TY - JOUR T1 - Drug-target identification in COVID-19 disease mechanisms using computational systems biology approaches. JF - Front Immunol Y1 - 2024 A1 - Niarakis, Anna A1 - Ostaszewski, Marek A1 - Mazein, Alexander A1 - Kuperstein, Inna A1 - Kutmon, Martina A1 - Gillespie, Marc E A1 - Funahashi, Akira A1 - Acencio, Marcio Luis A1 - Hemedan, Ahmed A1 - Aichem, Michael A1 - Klein, Karsten A1 - Czauderna, Tobias A1 - Burtscher, Felicia A1 - Yamada, Takahiro G A1 - Hiki, Yusuke A1 - Hiroi, Noriko F A1 - Hu, Finterly A1 - Pham, Nhung A1 - Ehrhart, Friederike A1 - Willighagen, Egon L A1 - Valdeolivas, Alberto A1 - Dugourd, Aurélien A1 - Messina, Francesco A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Rian, Kinza A1 - Soliman, Sylvain A1 - Aghamiri, Sara Sadat A1 - Puniya, Bhanwar Lal A1 - Naldi, Aurélien A1 - Helikar, Tomáš A1 - Singh, Vidisha A1 - Fernández, Marco Fariñas A1 - Bermudez, Viviam A1 - Tsirvouli, Eirini A1 - Montagud, Arnau A1 - Noël, Vincent A1 - Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel A1 - Maier, Dieter A1 - Bauch, Angela A1 - Gyori, Benjamin M A1 - Bachman, John A A1 - Luna, Augustin A1 - Piñero, Janet A1 - Furlong, Laura I A1 - Balaur, Irina A1 - Rougny, Adrien A1 - Jarosz, Yohan A1 - Overall, Rupert W A1 - Phair, Robert A1 - Perfetto, Livia A1 - Matthews, Lisa A1 - Rex, Devasahayam Arokia Balaya A1 - Orlic-Milacic, Marija A1 - Gomez, Luis Cristobal Monraz A1 - De Meulder, Bertrand A1 - Ravel, Jean Marie A1 - Jassal, Bijay A1 - Satagopam, Venkata A1 - Wu, Guanming A1 - Golebiewski, Martin A1 - Gawron, Piotr A1 - Calzone, Laurence A1 - Beckmann, Jacques S A1 - Evelo, Chris T A1 - D'Eustachio, Peter A1 - Schreiber, Falk A1 - Saez-Rodriguez, Julio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Kuiper, Martin A1 - Valencia, Alfonso A1 - Wolkenhauer, Olaf A1 - Kitano, Hiroaki A1 - Barillot, Emmanuel A1 - Auffray, Charles A1 - Balling, Rudi A1 - Schneider, Reinhard KW - Computer Simulation KW - COVID-19 KW - drug repositioning KW - Humans KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - Systems biology AB -

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 Disease Map project is a large-scale community effort uniting 277 scientists from 130 Institutions around the globe. We use high-quality, mechanistic content describing SARS-CoV-2-host interactions and develop interoperable bioinformatic pipelines for novel target identification and drug repurposing.

METHODS: Extensive community work allowed an impressive step forward in building interfaces between Systems Biology tools and platforms. Our framework can link biomolecules from omics data analysis and computational modelling to dysregulated pathways in a cell-, tissue- or patient-specific manner. Drug repurposing using text mining and AI-assisted analysis identified potential drugs, chemicals and microRNAs that could target the identified key factors.

RESULTS: Results revealed drugs already tested for anti-COVID-19 efficacy, providing a mechanistic context for their mode of action, and drugs already in clinical trials for treating other diseases, never tested against COVID-19.

DISCUSSION: The key advance is that the proposed framework is versatile and expandable, offering a significant upgrade in the arsenal for virus-host interactions and other complex pathologies.

VL - 14 ER - TY - BOOK T1 - Cell-Level Pathway Scoring Comparison with a Biologically Constrained Variational Autoencoder T2 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Computational Methods in Systems Biology Y1 - 2023 A1 - Gundogdu, Pelin A1 - Payá-Milans, Miriam A1 - Alamo-Alvarez, Inmaculada A1 - Nepomuceno-Chamorro, Isabel A. A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Loucera, Carlos JF - Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Computational Methods in Systems Biology PB - Springer Nature Switzerland CY - Cham VL - 14137 SN - 978-3-031-42696-4 UR - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-42697-1_5 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Comprehensive Analysis of 21 Actionable Pharmacogenes in the Spanish Population: From Genetic Characterisation to Clinical Impact. JF - Pharmaceutics Y1 - 2023 A1 - Núñez-Torres, Rocío A1 - Pita, Guillermo A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - López-López, Daniel A1 - Zamora, Jorge A1 - Roldán, Gema A1 - Herráez, Belén A1 - Alvarez, Nuria A1 - Alonso, María Rosario A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - González-Neira, Anna AB -

