Corrigendum: Whole genome analysis of a schistosomiasis-transmitting freshwater snail.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15451.

Whole genome analysis of a schistosomiasis-transmitting freshwater snail.

Biomphalaria snails are instrumental in transmission of the human blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni. With the World Health Organization's goal to eliminate schistosomiasis as a global health problem by 2025, there is now renewed emphasis on snail control. Here, we characterize the genome of Biomphalaria glabrata, a lophotrochozoan protostome, and provide timely and important information on snail biology.

Extreme Sensory Complexity Encoded in the 10-Megabase Draft Genome Sequence of the Chromatically Acclimating Cyanobacterium Tolypothrix sp. PCC 7601.

Tolypothrix sp. PCC 7601 is a freshwater filamentous cyanobacterium with complex responses to environmental conditions. Here, we present its 9.

Draft Genome Sequence of Acetobacter aceti Strain 1023, a Vinegar Factory Isolate.

The genome sequence of Acetobacter aceti 1023, an acetic acid bacterium adapted to traditional vinegar fermentation, comprises 3.0 Mb (chromosome plus plasmids). A.

A lover and a fighter: the genome sequence of an entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora.

Heterorhabditis bacteriophora are entomopathogenic nematodes that have evolved a mutualism with Photorhabdus luminescens bacteria to function as highly virulent insect pathogens. The nematode provides a safe harbor for intestinal symbionts in soil and delivers the symbiotic bacteria into the insect blood. The symbiont provides virulence and toxins, metabolites essential for nematode reproduction, and antibiotic preservation of the insect cadaver.

Evolutionary Genomics of Salmonella enterica Subspecies.

ABSTRACT Six subspecies are currently recognized in Salmonella enterica. Subspecies I (subspecies enterica) is responsible for nearly all infections in humans and warm-blooded animals, while five other subspecies are isolated principally from cold-blooded animals. We sequenced 21 phylogenetically diverse strains, including two representatives from each of the previously unsequenced five subspecies and 11 diverse new strains from S.

Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution.

Lampreys are representatives of an ancient vertebrate lineage that diverged from our own ∼500 million years ago. By virtue of this deeply shared ancestry, the sea lamprey (P. marinus) genome is uniquely poised to provide insight into the ancestry of vertebrate genomes and the underlying principles of vertebrate biology.

Characterization of the basal angiosperm Aristolochia fimbriata: a potential experimental system for genetic studies.

Background: Previous studies in basal angiosperms have provided insight into the diversity within the angiosperm lineage and helped to polarize analyses of flowering plant evolution. However, there is still not an experimental system for genetic studies among basal angiosperms to facilitate comparative studies and functional investigation. It would be desirable to identify a basal angiosperm experimental system that possesses many of the features found in existing plant model systems (e.

High-throughput comparison of gene fitness among related bacteria.

Background: The contribution of a gene to the fitness of a bacterium can be assayed by whether and to what degree the bacterium tolerates transposon insertions in that gene. We use this fact to compare the fitness of syntenic homologous genes among related Salmonella strains and thereby reveal differences not apparent at the gene sequence level.

Results: A transposon Tn5 derivative was used to construct mutants in Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC14028 (STM1) and Salmonella Typhi Ty2 (STY1), which were then grown in rich media.

Ancestral polyploidy in seed plants and angiosperms.

Whole-genome duplication (WGD), or polyploidy, followed by gene loss and diploidization has long been recognized as an important evolutionary force in animals, fungi and other organisms, especially plants. The success of angiosperms has been attributed, in part, to innovations associated with gene or whole-genome duplications, but evidence for proposed ancient genome duplications pre-dating the divergence of monocots and eudicots remains equivocal in analyses of conserved gene order. Here we use comprehensive phylogenomic analyses of sequenced plant genomes and more than 12.

The genome sequence of the leaf-cutter ant Atta cephalotes reveals insights into its obligate symbiotic lifestyle.

Leaf-cutter ants are one of the most important herbivorous insects in the Neotropics, harvesting vast quantities of fresh leaf material. The ants use leaves to cultivate a fungus that serves as the colony's primary food source. This obligate ant-fungus mutualism is one of the few occurrences of farming by non-humans and likely facilitated the formation of their massive colonies.

The draft genome of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis.

Genome evolution studies for the phylum Nematoda have been limited by focusing on comparisons involving Caenorhabditis elegans. We report a draft genome sequence of Trichinella spiralis, a food-borne zoonotic parasite, which is the most common cause of human trichinellosis. This parasitic nematode is an extant member of a clade that diverged early in the evolution of the phylum, enabling identification of archetypical genes and molecular signatures exclusive to nematodes.

