion and contraction analyses were also performed. The relationships among the ferns were studied by phylogenetic analysis based on the whole chloroplast genomes.ResultsThe whole chloroplast genomes ranged from 148,539 to 151,341 bp in size and exhibited typical quadripartite structures. Ten highly variable loci with parsimony informative (Pi) values of > 0.02 were identified. A total of 75–108 SSRs were identified, and only six SSRs were present in all four ferns. The SSRs contained a higher number of A + T than G + C bases. C‐to‐U conversion was the most common type of RNA editing event. Genome comparison analysis revealed that single‐copy regions were more highly conserved than IR regions. IR boundary expansion and contraction varied among the four ferns. Phylogenetic analysis showed that species in the same genus tended to cluster together with and had relatively close relationships.ConclusionThe results provide valuable information on fern chloroplast genomes that will be useful to identify and classify ferns, and study their phylogenetic relationships and evolution.     

核盘菌和灰葡萄孢基因组中的简单重复序列分析

利用公共的真菌基因组数据库资源, 对核盘菌（Sclerotinia sclerotiorum）和灰葡萄孢（Botrytis cinerea）基因组中SSRs的结构类型、分布、丰度及最长序列等进行了系统分析, 并与已经研究过的禾谷镰孢菌（Fusarium graminearum）, 稻瘟病菌（Magnaporthe grisea）和黑粉菌（Ustilago maydis）等几种植物病原真菌基因组中的SSRs进行了比较。结果表明: 核盘菌和灰葡萄孢基因组中的SSRs非常丰富, 分别为6 539和8 627个, 并且在结构类型和分布规律上具有一定的相似性; 与其他几种病原真菌相比, 核盘菌和灰葡萄孢基因组中长重复的四、五、六核苷酸基序更为丰富, 从而使得这两种真菌具有更高的变异性。同时, 我们发现真菌基因组中SSRs的丰度与基因组的大小及GC含量没有必然的关系。文章对核盘菌和灰葡萄孢基因组中SSRs的丰度、出现频率及最长基序的分析为快速、便捷地设计多态性丰富的SSRs引物提供了有益的信息。     

New set of microsatellite loci isolated in apricot

We report 99 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) newly isolated from an apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) genomic library enriched for AG/CT repeats. Twenty SSRs were screened for their polymorphism in 16 apricot cultivars. The number of alleles ranged from two to nine, whereas the expected heterozygosity (H_E) ranged from 0.26 to 0.82. The same SSRs showed also an appreciable transportability across different Prunus species, such as peach, nectarine, almond, European plum, Japanese plum, sweet cherry and sour cherry, with 20% of primers giving successful amplifications in all Prunus species assayed. None gave amplification in apple.     

Sequence Divergence of Microsatellites and Phylogeny Analysis in Tetraploid Cotton Species and Their Putative Diploid Ancestors

To determine the level of microsatellite sequence differences and to use the information to construct a phylogenetic relationship for cultivated tetraploid cotton （Gossypium spp.） species and their putative diploid ancestors, 10 genome-derived microsatellite primer pairs were used to amplify eight species, including two tetraploid and six diploid species, in Gossypium. A total of 92 unique amplicons were resolved using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Each amplicon was cloned, sequenced, and analyzed using standard phylogenetic software. Allelic diversities were caused mostly by changes in the number of simple sequence repeat （SSR） motif repeats and only a small proportion resulted from interruption of the SSR motif within the locus for the same genome. The frequency of base substitutions was 0.5%-1.0% in different genomes, with only few indels found. Based on the combined 10 SSR flanking sequence data, the homology of A-genome diploid species averaged 98.9%, even though most of the amplicons were of the same size, and the sequence homology between G. gossypioides （Ulbr.） Standl. and three other D-genome species （G. raimondii Ulbr., G. davidsonii Kell., and G. thurberi Tod.） was 98.5%, 98.6%, and 98.5%, respectively. Phylogenetic trees of the two allotetraploid species and their putative diploid progenitors showed that homoelogous sequences from the A- and D-subgenome were still present in the polyploid subgenomes and they evolved independently. Meanwhile, homoelogous sequence interaction that duplicated loci in the polyploid subgenomes became phylogenetic sisters was also found in the evolutionary history of tetraploid cotton species. The results of the present study suggest that evaluation of SSR variation at the sequence level can be effective in exploring the evolutionary relationships among Gossypuim species.     