The implementation of pharmacogenetics (PGx) is a main milestones of precision medicine nowadays in order to achieve safer and more effective therapies. Nevertheless, the implementation of PGx diagnostics is extremely slow and unequal worldwide, in part due to a lack of ethnic PGx information. We analysed genetic data from 3006 Spanish individuals obtained by different high-throughput (HT) techniques. Allele frequencies were determined in our population for the main 21 actionable PGx genes associated with therapeutical changes. We found that 98% of the Spanish population harbours at least one allele associated with a therapeutical change and, thus, there would be a need for a therapeutical change in a mean of 3.31 of the 64 associated drugs. We also identified 326 putative deleterious variants that were not previously related with PGx in 18 out of the 21 main PGx genes evaluated and a total of 7122 putative deleterious variants for the 1045 PGx genes described. Additionally, we performed a comparison of the main HT diagnostic techniques, revealing that after whole genome sequencing, genotyping with the PGx HT array is the most suitable solution for PGx diagnostics. Finally, all this information was integrated in the Collaborative Spanish Variant Server to be available to and updated by the scientific community.

VL - 15 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A crowdsourcing database for the copy-number variation of the Spanish population. JF - Hum Genomics Y1 - 2023 A1 - López-López, Daniel A1 - Roldán, Gema A1 - Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L A1 - Bostelmann, Gerrit A1 - Carmona, Rosario A1 - Aquino, Virginia A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Ortuno, Francisco A1 - Pita, Guillermo A1 - Núñez-Torres, Rocío A1 - González-Neira, Anna A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin AB -

BACKGROUND: Despite being a very common type of genetic variation, the distribution of copy-number variations (CNVs) in the population is still poorly understood. The knowledge of the genetic variability, especially at the level of the local population, is a critical factor for distinguishing pathogenic from non-pathogenic variation in the discovery of new disease variants.

RESULTS: Here, we present the SPAnish Copy Number Alterations Collaborative Server (SPACNACS), which currently contains copy number variation profiles obtained from more than 400 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. By means of a collaborative crowdsourcing effort whole genome and whole exome sequencing data, produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes, is continuously collected. Once checked both, the Spanish ancestry and the lack of kinship with other individuals in the SPACNACS, the CNVs are inferred for these sequences and they are used to populate the database. A web interface allows querying the database with different filters that include ICD10 upper categories. This allows discarding samples from the disease under study and obtaining pseudo-control CNV profiles from the local population. We also show here additional studies on the local impact of CNVs in some phenotypes and on pharmacogenomic variants. SPACNACS can be accessed at: http://csvs.clinbioinfosspa.es/spacnacs/ .

CONCLUSION: SPACNACS facilitates disease gene discovery by providing detailed information of the local variability of the population and exemplifies how to reuse genomic data produced for other purposes to build a local reference database.

VL - 17 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Detection of High Level of Co-Infection and the Emergence of Novel SARS CoV-2 Delta-Omicron and Omicron-Omicron Recombinants in the Epidemiological Surveillance of Andalusia. JF - Int J Mol Sci Y1 - 2023 A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S A1 - Ortuno, Francisco A1 - Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L A1 - Aguado, Andrea A1 - Lara, María A1 - Riazzo, Cristina A1 - Rodriguez-Iglesias, Manuel A A1 - Camacho-Martinez, Pedro A1 - Merino-Diaz, Laura A1 - Pupo-Ledo, Inmaculada A1 - de Salazar, Adolfo A1 - Viñuela, Laura A1 - Fuentes, Ana A1 - Chueca, Natalia A1 - García, Federico A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Lepe, Jose A AB -

Recombination is an evolutionary strategy to quickly acquire new viral properties inherited from the parental lineages. The systematic survey of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences of the Andalusian genomic surveillance strategy has allowed the detection of an unexpectedly high number of co-infections, which constitute the ideal scenario for the emergence of new recombinants. Whole genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 has been carried out as part of the genomic surveillance programme. Sample sources included the main hospitals in the Andalusia region. In addition to the increase of co-infections and known recombinants, three novel SARS-CoV-2 delta-omicron and omicron-omicron recombinant variants with two break points have been detected. Our observations document an epidemiological scenario in which co-infection and recombination are detected more frequently. Finally, we describe a family case in which co-infection is followed by the detection of a recombinant made from the two co-infecting variants. This increased number of recombinants raises the risk of emergence of recombinant variants with increased transmissibility and pathogenicity.

