Novel Toxin Biosynthetic Gene Cluster in Harmful Algal Bloom-Causing Heteroscytonema crispum: Insights into the Origins of Paralytic Shellfish Toxins.

Caused by both eukaryotic dinoflagellates and prokaryotic cyanobacteria, harmful algal blooms are events of severe ecological, economic, and public health consequence, and their incidence has become more common of late. Despite coordinated research efforts to identify and characterize the genomes of harmful algal bloom-causing organisms, the genomic basis and evolutionary origins of paralytic shellfish toxins produced by harmful algal blooms remain at best incomplete. The paralytic shellfish toxin saxitoxin has an especially complex genomic architecture and enigmatic phylogenetic distribution, spanning dinoflagellates and multiple cyanobacterial genera.

Sequencing-induced artefacts in NGS STR data.

Significant progress has been made in recent years in the development of techniques for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), or Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS), of forensically relevant short tandem repeat (STR) loci. However, as these technologies are investigated and adopted by forensic laboratories, new challenges unfold that require further scrutiny. In the analysis of DNA profiles generated using the MiSeq FGx sequencing system, we have observed noise sequences with relatively high readcounts that are challenging to distinguish from genuine alleles.

Draft Genome Sequences of Five Historical Bacillus anthracis Strains.

is the causative agent of anthrax, a disease of livestock, wildlife, and humans. Here, we present the draft genome sequences of five historical strains that were preserved as lyophilates in glass vials for decades.

Complete Genome Sequence of the Quality Control Strain Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus ATCC 25923.

Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus ATCC 25923 is commonly used as a control strain for susceptibility testing to antibiotics and as a quality control strain for commercial products. We present the completed genome sequence for the strain, consisting of the chromosome and a 27.