Transferable EST-SSR markers for the study of polymorphism and genetic diversity in bread wheat

Nearly 900 SSRs (simple sequence repeats) were identified among 15,000 ESTs (expressed sequence tags) belonging to bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.). The SSRs were defined by their minimum length, which ranged from 14 to 21 bp. The maximum length ranged from 24 to 87 bp depending upon the length of the repeat unit itself (1–7 bp). The average density of SSRs was one SSR per 9.2 kb of EST sequence screened. The trinucleotide repeats were the most abundant SSRs detected. As a representative sample, 78 primer pairs were designed, which were also used to screen the dbEST entries for Hordeum vulgare and Triticum tauschii (donor of the D-genome of cultivated wheat) using a cut-off E (expectation) value of 0.01. On the basis of in silico analysis, up to 55.12% of the primer pairs exhibited transferability from Triticum to Hordeum, indicating that the sequences flanking the SSRs are not only conserved within a single genus but also between related genera in Poaceae. Primer pairs for the 78 SSRs were synthesized and used successfully for the study of (1) their transferability to 18 related wild species and five cereal species (barley, oat, rye, rice and maize); and (2) polymorphism between the parents of four mapping populations available with us. A subset of 20 EST-SSR primers was also used to assess genetic diversity in a collection of 52 elite exotic wheat genotypes. This was done with a view to compare their utility relative to other molecular markers (gSSRs, AFLPs, and SAMPL) previously used by us for the same purpose with the same set of 52 bread wheat genotypes. Although only a low level of polymorphism was detected, relative to that observed with genomic SSRs, the study suggested that EST-SSRs can be successfully used for a variety of purposes, and may actually prove superior to SSR markers extracted from genomic libraries for diversity estimation and transferability.Communicated by R. Hagemann     

Long perfect dinucleotide repeats are typical of vertebrates, show motif preferences and size convergence

Microsatellites are simple sequence repeats (SSRs) showing complex patterns of length, motif sizes, motif sequences, and repeat perfection. We studied the structure of the dinucleotide SSR population at the genome level by analyzing assembled DNA sequence across species. Three dinucleotide populations were distinguished when SSR genome frequency was analyzed as a function of repeat length and repeat perfection. A population of low-perfection SSRs was identified, which is constituted by short repeats and represents the vast majority of genomic dinucleotide SSRs across eukaryotic genomes. In turn, the highly perfect repeats are 30 to 50 times less frequent and, in addition to short repeats, also contain a long repeat population that is uniquely represented in vertebrate species. Distinctive features of this population include the modal peak in the frequency distribution of repeat length and the strong preferential usage of the repeat motifs AC and AG. These results raise the hypothesis that the ability of carrying a distinct population of long, highly perfect dinucleotide repeats in the genome is a late acquisition in chordate evolution. Our analysis also suggests that different dinucleotide repeat populations have different dynamics and are likely to be underlined by different molecular mechanisms of generation and maintenance in the genome. Thus, these observations imply that caution should be taken in extrapolating results from studies on SSR mutability and on SSR phylogenetic comparisons that do not take into account the stratification of dinucelotide populations in the eukaryotic genome.     