VL - 24 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evaluation of a combined detection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants using real-time allele-specific PCR strategy: an advantage for clinical practice. JF - Epidemiol Infect Y1 - 2023 A1 - Chaves-Blanco, Lucía A1 - de Salazar, Adolfo A1 - Fuentes, Ana A1 - Viñuela, Laura A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - García, Federico KW - Alleles KW - COVID-19 KW - COVID-19 Testing KW - Humans KW - Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - Sensitivity and Specificity AB -

This study aimed to assess the ability of a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with multiple targets to detect SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in a single test. Nasopharyngeal specimens were collected from patients in Granada, Spain, between January 2021 and December 2022. Five allele-specific RT-PCR kits were used sequentially, with each kit designed to detect a predominant variant at the time. When the Alpha variant was dominant, the kit included the HV69/70 deletion, E and N genes. When Delta replaced Alpha, the kit incorporated the L452R mutation in addition to E and N genes. When Omicron became dominant, L452R was replaced with the N679K mutation. Before incorporating each variant kit, a comparative analysis was carried out with SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing (WGS). The results demonstrated that RT-PCR with multiple targets can provide rapid and effective detection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in a single test. A very high degree of agreement (96.2%) was obtained between the comparison of RT-PCR and WGS. Allele-specific RT-PCR assays make it easier to implement epidemiological surveillance systems for effective public health decision making.

VL - 151 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evidence of the association between increased use of direct oral anticoagulants and a reduction in the rate of atrial fibrillation-related stroke and major bleeding at the population level (2012-2019). JF - Med Clin (Barc) Y1 - 2023 A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Carmona, Rosario A1 - Bostelmann, Gerrit A1 - Muñoyerro-Muñiz, Dolores A1 - Villegas, Román A1 - Gonzalez-Manzanares, Rafael A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Anguita, Manuel AB -

BACKGROUND: The introduction of direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has shown to decrease atrial fibrillation (AF)-related stroke and bleeding rates in clinical studies, but there is no certain evidence about their effects at the population level. Our aim was to assess changes in AF-related stroke and major bleeding rates between 2012 and 2019 in Andalusia (Spain), and the association between DOACs use and events rates at the population level.

METHODS: All patients with an AF diagnosis from 2012 to 2019 were identified using the Andalusian Health Population Base, that provides clinical information on all Andalusian people. Annual ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, major bleeding rates, and used antithrombotic treatments were determined. Marginal hazard ratios (HR) were calculated for each treatment.

RESULTS: A total of 95,085 patients with an AF diagnosis were identified. Mean age was 76.1±10.2 years (49.7% women). An increase in the use of DOACs was observed throughout the study period in both males and females (p<0.001). The annual rate of ischemic stroke decreased by one third, while that of hemorrhagic stroke and major bleeding decreased 2-3-fold from 2012 to 2019. Marginal HR was lower than 0.50 for DOACs compared to VKA for all ischemic or hemorrhagic events.

CONCLUSIONS: In this contemporary population-based study using clinical and administrative databases in Andalusia, a significant reduction in the incidence of AF-related ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and major bleeding was observed between 2012 and 2019. The increased use of DOACs seems to be associated with this reduction.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Metabolic reprogramming by Acly inhibition using SB-204990 alters glucoregulation and modulates molecular mechanisms associated with aging. JF - Commun Biol Y1 - 2023 A1 - Sola-García, Alejandro A1 - Cáliz-Molina, María Ángeles A1 - Espadas, Isabel A1 - Petr, Michael A1 - Panadero-Morón, Concepción A1 - González-Morán, Daniel A1 - Martín-Vázquez, María Eugenia A1 - Narbona-Pérez, Álvaro Jesús A1 - López-Noriega, Livia A1 - Martínez-Corrales, Guillermo A1 - López-Fernández-Sobrino, Raúl A1 - Carmona-Marin, Lina M A1 - Martínez-Force, Enrique A1 - Yanes, Oscar A1 - Vinaixa, Maria A1 - López-López, Daniel A1 - Reyes, José Carlos A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Martín, Franz A1 - Gauthier, Benoit R A1 - Scheibye-Knudsen, Morten A1 - Capilla-González, Vivian A1 - Martín-Montalvo, Alejandro AB -

ATP-citrate lyase is a central integrator of cellular metabolism in the interface of protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism. The physiological consequences as well as the molecular mechanisms orchestrating the response to long-term pharmacologically induced Acly inhibition are unknown. We report here that the Acly inhibitor SB-204990 improves metabolic health and physical strength in wild-type mice when fed with a high-fat diet, while in mice fed with healthy diet results in metabolic imbalance and moderated insulin resistance. By applying a multiomic approach using untargeted metabolomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, we determined that, in vivo, SB-204990 plays a role in the regulation of molecular mechanisms associated with aging, such as energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, mTOR signaling, and folate cycle, while global alterations on histone acetylation are absent. Our findings indicate a mechanism for regulating molecular pathways of aging that prevents the development of metabolic abnormalities associated with unhealthy dieting. This strategy might be explored for devising therapeutic approaches to prevent metabolic diseases.

