Publications by authors named "Fromm B"

The equine bloodworm, Strongylus vulgaris, is a common and highly pathogenic parasite in horses due to its migratory life cycle involving the intestinal arteries. Current diagnostic techniques cannot detect the prepatent migrating stages of S. vulgaris, highlighting the need for new biomarkers.

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We present a major update of MirGeneDB (3.0), the manually curated animal microRNA gene database. Beyond moving to a new server and the creation of a computational mirror, we have expanded the database with the addition of 33 invertebrate species, including representatives of 5 previously unsampled phyla, and 6 mammal species.

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The equine bloodworm, Strongylus vulgaris, is a highly pathogenic parasite causing potentially fatal vascular and intestinal damage. Parasites express and release microRNAs (miRNAs) for internal regulation and to modulate host immunity. The complete set of miRNAs expressed by S.

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Article Synopsis
  • The evolutionary origin of Bilateria is unclear, but similarities between cnidarian-like larvae and simple flatworms suggest a connection, linking Xenacoelomorpha as a potential early branch of Bilateria.
  • This study focuses on assembling and analyzing the genome of a marine xenacoelomorph, discovering it has a genome size of ~111 Mbp with characteristics similar to other bilaterians.
  • The findings indicate that despite its simple body plan, the xenacoelomorph has a complex genome and retains many features typical of bilaterians, challenging previous assumptions about its evolutionary simplicity.
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  • The marine annelid serves as a valuable model organism in various research fields, including evolution, neurobiology, and regeneration.
  • Researchers presented the genomes of this organism and its relatives, utilizing advanced sequencing technology to create a detailed draft genome assembly of approximately 1.47 billion base pairs.
  • The study identified around 29,000 protein-coding genes, significant genetic variation, and emphasized gene functions related to pigmentation, development, and immunity, laying the groundwork for future genomic research.
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The metabolic efficiency of mammalian cells depends on the attenuation of intrinsic translation noise by microRNAs. We devised a metric of cellular metabolic rate (, / optimally fit to the number of microRNA families (), that is robust to variation in mass and sensitive to body temperature (), consistent with the heat dissipation limit theory of Speakman and Król (2010). Using as predictor, an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process of stabilizing selection, with an adaptive shift at the divergence of Boreoeutheria, accounted for 95% of the variation in across mammals.

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Polyploidy or whole-genome duplication (WGD) is a major event that drastically reshapes genome architecture and is often assumed to be causally associated with organismal innovations and radiations. The 2R hypothesis suggests that two WGD events (1R and 2R) occurred during early vertebrate evolution. However, the timing of the 2R event relative to the divergence of gnathostomes (jawed vertebrates) and cyclostomes (jawless hagfishes and lampreys) is unresolved and whether these WGD events underlie vertebrate phenotypic diversification remains elusive.

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The annotation of microRNAs depends on the availability of transcriptomics data and expert knowledge. This has led to a gap between the availability of novel genomes and high-quality microRNA complements. Using >16,000 microRNAs from the manually curated microRNA gene database MirGeneDB, we generated trained covariance models for all conserved microRNA families.

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Paleogenomics continues to yield valuable insights into the evolution, population dynamics, and ecology of our ancestors and other extinct species. However, DNA sequencing cannot reveal tissue-specific gene expression, cellular identity, or gene regulation, which are only attainable at the transcriptional level. Pioneering studies have shown that useful RNA can be extracted from ancient specimens preserved in permafrost and historical skins from extant canids, but no attempts have been made so far on extinct species.

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Background: Colorectal liver metastasis (CLM) is a leading cause of colorectal cancer mortality, and the response to immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) in microsatellite-stable CRC has been disappointing. Administration of cytotoxic chemotherapy may cause increased density of tumor-infiltrating T cells, which has been associated with improved response to ICI. This study aimed to quantify and characterize T-cell infiltration in CLM using T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire sequencing.

