Josephine Bay Paul Center in Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution
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The Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution explores the evolution and interaction of genomes of diverse organisms that play significant roles in environmental biology and human health. This dynamic research program integrates the powerful tools of genome science, molecular phylogenetics, and molecular ecology to advance our understanding of how living organisms are related to each other, to provide the tools to quantify and assess biodiversity, and to identify genes and underlying mechanisms of biomedical importance. Projects span all evolutionary time scales, ranging from deep phylogenetic divergence of ancient eukaryotic and prokaryotic lineages, to ecological analyses of how members of diverse communities contribute and respond to environmental change.
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Browsing Josephine Bay Paul Center in Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution by Subject "Metagenomics"
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ArticleAnvi’o : an advanced analysis and visualization platform for ‘omics data(PeerJ, 2015-10-08) Eren, A. Murat ; Esen, Ozcan C. ; Quince, Christopher ; Vineis, Joseph H. ; Morrison, Hilary G. ; Sogin, Mitchell L. ; Delmont, Tom O.Advances in high-throughput sequencing and ‘omics technologies are revolutionizing studies of naturally occurring microbial communities. Comprehensive investigations of microbial lifestyles require the ability to interactively organize and visualize genetic information and to incorporate subtle differences that enable greater resolution of complex data. Here we introduce anvi’o, an advanced analysis and visualization platform that offers automated and human-guided characterization of microbial genomes in metagenomic assemblies, with interactive interfaces that can link ‘omics data from multiple sources into a single, intuitive display. Its extensible visualization approach distills multiple dimensions of information about each contig, offering a dynamic and unified work environment for data exploration, manipulation, and reporting. Using anvi’o, we re-analyzed publicly available datasets and explored temporal genomic changes within naturally occurring microbial populations through de novo characterization of single nucleotide variations, and linked cultivar and single-cell genomes with metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data. Anvi’o is an open-source platform that empowers researchers without extensive bioinformatics skills to perform and communicate in-depth analyses on large ‘omics datasets.
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ArticleGenome reconstructions indicate the partitioning of ecological functions inside a phytoplankton bloom in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica(Frontiers Media, 2015-10-26) Delmont, Tom O. ; Eren, A. Murat ; Vineis, Joseph H. ; Post, Anton F.Antarctica polynyas support intense phytoplankton blooms, impacting their environment by a substantial depletion of inorganic carbon and nutrients. These blooms are dominated by the colony-forming haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica and they are accompanied by a distinct bacterial population. Yet, the ecological role these bacteria may play in P. antarctica blooms awaits elucidation of their functional gene pool and of the geochemical activities they support. Here, we report on a metagenome (~160 million reads) analysis of the microbial community associated with a P. antarctica bloom event in the Amundsen Sea polynya (West Antarctica). Genomes of the most abundant Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria populations have been reconstructed and a network analysis indicates a strong functional partitioning of these bacterial taxa. Three of them (SAR92, and members of the Oceanospirillaceae and Cryomorphaceae) are found in close association with P. antarctica colonies. Distinct features of their carbohydrate, nitrogen, sulfur and iron metabolisms may serve to support mutualistic relationships with P. antarctica. The SAR92 genome indicates a specialization in the degradation of fatty acids and dimethylsulfoniopropionate (compounds released by P. antarctica) into dimethyl sulfide, an aerosol precursor. The Oceanospirillaceae genome carries genes that may enhance algal physiology (cobalamin synthesis). Finally, the Cryomorphaceae genome is enriched in genes that function in cell or colony invasion. A novel pico-eukaryote, Micromonas related genome (19.6 Mb, ~94% completion) was also recovered. It contains the gene for an anti-freeze protein, which is lacking in Micromonas at lower latitudes. These draft genomes are representative for abundant microbial taxa across the Southern Ocean surface.