VL - 6 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Polystyrene nanoplastics affect transcriptomic and epigenomic signatures of human fibroblasts and derived induced pluripotent stem cells: Implications for human health. JF - Environ Pollut Y1 - 2023 A1 - Stojkovic, Miodrag A1 - Ortuño Guzmán, Francisco Manuel A1 - Han, Dongjun A1 - Stojkovic, Petra A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Stankovic, Konstantina M AB -

Plastic pollution is increasing at an alarming rate yet the impact of this pollution on human health is poorly understood. Because human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) are frequently derived from dermal fibroblasts, these cells offer a powerful platform for the identification of molecular biomarkers of environmental pollution in human cells. Here, we describe a novel proof-of-concept for deriving hiPSC from human dermal fibroblasts deliberately exposed to polystyrene (PS) nanoplastic particles; unexposed hiPSC served as controls. In parallel, unexposed hiPSC were exposed to low and high concentrations of PS nanoparticles. Transcriptomic and epigenomic signatures of all fibroblasts and hiPSCs were defined using RNA-seq and whole genome methyl-seq, respectively. Both PS-treated fibroblasts and derived hiPSC showed alterations in expression of ESRRB and HNF1A genes and circuits involved in the pluripotency of stem cells, as well as in pathways involved in cancer, inflammatory disorders, gluconeogenesis, carbohydrate metabolism, innate immunity, and dopaminergic synapse. Similarly, the expression levels of identified key transcriptional and DNA methylation changes (DNMT3A, ESSRB, FAM133CP, HNF1A, SEPTIN7P8, and TTC34) were significantly affected in both PS-exposed fibroblasts and hiPSC. This study illustrates the power of human cellular models of environmental pollution to narrow down and prioritize the list of candidate molecular biomarkers of environmental pollution. This knowledge will facilitate the deciphering of the origins of environmental diseases.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Rapid degeneration of iPSC-derived motor neurons lacking Gdap1 engages a mitochondrial-sustained innate immune response. JF - Cell Death Discov Y1 - 2023 A1 - León, Marian A1 - Prieto, Javier A1 - Molina-Navarro, María Micaela A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Barneo-Muñoz, Manuela A1 - Ponsoda, Xavier A1 - Sáez, Rosana A1 - Palau, Francesc A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Izpisua Belmonte, Juan Carlos A1 - Torres, Josema AB -

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a chronic hereditary motor and sensory polyneuropathy targeting Schwann cells and/or motor neurons. Its multifactorial and polygenic origin portrays a complex clinical phenotype of the disease with a wide range of genetic inheritance patterns. The disease-associated gene GDAP1 encodes for a mitochondrial outer membrane protein. Mouse and insect models with mutations in Gdap1 have reproduced several traits of the human disease. However, the precise function in the cell types affected by the disease remains unknown. Here, we use induced-pluripotent stem cells derived from a Gdap1 knockout mouse model to better understand the molecular and cellular phenotypes of the disease caused by the loss-of-function of this gene. Gdap1-null motor neurons display a fragile cell phenotype prone to early degeneration showing (1) altered mitochondrial morphology, with an increase in the fragmentation of these organelles, (2) activation of autophagy and mitophagy, (3) abnormal metabolism, characterized by a downregulation of Hexokinase 2 and ATP5b proteins, (4) increased reactive oxygen species and elevated mitochondrial membrane potential, and (5) increased innate immune response and p38 MAP kinase activation. Our data reveals the existence of an underlying Redox-inflammatory axis fueled by altered mitochondrial metabolism in the absence of Gdap1. As this biochemical axis encompasses a wide variety of druggable targets, our results may have implications for developing therapies using combinatorial pharmacological approaches and improving therefore human welfare. A Redox-immune axis underlying motor neuron degeneration caused by the absence of Gdap1. Our results show that Gdap1 motor neurons have a fragile cellular phenotype that is prone to degeneration. Gdap1 iPSCs differentiated into motor neurons showed an altered metabolic state: decreased glycolysis and increased OXPHOS. These alterations may lead to hyperpolarization of mitochondria and increased ROS levels. Excessive amounts of ROS might be the cause of increased mitophagy, p38 activation and inflammation as a cellular response to oxidative stress. The p38 MAPK pathway and the immune response may, in turn, have feedback mechanisms, leading to the induction of apoptosis and senescence, respectively. CAC, citric acid cycle; ETC, electronic transport chain; Glc, glucose; Lac, lactate; Pyr, pyruvate.