In-silico analysis of simple and imperfect microsatellites in diverse tobamovirus genomes

An in-silico analysis of simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in 30 species of tobamoviruses was done. SSRs (mono to hexa) were present with variant frequency across species. Compound microsatellites, primarily of variant motifs accounted for up to 11.43% of the SSRs. Motif duplications were observed for A, T, AT, and ACA repeats. (AG)–(TC) was the most prevalent SSR-couple. SSRs were differentially localized in the coding region with ~ 54% on the 128 kDa protein while 20.37% was exclusive to 186 kDa protein. Characterization of such variations is important for elucidating the origin, sequence variations, and structure of these widely used, but incompletely understood sequences.     

Genome-wide analysis of simple sequence repeats in the model medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) or microsatellites are one of the most popular sources of genetic markers and play a significant role in gene function and genome organization. We identified SSRs in the genome of Ganoderma lucidum and analyzed their frequency and distribution in different genomic regions. We also compared the SSRs in G. lucidum with six other Agaricomycetes genomes: Coprinopsis cinerea, Laccaria bicolor, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Postia placenta, Schizophyllum commune and Serpula lacrymans. Based on our search criteria, the total number of SSRs found ranged from 1206 to 6104 and covered from 0.04% to 0.15% of the fungal genomes. The SSR abundance was not correlated with the genome size, and mono- to tri-nucleotide repeats outnumbered other SSR categories in all of the species examined. In G. lucidum, a repertoire of 2674 SSRs was detected, with mono-nucleotides being the most abundant. SSRs were found in all genomic regions and were more abundant in non-coding regions than coding regions. The highest SSR relative abundance was found in introns (108 SSRs/Mb), followed by intergenic regions (84 SSRs/Mb). A total of 684 SSRs were found in the protein-coding sequences (CDSs) of 588 gene models, with 81.4% of them being tri- or hexa-nucleotides. After scanning for InterPro domains, 280 of these genes were successfully annotated, and 215 of them could be assigned to Gene Ontology (GO) terms. SSRs were also identified in 28 bioactive compound synthesis-related gene models, including one 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR), three polysaccharide biosynthesis genes and 24 cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYPs). Primers were designed for the identified SSR loci, providing the basis for the future development of SSR markers of this medicinal fungus.     

Development and Characterization of Simple Sequence Repeat Markers Providing Genome-Wide Coverage and High Resolution in Maize

Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) have been widely used in maize genetics and breeding, because they are co-dominant, easy to score, and highly abundant. In this study, we used whole-genome sequences from 16 maize inbreds and 1 wild relative to determine SSR abundance and to develop a set of high-density polymorphic SSR markers. A total of 264 658 SSRs were identified across the 17 genomes, with an average of 135 693 SSRs per genome. Marker density was one SSR every of 15.48 kb. (C/G)n, (AT)n, (CAG/CTG)n, and (AAAT/ATTT)n were the most frequent motifs for mono, di-, tri-, and tetra-nucleotide SSRs, respectively. SSRs were most abundant in intergenic region and least frequent in untranslated regions, as revealed by comparing SSR distributions of three representative resequenced genomes. Comparing SSR sequences and e-polymerase chain reaction analysis among the 17 tested genomes created a new database, including 111 887 SSRs, that could be develop as polymorphic markers in silico. Among these markers, 58.00, 26.09, 7.20, 3.00, 3.93, and 1.78% of them had mono, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexa-nucleotide motifs, respectively. Polymorphic information content for 35 573 polymorphic SSRs out of 111 887 loci varied from 0.05 to 0.83, with an average of 0.31 in the 17 tested genomes. Experimental validation of polymorphic SSR markers showed that over 70% of the primer pairs could generate the target bands with length polymorphism, and these markers would be very powerful when they are used for genetic populations derived from various types of maize germplasms that were sampled for this study.     