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  • The study investigates the evolution of specialized cell types, particularly focusing on microRNAs like Mir-126, which may be essential for understanding cellular specialization.
  • Researchers propose that Mir-126 originated in a common ancestor of vertebrates and tunicates, predating the evolution of endothelial cells, and has undergone significant changes through duplications and losses over time.
  • By examining the expression of Mir-126 in the tunicate Ciona robusta, the study demonstrates that its expression shift from proto-endothelial amoebocytes to endothelial cells in vertebrates supports the idea that microRNAs can drive cell-type evolution.
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  • Soft-bodied cephalopods, like octopuses, have a sophisticated nervous system that evolved separately from vertebrates, showcasing their intelligence.
  • Researchers focused on RNA regulation in cephalopods, revealing an expansion of microRNA (miRNA) genes that are mainly found in adult brain tissues and during development.
  • This unique miRNA expansion parallels similar developments in vertebrates, suggesting that miRNAs play a crucial role in the evolution of advanced cognitive abilities in complex animal brains.
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The NCBI Sequence Read Archive currently hosts microRNA sequencing data for over 800 different species, evidencing the existence of a broad taxonomic distribution in the field of small RNA research. Simultaneously, the number of samples per miRNA-seq study continues to increase resulting in a vast amount of data that requires accurate, fast and user-friendly analysis methods. Since the previous release of sRNAtoolbox in 2019, 55 000 sRNAbench jobs have been submitted which has motivated many improvements in its usability and the scope of the underlying annotation database.

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Over the last few years, the number of microRNAs in the human genome has become a controversially debated issue. Several publications reported thousands of putative novel microRNAs not included in the curated microRNA gene database MirGeneDB and the repository miRBase. Recently, by using sequencing of ∼300 human tissues and cell lines, the human RNA atlas, an expanded inventory of human RNA annotations, was published, reporting thousands of putative microRNAs.

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Although microRNAs (miRNAs) contribute to all hallmarks of cancer, miRNA dysregulation in metastasis remains poorly understood. The aim of this work was to reliably identify miRNAs associated with metastatic progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) using novel and previously published next-generation sequencing (NGS) datasets generated from 268 samples of primary (pCRC) and metastatic CRC (mCRC; liver, lung and peritoneal metastases) and tumor adjacent tissues. Differential expression analysis was performed using a meticulous bioinformatics pipeline, including only bona fide miRNAs, and utilizing miRNA-tailored quality control and processing.

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Whole-genome duplications (WGDs) have long been considered the causal mechanism underlying dramatic increases to morphological complexity due to the neo-functionalization of paralogs generated during these events. Nonetheless, an alternative hypothesis suggests that behind the retention of most paralogs is not neo-functionalization, but instead the degree of the inter-connectivity of the intended gene product, as well as the mode of the WGD itself. Here, we explore both the causes and consequences of WGD by examining the distribution, expression, and molecular evolution of microRNAs (miRNAs) in both gnathostome vertebrates as well as chelicerate arthropods.

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We describe an update of MirGeneDB, the manually curated microRNA gene database. Adhering to uniform and consistent criteria for microRNA annotation and nomenclature, we substantially expanded MirGeneDB with 30 additional species representing previously missing metazoan phyla such as sponges, jellyfish, rotifers and flatworms. MirGeneDB 2.

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Previous large-scale studies have uncovered many features that determine the processing of microRNA (miRNA) precursors; however, they have been conducted in vitro. Here, we introduce MapToCleave, a method to simultaneously profile processing of thousands of distinct RNA structures in living cells. We find that miRNA precursors with a stable lower basal stem are more efficiently processed and also have higher expression in vivo in tissues from 20 animal species.

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Background: Scientific guidelines have been developed to update and harmonize exercise based cardiac rehabilitation (ebCR) in German speaking countries. Key recommendations for ebCR indications have recently been published in part 1 of this journal. The present part 2 updates the evidence with respect to contents and delivery of ebCR in clinical practice, focusing on exercise training (ET), psychological interventions (PI), patient education (PE).

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High-throughput sequencing for micro-RNAs (miRNAs) to obtain expression estimates is a central method of molecular biology. Surprisingly, there are a number of different approaches to converting sequencing output into micro-RNA counts. Each has their own strengths and biases that impact on the final data that can be obtained from a sequencing run.

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Bivalves are a diverse mollusc group of economic and ecological importance. An evident resilience to pollution, parasites and extreme environments makes some bivalve species important models for studying adaptation and immunity. Despite substantial progress in sequencing projects of bivalves, information on non-coding genes and gene-regulatory aspects is still lacking.

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Background: During vertebrate evolution, the heart has undergone remarkable changes that lead to morphophysiological differences in the fully formed heart of these species, such as chamber septation, heart rate frequency, blood pressure, and cardiac output volume. Despite these differences, the heart developmental process is guided by a core gene set conserved across vertebrates. Nonetheless, the regulatory mechanisms controlling the expression of genes involved in heart development and maintenance are largely uncharted.

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The tropical liver fluke Fasciola gigantica affects livestock and humans in many Asian countries, large parts of Africa, and parts of Europe. Despite the public health and economic impacts of F. gigantica, understanding of F.

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