VL - 9 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SigPrimedNet: A Signaling-Informed Neural Network for scRNA-seq Annotation of Known and Unknown Cell Types. JF - Biology (Basel) Y1 - 2023 A1 - Gundogdu, Pelin A1 - Alamo, Inmaculada A1 - Nepomuceno-Chamorro, Isabel A A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Loucera, Carlos AB -

Single-cell RNA sequencing is increasing our understanding of the behavior of complex tissues or organs, by providing unprecedented details on the complex cell type landscape at the level of individual cells. Cell type definition and functional annotation are key steps to understanding the molecular processes behind the underlying cellular communication machinery. However, the exponential growth of scRNA-seq data has made the task of manually annotating cells unfeasible, due not only to an unparalleled resolution of the technology but to an ever-increasing heterogeneity of the data. Many supervised and unsupervised methods have been proposed to automatically annotate cells. Supervised approaches for cell-type annotation outperform unsupervised methods except when new (unknown) cell types are present. Here, we introduce SigPrimedNet an artificial neural network approach that leverages (i) efficient training by means of a sparsity-inducing signaling circuits-informed layer, (ii) feature representation learning through supervised training, and (iii) unknown cell-type identification by fitting an anomaly detection method on the learned representation. We show that SigPrimedNet can efficiently annotate known cell types while keeping a low false-positive rate for unseen cells across a set of publicly available datasets. In addition, the learned representation acts as a proxy for signaling circuit activity measurements, which provide useful estimations of the cell functionalities.

VL - 12 IS - 4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Visualization of automatically combined disease maps and pathway diagrams for rare diseases. JF - Front Bioinform Y1 - 2023 A1 - Gawron, Piotr A1 - Hoksza, David A1 - Piñero, Janet A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Fernandez-Rueda, Jose Luis A1 - Colonna, Vincenza A1 - Smula, Ewa A1 - Heirendt, Laurent A1 - Ancien, François A1 - Grouès, Valentin A1 - Satagopam, Venkata P A1 - Schneider, Reinhard A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Furlong, Laura I A1 - Ostaszewski, Marek AB -

Investigation of molecular mechanisms of human disorders, especially rare diseases, require exploration of various knowledge repositories for building precise hypotheses and complex data interpretation. Recently, increasingly more resources offer diagrammatic representation of such mechanisms, including disease-dedicated schematics in pathway databases and disease maps. However, collection of knowledge across them is challenging, especially for research projects with limited manpower. In this article we present an automated workflow for construction of maps of molecular mechanisms for rare diseases. The workflow requires a standardized definition of a disease using Orphanet or HPO identifiers to collect relevant genes and variants, and to assemble a functional, visual repository of related mechanisms, including data overlays. The diagrams composing the final map are unified to a common systems biology format from CellDesigner SBML, GPML and SBML+layout+render. The constructed resource contains disease-relevant genes and variants as data overlays for immediate visual exploration, including embedded genetic variant browser and protein structure viewer. We demonstrate the functionality of our workflow on two examples of rare diseases: Kawasaki disease and retinitis pigmentosa. Two maps are constructed based on their corresponding identifiers. Moreover, for the retinitis pigmentosa use-case, we include a list of differentially expressed genes to demonstrate how to tailor the workflow using omics datasets. In summary, our work allows for an ad-hoc construction of molecular diagrams combined from different sources, preserving their layout and graphical style, but integrating them into a single resource. This allows to reduce time consuming tasks of prototyping of a molecular disease map, enabling visual exploration, hypothesis building, data visualization and further refinement. The code of the workflow is open and accessible at https://gitlab.lcsb.uni.lu/minerva/automap/.