Microsatellites isolated in almond from an AC‐repeat enriched library

We have isolated 44 SSRs from an AC‐enriched genomic library from almond (Prunus amygdalus Batsch.). Twenty SSRs were screened for their polymorphism in 16 cultivars and for their transportability in seven different Prunus species (peach, nectarine, apricot, European plum, Japanese plum, sweet cherry, sour cherry) and in apple. The expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.62 to 0.89. About 30% of primers gave successful amplification in seven different Prunus species; in two cases amplifications were obtained also in apple.     

山地虎耳草和棒腺虎耳草转录组SSR和SNP分析

利用Illumina HiSeqTM2000对山地虎耳草和棒腺虎耳草进行转录组测序,分析和比较其SSR和SNP特征。结果表明:山地虎耳草63 763条Unigene序列中含有4 622个SSR,发生频率为7.25%,有110种重复基元,平均每10.00kb出现一个SSR位点;棒腺虎耳草60 972条Unigene序列中含有4 542个SSR,发生频率为7.45%,有85种重复基元,平均每10.40kb出现一个SSR位点,略低于山地虎耳草。山地虎耳草和棒腺虎耳草转录组序列的SSR优势基元均为三核苷酸重复。2个物种的转录组SSR以5~10次的较低重复次数为主,长度主要集中于12~30bp,具有较高的多态性。山地虎耳草和棒腺虎耳草中分别获得118 424个和112 006个SNP位点,编码区的SNP位点分别占30.40%和28.59%,且在编码SNP中同义突变所占比例(30.27%、28.48%)远高于非同义突变(0.13%、0.11%)。比较发现,2个物种的各项检索结果基本一致,推测与选取的组织部位、组织的发育阶段以及物种的亲缘关系有关。     

Mining and gene ontology based annotation of SSR markers from expressed sequence tags of Humulus lupulus

Humulus lupulus is commonly known as hops, a member of the family moraceae. Currently many projects are underway leading to the accumulation of voluminous genomic and expressed sequence tag sequences in public databases. The genetically characterized domains in these databases are limited due to non-availability of reliable molecular markers. The large data of EST sequences are available in hops. The simple sequence repeat markers extracted from EST data are used as molecular markers for genetic characterization, in the present study. 25,495 EST sequences were examined and assembled to get full-length sequences. Maximum frequency distribution was shown by mononucleotide SSR motifs i.e. 60.44% in contig and 62.16% in singleton where as minimum frequency are observed for hexanucleotide SSR in contig (0.09%) and pentanucleotide SSR in singletons (0.12%). Maximum trinucleotide motifs code for Glutamic acid (GAA) while AT/TA were the most frequent repeat of dinucleotide SSRs. Flanking primer pairs were designed in-silico for the SSR containing sequences. Functional categorization of SSRs containing sequences was done through gene ontology terms like biological process, cellular component and molecular function.     

Characterization of Mononucleotide Repeats in Sequenced Prokaryotic Genomes

The increasing availability of prokaryotic genome sequenceshas shown that simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are widespreadin prokaryotes and that there is extensive variation in theirlength, number and distribution. Considering their potentialimportance in generating genomic diversity, we determined thedistribution of a specific group of SSRs, mononucleotide repeatsof size between 5 and 13 nt, in 157 sequenced prokaryotic genomes.The data obtained in the present study show that (i) a largenumber of mononucleotide SSRs is present in all prokaryoticgenomes investigated, (ii) shorter repeats are much more abundantthan longer repeats, and (iii) in the majority of the genomes,longer mononucleotide SSRs are excluded from coding regionsalthough we identified several organisms where mononucleotideSSRs are not excluded from the coding regions. We also observedthat some genomes contain more mononucleotide SSRs than expected,while others contain significantly less. Bacterial genomes thatcontain much less mononucleotide SSRs than expected are generallylarger and more GC-rich, while bacterial genomes that containmuch more mononucleotide SSRs than expected are in general smallerand more AT-rich. Finally, we also noted that genomes that containa high fraction of horizontally transferred genes have a lowermononucleotide SSR density and that A and T are generally overrepresentedin mononucleotide SSRs.