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ArticleLinking pangenomes and metagenomes : the Prochlorococcus metapangenome(PeerJ, 2018-01-25) Delmont, Tom O. ; Eren, A. MuratPangenomes offer detailed characterizations of core and accessory genes found in a set of closely related microbial genomes, generally by clustering genes based on sequence homology. In comparison, metagenomes facilitate highly resolved investigations of the relative distribution of microbial genomes and individual genes across environments through read recruitment analyses. Combining these complementary approaches can yield unique insights into the functional basis of microbial niche partitioning and fitness, however, advanced software solutions are lacking. Here we present an integrated analysis and visualization strategy that provides an interactive and reproducible framework to generate pangenomes and to study them in conjunction with metagenomes. To investigate its utility, we applied this strategy to a Prochlorococcus pangenome in the context of a large-scale marine metagenomic survey. The resulting Prochlorococcus metapangenome revealed remarkable differential abundance patterns between very closely related isolates that belonged to the same phylogenetic cluster and that differed by only a small number of gene clusters in the pangenome. While the relationships between these genomes based on gene clusters correlated with their environmental distribution patterns, phylogenetic analyses using marker genes or concatenated single-copy core genes did not recapitulate these patterns. The metapangenome also revealed a small set of core genes that mostly occurred in hypervariable genomic islands of the Prochlorococcus populations, which systematically lacked read recruitment from surface ocean metagenomes. Notably, these core gene clusters were all linked to sugar metabolism, suggesting potential benefits to Prochlorococcus from a high sequence diversity of sugar metabolism genes. The rapidly growing number of microbial genomes and increasing availability of environmental metagenomes provide new opportunities to investigate the functioning and the ecology of microbial populations, and metapangenomes can provide unique insights for any taxon and biome for which genomic and sufficiently deep metagenomic data are available.
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ArticleThe ocean sampling day consortium(BioMed Central, 2015-06-19) Kopf, Anna ; Bicak, Mesude ; Kottmann, Renzo ; Schnetzer, Julia ; Kostadinov, Ivaylo ; Lehmann, Katja ; Fernandez-Guerra, Antonio ; Jeanthon, Christian ; Rahav, Eyal ; Ullrich, Matthias S. ; Wichels, Antje ; Gerdts, Gunnar ; Polymenakou, Paraskevi ; Kotoulas, Georgios ; Siam, Rania ; Abdallah, Rehab Z. ; Sonnenschein, Eva C. ; Cariou, Thierry ; O’Gara, Fergal ; Jackson, Stephen ; Orlic, Sandi ; Steinke, Michael ; Busch, Julia ; Duarte, Bernardo ; Caçador, Isabel ; Canning-Clode, Joao ; Bobrova, Oleksandra ; Marteinsson, Viggo ; Reynisson, Eyjolfur ; Loureiro, Clara Magalhaes ; Luna, Gian Marco ; Quero, Grazia Marina ; Loscher, Carolin R. ; Kremp, Anke ; DeLorenzo, Marie E. ; Øvreås, Lise ; Tolman, Jennifer ; LaRoche, Julie ; Penna, Antonella ; Frischer, Marc ; Davis, Timothy ; Katherine, Barker ; Meyer, Christopher P. ; Ramos, Sandra ; Magalhaes, Catarina ; Jude-Lemeilleur, Florence ; Aguirre-Macedo, Ma Leopoldina ; Wang, Shiao ; Poulton, Nicole ; Jones, Scott ; Collin, Rachel ; Fuhrman, Jed A. ; Conan, Pascal ; Alonso, Cecilia ; Stambler, Noga ; Goodwin, Kelly ; Yakimov, Michail M. ; Baltar, Federico ; Bodrossy, Levente ; Van De Kamp, Jodie ; Frampton, Dion M. F. ; Ostrowski, Martin ; Van Ruth, Paul ; Malthouse, Paul ; Claus, Simon ; Deneudt, Klaas ; Mortelmans, Jonas ; Pitois, Sophie ; Wallom, David ; Salter, Ian ; Costa, Rodrigo ; Schroeder, Declan C. ; Kandil, Mahrous M. ; Amaral, Valentina ; Biancalana, Florencia ; Santana, Rafael ; Pedrotti, Maria Luiza ; Yoshida, Takashi ; Ogata, Hiroyuki ; Ingleton, Timothy ; Munnik, Kate ; Rodriguez-Ezpeleta, Naiara ; Berteaux-Lecellier, Veronique ; Wecker, Patricia ; Cancio, Ibon ; Vaulot, Daniel ; Bienhold, Christina ; Ghazal, Hassan ; Chaouni, Bouchra ; Essayeh, Soumya ; Ettamimi, Sara ; Zaid, El Houcine ; Boukhatem, Noureddine ; Bouali, Abderrahim ; Chahboune, Rajaa ; Barrijal, Said ; Timinouni, Mohammed ; El Otmani, Fatima ; Bennani, Mohamed ; Mea, Marianna ; Todorova, Nadezhda ; Karamfilov, Ventzislav ; ten Hoopen, Petra ; Cochrane, Guy R. ; L’Haridon, Stephane ; Bizsel, Kemal Can ; Vezzi, Alessandro ; Lauro, Federico M. ; Martin, Patrick ; Jensen, Rachelle M. ; Hinks, Jamie ; Gebbels, Susan ; Rosselli, Riccardo ; De Pascale, Fabio ; Schiavon, Riccardo ; dos Santos, Antonina ; Villar, Emilie ; Pesant, Stephane ; Cataletto, Bruno ; Malfatti, Francesca ; Edirisinghe, Ranjith ; Herrera Silveira, Jorge A. ; Barbier, Michele ; Turk, Valentina ; Tinta, Tinkara ; Fuller, Wayne J. ; Salihoglu, Ilkay ; Serakinci, Nedime ; Ergoren, Mahmut Cerkez ; Bresnan, Eileen ; Iriberri, Juan ; Fronth Nyhus, Paul Anders ; Bente, Edvardsen ; Karlsen, Hans Erik ; Golyshin, Peter N. ; Gasol, Josep M. ; Moncheva, Snejana ; Dzhembekova, Nina ; Johnson, Zackary ; Sinigalliano, Christopher D. ; Gidley, Maribeth Louise ; Zingone, Adriana ; Danovaro, Roberto ; Tsiamis, Georgios ; Clark, Melody S. ; Costa, Ana Cristina ; El Bour, Monia ; Martins, Ana M. ; Collins, R. Eric ; Ducluzeau, Anne-Lise ; Martinez, Jonathan ; Costello, Mark J. ; Amaral-Zettler, Linda A. ; Gilbert, Jack A. ; Davies, Neil ; Field, Dawn ; Glockner, Frank OliverOcean Sampling Day was initiated by the EU-funded Micro B3 (Marine Microbial Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Biotechnology) project to obtain a snapshot of the marine microbial biodiversity and function of the world’s oceans. It is a simultaneous global mega-sequencing campaign aiming to generate the largest standardized microbial data set in a single day. This will be achievable only through the coordinated efforts of an Ocean Sampling Day Consortium, supportive partnerships and networks between sites. This commentary outlines the establishment, function and aims of the Consortium and describes our vision for a sustainable study of marine microbial communities and their embedded functional traits.
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ArticleReconstructing rare soil microbial genomes using in situ enrichments and metagenomics(Frontiers Media, 2015-04-30) Delmont, Tom O. ; Eren, A. Murat ; Maccario, Lorrie ; Prestat, Emmanuel ; Esen, Ozcan C. ; Pelletier, Eric ; Le Paslier, Denis ; Simonet, Pascal ; Vogel, Timothy M.Despite extensive direct sequencing efforts and advanced analytical tools, reconstructing microbial genomes from soil using metagenomics have been challenging due to the tremendous diversity and relatively uniform distribution of genomes found in this system. Here we used enrichment techniques in an attempt to decrease the complexity of a soil microbiome prior to sequencing by submitting it to a range of physical and chemical stresses in 23 separate microcosms for 4 months. The metagenomic analysis of these microcosms at the end of the treatment yielded 540 Mb of assembly using standard de novo assembly techniques (a total of 559,555 genes and 29,176 functions), from which we could recover novel bacterial genomes, plasmids and phages. The recovered genomes belonged to Leifsonia (n = 2), Rhodanobacter (n = 5), Acidobacteria (n = 2), Sporolactobacillus (n = 2, novel nitrogen fixing taxon), Ktedonobacter (n = 1, second representative of the family Ktedonobacteraceae), Streptomyces (n = 3, novel polyketide synthase modules), and Burkholderia (n = 2, includes mega-plasmids conferring mercury resistance). Assembled genomes averaged to 5.9 Mb, with relative abundances ranging from rare (<0.0001%) to relatively abundant (>0.01%) in the original soil microbiome. Furthermore, we detected them in samples collected from geographically distant locations, particularly more in temperate soils compared to samples originating from high-latitude soils and deserts. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first successful attempt to assemble multiple bacterial genomes directly from a soil sample. Our findings demonstrate that developing pertinent enrichment conditions can stimulate environmental genomic discoveries that would have been impossible to achieve with canonical approaches that focus solely upon post-sequencing data treatment.