VL - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessing the Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Lineages and Mutations on Patient Survival. JF - Viruses Y1 - 2022 A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S A1 - Ortuno, Francisco M A1 - Carmona, Rosario A1 - Bostelmann, Gerrit A1 - Martínez-González, L Javier A1 - Muñoyerro-Muñiz, Dolores A1 - Villegas, Román A1 - Rodríguez-Baño, Jesús A1 - Romero-Gómez, Manuel A1 - Lorusso, Nicola A1 - Garcia-León, Javier A1 - Navarro-Marí, Jose M A1 - Camacho-Martinez, Pedro A1 - Merino-Diaz, Laura A1 - Salazar, Adolfo de A1 - Viñuela, Laura A1 - Lepe, Jose A A1 - García, Federico A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - COVID-19 KW - Genome, Viral KW - Humans KW - mutation KW - Pandemics KW - Phylogeny KW - SARS-CoV-2 AB -

OBJECTIVES: More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 still remains a global public health problem. Successive waves of infection have produced new SARS-CoV-2 variants with new mutations for which the impact on COVID-19 severity and patient survival is uncertain.

METHODS: A total of 764 SARS-CoV-2 genomes, sequenced from COVID-19 patients, hospitalized from 19th February 2020 to 30 April 2021, along with their clinical data, were used for survival analysis.

RESULTS: A significant association of B.1.1.7, the alpha lineage, with patient mortality (log hazard ratio (LHR) = 0.51, C.I. = [0.14,0.88]) was found upon adjustment by all the covariates known to affect COVID-19 prognosis. Moreover, survival analysis of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome revealed 27 of them were significantly associated with higher mortality of patients. Most of these mutations were located in the genes coding for the S, ORF8, and N proteins.

CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates how a combination of genomic and clinical data can provide solid evidence for the impact of viral lineage on patient survival.

VL - 14 IS - 9 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - CIBERER: Spanish National Network for Research on Rare Diseases: a highly productive collaborative initiative. JF - Clin Genet Y1 - 2022 A1 - Luque, Juan A1 - Mendes, Ingrid A1 - Gómez, Beatriz A1 - Morte, Beatriz A1 - de Heredia, Miguel López A1 - Herreras, Enrique A1 - Corrochano, Virginia A1 - Bueren, Juan A1 - Gallano, Pia A1 - Artuch, Rafael A1 - Fillat, Cristina A1 - Pérez-Jurado, Luis A A1 - Montoliu, Lluis A1 - Carracedo, Ángel A1 - Millán, José M A1 - Webb, Susan M A1 - Palau, Francesc A1 - Lapunzina, Pablo AB -

CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on Rare Diseases currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical and cellular research of rare diseases. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this paper, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions towards the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to rare disease research. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Endoglin and MMP14 Contribute to Ewing Sarcoma Spreading by Modulation of Cell-Matrix Interactions. JF - Int J Mol Sci Y1 - 2022 A1 - Puerto-Camacho, Pilar A1 - Diaz-Martin, Juan A1 - Olmedo-Pelayo, Joaquín A1 - Bolado-Carrancio, Alfonso A1 - Salguero-Aranda, Carmen A1 - Jordán-Pérez, Carmen A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Alamo-Alvarez, Inmaculada A1 - Delgado-Bellido, Daniel A1 - Lobo-Selma, Laura A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Sastre, Ana A1 - Alonso, Javier A1 - Grünewald, Thomas G P A1 - Bernabeu, Carmelo A1 - Byron, Adam A1 - Brunton, Valerie G A1 - Amaral, Ana Teresa A1 - de Alava, Enrique KW - Bone Neoplasms KW - Endoglin KW - Humans KW - Matrix Metalloproteinase 14 KW - Proteomics KW - Receptors, Growth Factor KW - Sarcoma, Ewing KW - Signal Transduction AB -

Endoglin (ENG) is a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) marker typically expressed by active endothelium. This transmembrane glycoprotein is shed by matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14). Our previous work demonstrated potent preclinical activity of first-in-class anti-ENG antibody-drug conjugates as a nascent strategy to eradicate Ewing sarcoma (ES), a devastating rare bone/soft tissue cancer with a putative MSC origin. We also defined a correlation between ENG and MMP14 expression in ES. Herein, we show that ENG expression is significantly associated with a dismal prognosis in a large cohort of ES patients. Moreover, both ENG/MMP14 are frequently expressed in primary ES tumors and metastasis. To deepen in their functional relevance in ES, we conducted transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of in vitro ES models that unveiled a key role of ENG and MMP14 in cell mechano-transduction. Migration and adhesion assays confirmed that loss of ENG disrupts actin filament assembly and filopodia formation, with a concomitant effect on cell spreading. Furthermore, we observed that ENG regulates cell-matrix interaction through activation of focal adhesion signaling and protein kinase C expression. In turn, loss of MMP14 contributed to a more adhesive phenotype of ES cells by modulating the transcriptional extracellular matrix dynamics. Overall, these results suggest that ENG and MMP14 exert a significant role in mediating correct spreading machinery of ES cells, impacting the aggressiveness of the disease.