Signatures of adaptation to obligate biotrophy in the Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis genome.

Many oomycete and fungal plant pathogens are obligate biotrophs, which extract nutrients only from living plant tissue and cannot grow apart from their hosts. Although these pathogens cause substantial crop losses, little is known about the molecular basis or evolution of obligate biotrophy. Here, we report the genome sequence of the oomycete Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis (Hpa), an obligate biotroph and natural pathogen of Arabidopsis thaliana.

A catalog of reference genomes from the human microbiome.

The human microbiome refers to the community of microorganisms, including prokaryotes, viruses, and microbial eukaryotes, that populate the human body. The National Institutes of Health launched an initiative that focuses on describing the diversity of microbial species that are associated with health and disease. The first phase of this initiative includes the sequencing of hundreds of microbial reference genomes, coupled to metagenomic sequencing from multiple body sites.

Genome sequence of Cronobacter sakazakii BAA-894 and comparative genomic hybridization analysis with other Cronobacter species.

Background: The genus Cronobacter (formerly called Enterobacter sakazakii) is composed of five species; C. sakazakii, C. malonaticus, C.

Development and analysis of a germline BAC resource for the sea lamprey, a vertebrate that undergoes substantial chromatin diminution.

Over the last several years, the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) has grown substantially as a model for understanding the evolutionary fundaments and capacity of vertebrate developmental and genome biology. Recent work on the lamprey genome has resulted in a preliminary assembly of the lamprey genome and led to the realization that nearly all somatic cell lineages undergo extensive programmed rearrangements. Here we describe the development of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) resource for lamprey germline DNA and use sequence information from this resource to probe the subchromosomal structure of the lamprey genome.

Assessing the quality of multiple-choice test items.

With the focus of nursing education geared toward teaching students to think critically, faculty need to assure that test items require students to use a high level of cognitive processing. To evaluate their examinations, the authors assessed multiple-choice test items on final nursing examinations. The assessment included determining cognitive learning levels and frequency of items among 3 adult health courses, comparing difficulty values with cognitive learning levels, and examining discrimination values and the relationship to distracter performance.

The physical and genetic framework of the maize B73 genome.

Maize is a major cereal crop and an important model system for basic biological research. Knowledge gained from maize research can also be used to genetically improve its grass relatives such as sorghum, wheat, and rice. The primary objective of the Maize Genome Sequencing Consortium (MGSC) was to generate a reference genome sequence that was integrated with both the physical and genetic maps.

Detailed analysis of a contiguous 22-Mb region of the maize genome.

Most of our understanding of plant genome structure and evolution has come from the careful annotation of small (e.g., 100 kb) sequenced genomic regions or from automated annotation of complete genome sequences.

Transcriptomic analysis of the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora TTO1.

Background: The entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and its symbiotic bacterium, Photorhabdus luminescens, are important biological control agents of insect pests. This nematode-bacterium-insect association represents an emerging tripartite model for research on mutualistic and parasitic symbioses. Elucidation of mechanisms underlying these biological processes may serve as a foundation for improving the biological control potential of the nematode-bacterium complex.

Strategies for undertaking expressed sequence tag (EST) projects.

Complementary DNA (cDNA) sequencing can be used to sample an organism's transcriptome, and the generated EST sequences can be used for a variety of purposes. They are especially important for enhancing the utility of a genome sequence or for providing a gene catalog for a genome that has not or will not be sequenced. In planning and executing a cDNA project, several criteria must be considered.

The genome of Cyanothece 51142, a unicellular diazotrophic cyanobacterium important in the marine nitrogen cycle.

Unicellular cyanobacteria have recently been recognized for their contributions to nitrogen fixation in marine environments, a function previously thought to be filled mainly by filamentous cyanobacteria such as Trichodesmium. To begin a systems level analysis of the physiology of the unicellular N(2)-fixing microbes, we have sequenced to completion the genome of Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142, the first such organism.

The Pristionchus pacificus genome provides a unique perspective on nematode lifestyle and parasitism.

Here we present a draft genome sequence of the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, a species that is associated with beetles and is used as a model system in evolutionary biology. With 169 Mb and 23,500 predicted protein-coding genes, the P. pacificus genome is larger than those of Caenorhabditis elegans and the human parasite Brugia malayi.

Microsatellite discovery from BAC end sequences and genetic mapping to anchor the soybean physical and genetic maps.

Whole-genome sequencing of the soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr. 'Williams 82') has made it important to integrate its physical and genetic maps.