Ultra-accurate microbial amplicon sequencing with synthetic long reads.

Background: Out of the many pathogenic bacterial species that are known, only a fraction are readily identifiable directly from a complex microbial community using standard next generation DNA sequencing. Long-read sequencing offers the potential to identify a wider range of species and to differentiate between strains within a species, but attaining sufficient accuracy in complex metagenomes remains a challenge.

Methods: Here, we describe and analytically validate LoopSeq, a commercially available synthetic long-read (SLR) sequencing technology that generates highly accurate long reads from standard short reads.

Satb1 ablation alters temporal expression of immediate early genes and reduces dendritic spine density during postnatal brain development.

Complex behaviors, such as learning and memory, are associated with rapid changes in gene expression of neurons and subsequent formation of new synaptic connections. However, how external signals are processed to drive specific changes in gene expression is largely unknown. We found that the genome organizer protein Satb1 is highly expressed in mature neurons, primarily in the cerebral cortex, dentate hilus, and amygdala.

Multivariate analysis of a 3D mass spectral image for examining tissue heterogeneity.

The tissue microenvironment critically influences the molecular characteristics of a tumor. However, as tumorous tissue is highly heterogeneous it may harbor various sub-populations with different microenvironments, greatly complicating the unambiguous analysis of tumor biology. Mass spectrometry imaging techniques allow for the direct analysis of tumors in the spatial context of their microenvironment.

Complexity in transcription control at the activation domain-mediator interface.

Transcript elongation by polymerase II paused at the Egr1 promoter is activated by mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation of the ternary complex factor (TCF) ELK1 bound at multiple upstream sites and subsequent phospho-ELK1 interaction with mediator through the MED23 subunit. Consequently, Med23 knockout (KO) nearly eliminates Egr1 (early growth response factor 1) transcription in embryonic stem (ES) cells, leaving a paused polymerase at the promoter. Med23 KO did not, however, eliminate Egr1 transcription in fibroblasts.

Genetic selection system for improving recombinant membrane protein expression in E. coli.

A major barrier to the physical characterization and structure determination of membrane proteins is low yield in recombinant expression. To address this problem, we have designed a selection strategy to isolate mutant strains of Escherichia coli that improve the expression of a targeted membrane protein. In this method, the coding sequence of the membrane protein of interest is fused to a C-terminal selectable marker, so that the production of the selectable marker and survival on selective media is linked to expression of the targeted membrane protein.

Correction of chromosomal mutation and random integration in embryonic stem cells with helper-dependent adenoviral vectors.

For gene therapy of inherited diseases, targeted integration/gene repair through homologous recombination (HR) between exogenous and chromosomal DNA would be an ideal strategy to avoid potentially serious problems of random integration such as cellular transformation and gene silencing. Efficient sequence-specific modification of chromosomes by HR would also advance both biological studies and therapeutic applications of a variety of stem cells. Toward these goals, we developed an improved strategy of adenoviral vector (AdV)-mediated HR and examined its ability to correct an insertional mutation in the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (Hprt) locus in male mouse ES cells.

Mediator requirement for both recruitment and postrecruitment steps in transcription initiation.

Mediator complexes are required for activators to stimulate Pol II preinitiation complex assembly on an associated promoter. We show here that for the mouse Egr1 gene, controlled largely by MAP kinase phosphorylation of the ELK1 transcription factor, the MED23 Mediator subunit that interacts with phospho-ELK1 is also required to stimulate Pol II initiation at a step subsequent to preinitiation complex assembly. In Med23-/- cells, histone acetylation, methylation, and chromatin remodeling complex association at the Egr1 promoter were equivalent to that of wild-type cells, yet Egr1 induction was greatly reduced.

Efficient delivery and stable gene expression in a hematopoietic cell line using a chimeric serotype 35 fiber pseudotyped helper-dependent adenoviral vector.

Certain human cell populations have remained difficult to infect with human adenovirus (Ad) serotype 5 because of their lack of coxsackievirus B-adenovirus receptor (CAR). Native adenovirus fiber compositions, although diverse, cannot infect all tissue types. Recently, a chimeric Ad5/35 fiber was created, which displays an altered tropism from Ad5.