VL - 23 IS - 15 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Incidence and Prevalence of Children's Diffuse Lung Disease in Spain. JF - Arch Bronconeumol Y1 - 2022 A1 - Torrent-Vernetta, Alba A1 - Gaboli, Mirella A1 - Castillo-Corullón, Silvia A1 - Mondéjar-López, Pedro A1 - Sanz Santiago, Verónica A1 - Costa-Colomer, Jordi A1 - Osona, Borja A1 - Torres-Borrego, Javier A1 - de la Serna-Blázquez, Olga A1 - Bellón Alonso, Sara A1 - Caro Aguilera, Pilar A1 - Gimeno-Díaz de Atauri, Álvaro A1 - Valenzuela Soria, Alfredo A1 - Ayats, Roser A1 - Martin de Vicente, Carlos A1 - Velasco González, Valle A1 - Moure González, José Domingo A1 - Canino Calderín, Elisa María A1 - Pastor-Vivero, María Dolores A1 - Villar Álvarez, María Ángeles A1 - Rovira-Amigo, Sandra A1 - Iglesias Serrano, Ignacio A1 - Díez Izquierdo, Ana A1 - de Mir Messa, Inés A1 - Gartner, Silvia A1 - Navarro, Alexandra A1 - Baz-Redón, Noelia A1 - Carmona, Rosario A1 - Camats-Tarruella, Núria A1 - Fernández-Cancio, Mónica A1 - Rapp, Christina A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Griese, Matthias A1 - Moreno-Galdó, Antonio AB -

BACKGROUND: Children's diffuse lung disease, also known as children's Interstitial Lung Diseases (chILD), are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases with relevant morbidity and mortality, which diagnosis and classification are very complex. Epidemiological data are scarce. The aim of this study was to analyse incidence and prevalence of chILD in Spain.

METHODS: Multicentre observational prospective study in patients from 0 to 18 years of age with chILD to analyse its incidence and prevalence in Spain, based on data reported in 2018 and 2019.

RESULTS: A total of 381 cases with chILD were notified from 51 paediatric pulmonology units all over Spain, covering the 91.7% of the paediatric population. The average incidence of chILD was 8.18 (CI 95% 6.28-10.48) new cases/million of children per year. The average prevalence of chILD was 46.53 (CI 95% 41.81-51.62) cases/million of children. The age group with the highest prevalence were children under 1 year of age. Different types of disorders were seen in children 2-18 years of age compared with children 0-2 years of age. Most frequent cases were: primary pulmonary interstitial glycogenosis in neonates (17/65), neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy in infants from 1 to 12 months (44/144), idiopathic pulmonary haemosiderosis in children from 1 to 5 years old (13/74), hypersensitivity pneumonitis in children from 5 to 10 years old (9/51), and scleroderma in older than 10 years old (8/47).

CONCLUSIONS: We found a higher incidence and prevalence of chILD than previously described probably due to greater understanding and increased clinician awareness of these rare diseases.

VL - 58 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Integrating pathway knowledge with deep neural networks to reduce the dimensionality in single-cell RNA-seq data. JF - BioData Min Y1 - 2022 A1 - Gundogdu, Pelin A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Alamo-Alvarez, Inmaculada A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Nepomuceno, Isabel AB -

BACKGROUND: Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data provide valuable insights into cellular heterogeneity which is significantly improving the current knowledge on biology and human disease. One of the main applications of scRNA-seq data analysis is the identification of new cell types and cell states. Deep neural networks (DNNs) are among the best methods to address this problem. However, this performance comes with the trade-off for a lack of interpretability in the results. In this work we propose an intelligible pathway-driven neural network to correctly solve cell-type related problems at single-cell resolution while providing a biologically meaningful representation of the data.

RESULTS: In this study, we explored the deep neural networks constrained by several types of prior biological information, e.g. signaling pathway information, as a way to reduce the dimensionality of the scRNA-seq data. We have tested the proposed biologically-based architectures on thousands of cells of human and mouse origin across a collection of public datasets in order to check the performance of the model. Specifically, we tested the architecture across different validation scenarios that try to mimic how unknown cell types are clustered by the DNN and how it correctly annotates cell types by querying a database in a retrieval problem. Moreover, our approach demonstrated to be comparable to other less interpretable DNN approaches constrained by using protein-protein interactions gene regulation data. Finally, we show how the latent structure learned by the network could be used to visualize and to interpret the composition of human single cell datasets.