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ArticleReport of the 14th Genomic Standards Consortium Meeting, Oxford, UK, September 17-21, 2012(Genomic Standards Consortium, 2014) Davies, Neil ; Field, Dawn ; Amaral-Zettler, Linda A. ; Bicak, Mesude ; Bourlat, Sarah ; Coddington, Jonathan ; Deck, John ; Drummond, Alexei ; Gilbert, Jack A. ; Glockner, Frank Oliver ; Kottmann, Renzo ; Meyer, Chris ; Morrison, Norman ; Obst, Matthias ; Robbins, Robert J. ; Schriml, Lynn M. ; Sterk, Peter ; Stones-Havas, StevenThis report summarizes the proceedings of the 14th workshop of the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) held at the University of Oxford in September 2012. The workshop’s primary goal was to work towards the launch of the Genomic Observatories (GOs) Network under the GSC. For the first time, it brought together potential GOs sites, GSC members, and a range of interested partner organizations. It thus represented the first meeting of the GOs Network (GOs1). Key outcomes include the formation of a core group of “champions” ready to take the GOs Network forward, as well as the formation of working groups. The workshop also served as the first meeting of a wide range of participants in the Ocean Sampling Day (OSD) initiative, a first GOs action. Three projects with complementary interests – COST Action ES1103, MG4U and Micro B3 – organized joint sessions at the workshop. A two-day GSC Hackathon followed the main three days of meetings.
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ArticleSite specialization of human oral veillonella species(American Society for Microbiology, 2023-01-25) Giacomini, Jonathan J. ; Torres-Morales, Julian ; Dewhirst, Floyd E. ; Borisy, Gary G. ; Mark Welch, Jessica L.Veillonella species are abundant members of the human oral microbiome with multiple interspecies commensal relationships. Examining the distribution patterns ofspecies across the oral cavity is fundamental to understanding their oral ecology. In this study, we used a combination of pangenomic analysis and oral metagenomic information to clarifytaxonomy and to test the site specialist hypothesis for thegenus, which contends that most oral bacterial species are adapted to live at specific oral sites. Using isolate genome sequences combined with shotgun metagenomic sequence data, we showed thatspecies have clear, differential site specificity: Veillonella parvula showed strong preference for supra- and subgingival plaque, while closely related V. dispar, as well as more distantly related V. atypica, preferred the tongue dorsum, tonsils, throat, and hard palate. In addition, the provisionally namedsp. Human Microbial Taxon 780 showed strong site specificity for keratinized gingiva. Using comparative genomic analysis, we identified genes associated with thiamine biosynthesis and the reductive pentose phosphate cycle that may enablespecies to occupy their respective habitats.Understanding the microbial ecology of the mouth is fundamental for understanding human physiology. In this study, metapangenomics demonstrated that differentspecies have clear ecological preferences in the oral cavity of healthy humans, validating the site specialist hypothesis. Furthermore, the gene pool of differentspecies was found to be reflective of their ecology, illuminating the potential role of vitamins and carbohydrates in determiningdistribution patterns and interspecies interactions.
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ArticleTracking microbial colonization in fecal microbiota transplantation experiments via genome-resolved metagenomics(BioMed Central, 2017-05-04) Lee, Sonny T. M. ; Kahn, Stacy A. ; Delmont, Tom O. ; Shaiber, Alon ; Esen, Ozcan C. ; Hubert, Nathaniel A. ; Morrison, Hilary G. ; Antonopoulos, Dionysios A. ; Rubin, David T. ; Eren, A. MuratFecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an effective treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection and shows promise for treating other medical conditions associated with intestinal dysbioses. However, we lack a sufficient understanding of which microbial populations successfully colonize the recipient gut, and the widely used approaches to study the microbial ecology of FMT experiments fail to provide enough resolution to identify populations that are likely responsible for FMT-derived benefits. We used shotgun metagenomics together with assembly and binning strategies to reconstruct metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from fecal samples of a single FMT donor. We then used metagenomic mapping to track the occurrence and distribution patterns of donor MAGs in two FMT recipients. Our analyses revealed that 22% of the 92 highly complete bacterial MAGs that we identified from the donor successfully colonized and remained abundant in two recipients for at least 8 weeks. Most MAGs with a high colonization rate belonged to the order Bacteroidales. The vast majority of those that lacked evidence of colonization belonged to the order Clostridiales, and colonization success was negatively correlated with the number of genes related to sporulation. Our analysis of 151 publicly available gut metagenomes showed that the donor MAGs that colonized both recipients were prevalent, and the ones that colonized neither were rare across the participants of the Human Microbiome Project. Although our dataset showed a link between taxonomy and the colonization ability of a given MAG, we also identified MAGs that belong to the same taxon with different colonization properties, highlighting the importance of an appropriate level of resolution to explore the functional basis of colonization and to identify targets for cultivation, hypothesis generation, and testing in model systems. The analytical strategy adopted in our study can provide genomic insights into bacterial populations that may be critical to the efficacy of FMT due to their success in gut colonization and metabolic properties, and guide cultivation efforts to investigate mechanistic underpinnings of this procedure beyond associations.