Gene expression defines natural changes in mammalian lifespan.

Mammals differ more than 100-fold in maximum lifespan, which can be altered in either direction during evolution, but the molecular basis for natural changes in longevity is not understood. Divergent evolution of mammals also led to extensive changes in gene expression within and between lineages. To understand the relationship between lifespan and variation in gene expression, we carried out RNA-seq-based gene expression analyses of liver, kidney, and brain of 33 diverse species of mammals.

Genome sequencing reveals insights into physiology and longevity of the naked mole rat.

The naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a strictly subterranean, extraordinarily long-lived eusocial mammal. Although it is the size of a mouse, its maximum lifespan exceeds 30 years, making this animal the longest-living rodent. Naked mole rats show negligible senescence, no age-related increase in mortality, and high fecundity until death.

Association between common variation in genes encoding sweet taste signaling components and human sucrose perception.

Variation in taste perception of different chemical substances is a well-known phenomenon in both humans and animals. Recent advances in the understanding of sweet taste signaling have identified a number of proteins involved in this signal transduction. We evaluated the hypothesis that sequence variations occurring in genes encoding taste signaling molecules can influence sweet taste perception in humans.

MALS: an efficient strategy for multiple site-directed mutagenesis employing a combination of DNA amplification, ligation and suppression PCR.

Background: Multiple approaches for the site-directed mutagenesis (SDM) have been developed. However, only several of them are designed for simultaneous introduction of multiple nucleotide alterations, and these are time consuming. In addition, many of the existing multiple SDM methods have technical limitations associated with type and number of mutations that can be introduced, or are technically demanding and require special chemical reagents.

Allelic polymorphism within the TAS1R3 promoter is associated with human taste sensitivity to sucrose.

Human sweet taste perception is mediated by the heterodimeric G protein-coupled receptor encoded by the TAS1R2 and TAS1R3 genes. Variation in these genes has been characterized, but the functional consequences of such variation for sweet perception are unknown. We found that two C/T single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located at positions -1572 (rs307355) and -1266 (rs35744813) upstream of the TAS1R3 coding sequence strongly correlate with human taste sensitivity to sucrose and explain 16% of population variability in perception.

Genomic fingerprinting of Burkholderia pseudomallei and B. mallei pathogens with DNA array based on interspecies sequence differences obtained by subtractive hybridization.

The ability to rapidly and efficiently identify causative agents of dangerous human and animal diseases is a prerequisite to diagnosis, prophylaxis and therapy. Such identification systems can be developed based on DNA markers enabling differentiation between various bacterial strains. One source of these markers is genetic polymorphism.

A genome-wide sequence-independent comparative analysis of insertion-deletion polymorphisms in multiple Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains.

We applied an enhanced version of subtractive hybridization for comparative analyses of indel differences between genomes of several Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains widespread in Russian regions, and the H37Rv reference strain. A number of differences were detected and partially analyzed, thus demonstrating the practicality of the approach. A majority of the insertions found were shared by all Russian strains, except for strain 1540 that revealed the highest virulence in animal tests.

Genome-wide identification and mapping of variable sequences in the genomes of Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei.

Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei, closely related Gram-negative bacteria, are the causative agents of such serious infectious diseases of humans and animals as glanders and melioidosis, respectively. Despite numerous studies of these pathogens, the detailed mechanisms of their pathogenesis is still poorly understood. One of the serious obstacles to revealing factors responsible for pathogenicity lies in the considerable natural variability of B.

Genome-wide comparison reveals great inter- and intraspecies variability in B. pseudomallei and B. mallei pathogens.

Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei, closely related Gram-negative bacteria, are causative agents of serious infectious diseases of humans and animals: glanders and melioidosis, respectively. Despite numerous studies of these pathogens, the detailed mechanism of their pathogenesis is still unknown.

The human genome contains many types of chimeric retrogenes generated through in vivo RNA recombination.

L1 retrotransposons play an important role in mammalian genome shaping. In particular, they can transduce their 3'-flanking regions to new genomic loci or produce pseudogenes or retrotranscripts through reverse transcription of different kinds of cellular RNAs. Recently, we found in the human genome an unusual family of chimeric retrotranscripts composed of full-sized copies of U6 small nuclear RNAs fused at their 3' termini with 5'-truncated, 3'-poly(A)-tailed L1s.