Characterization of transposable elements within the Bemisia tabaci species complex.

Background: Whiteflies are agricultural pests that cause negative impacts globally to crop yields resulting at times in severe economic losses and food insecurity. The Bemisia tabaci whitefly species complex is the most damaging in terms of its broad crop host range and its ability to serve as vector for over 400 plant viruses. Genomes of whiteflies belonging to this species complex have provided valuable genomic data; however, transposable elements (TEs) within these genomes remain unexplored.

Trimming and Validation of Illumina Short Reads Using Trimmomatic, Trinity Assembly, and Assessment of RNA-Seq Data.

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies can generate billions of reads in a single sequencing run. However, with such high-throughput comes quality issues which have to be addressed before undertaking downstream analysis. Quality control on short reads is usually performed at default settings due to a lack of in-depth understanding of a particular software's parameters and their effect if changed on the output.

Molecular Characterization of a New Virus Species Identified in Yam ( spp.) by High-Throughput Sequencing.

To date, several viruses of different genera have been reported to infect yam ( spp.). The full diversity of viruses infecting yam, however, remains to be explored.

Tissue culture and next-generation sequencing: A combined approach for detecting yam ( spp.) viruses.

culture offers many advantages for yam germplasm conservation, propagation and international distribution. However, low virus titres in the generated tissues pose a challenge for reliable virus detection, which makes it difficult to ensure that planting material is virus-free. In this study, we evaluated next-generation sequencing (NGS) for virus detection following yam propagation using a robust tissue culture methodology.

Genetic diversity of the Pneumococcal CbpA: Implications for next-generation vaccine development.

Pneumococci are capable of vaccine escape by genetic recombination at the targeted capsular locus, significantly reducing long-term vaccine effectiveness. Recently, efforts have been redirected to understanding pneumococcal biology related to potential next-generation vaccine candidates. A variety of serotype-independent protein antigens capable of inducing protective immune responses in tissue culture and animal models of infection have been identified.