CONCLUSIONS: Here we demonstrate how the integration of pathways, which convey fundamental information on functional relationships between genes, with DNNs, that provide an excellent classification framework, results in an excellent alternative to learn a biologically meaningful representation of scRNA-seq data. In addition, the introduction of prior biological knowledge in the DNN reduces the size of the network architecture. Comparative results demonstrate a superior performance of this approach with respect to other similar approaches. As an additional advantage, the use of pathways within the DNN structure enables easy interpretability of the results by connecting features to cell functionalities by means of the pathway nodes, as demonstrated with an example with human melanoma tumor cells.

VL - 15 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34980200?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity. JF - Hum Mol Genet Y1 - 2022 A1 - Cruz, Raquel A1 - Almeida, Silvia Diz-de A1 - Heredia, Miguel López A1 - Quintela, Inés A1 - Ceballos, Francisco C A1 - Pita, Guillermo A1 - Lorenzo-Salazar, José M A1 - González-Montelongo, Rafaela A1 - Gago-Domínguez, Manuela A1 - Porras, Marta Sevilla A1 - Castaño, Jair Antonio Tenorio A1 - Nevado, Julián A1 - Aguado, Jose María A1 - Aguilar, Carlos A1 - Aguilera-Albesa, Sergio A1 - Almadana, Virginia A1 - Almoguera, Berta A1 - Alvarez, Nuria A1 - Andreu-Bernabeu, Álvaro A1 - Arana-Arri, Eunate A1 - Arango, Celso A1 - Arranz, María J A1 - Artiga, Maria-Jesus A1 - Baptista-Rosas, Raúl C A1 - Barreda-Sánchez, María A1 - Belhassen-Garcia, Moncef A1 - Bezerra, Joao F A1 - Bezerra, Marcos A C A1 - Boix-Palop, Lucía A1 - Brión, Maria A1 - Brugada, Ramón A1 - Bustos, Matilde A1 - Calderón, Enrique J A1 - Carbonell, Cristina A1 - Castano, Luis A1 - Castelao, Jose E A1 - Conde-Vicente, Rosa A1 - Cordero-Lorenzana, M Lourdes A1 - Cortes-Sanchez, Jose L A1 - Corton, Marta A1 - Darnaude, M Teresa A1 - De Martino-Rodríguez, Alba A1 - Campo-Pérez, Victor A1 - Bustamante, Aranzazu Diaz A1 - Domínguez-Garrido, Elena A1 - Luchessi, André D A1 - Eirós, Rocío A1 - Sanabria, Gladys Mercedes Estigarribia A1 - Fariñas, María Carmen A1 - Fernández-Robelo, Uxía A1 - Fernández-Rodríguez, Amanda A1 - Fernández-Villa, Tania A1 - Gil-Fournier, Belén A1 - Gómez-Arrue, Javier A1 - Álvarez, Beatriz González A1 - Quirós, Fernan Gonzalez Bernaldo A1 - González-Peñas, Javier A1 - Gutiérrez-Bautista, Juan F A1 - Herrero, María José A1 - Herrero-Gonzalez, Antonio A1 - Jimenez-Sousa, María A A1 - Lattig, María Claudia A1 - Borja, Anabel Liger A1 - Lopez-Rodriguez, Rosario A1 - Mancebo, Esther A1 - Martín-López, Caridad A1 - Martín, Vicente A1 - Martinez-Nieto, Oscar A1 - Martinez-Lopez, Iciar A1 - Martinez-Resendez, Michel F A1 - Martinez-Perez, Ángel A1 - Mazzeu, Juliana A A1 - Macías, Eleuterio Merayo A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Cuerda, Victor Moreno A1 - Silbiger, Vivian N A1 - Oliveira, Silviene F A1 - Ortega-Paino, Eva A1 - Parellada, Mara A1 - Paz-Artal, Estela A1 - Santos, Ney P C A1 - Pérez-Matute, Patricia A1 - Perez, Patricia A1 - Pérez-Tomás, M Elena A1 - Perucho, Teresa A1 - Pinsach-Abuin, Mel Lina A1 - Pompa-Mera, Ericka N A1 - Porras-Hurtado, Gloria L A1 - Pujol, Aurora A1 - León, Soraya Ramiro A1 - Resino, Salvador A1 - Fernandes, Marianne R A1 - Rodríguez-Ruiz, Emilio A1 - Rodriguez-Artalejo, Fernando A1 - Rodriguez-Garcia, José A A1 - Ruiz-Cabello, Francisco A1 - Ruiz-Hornillos, Javier A1 - Ryan, Pablo A1 - Soria, José Manuel A1 - Souto, Juan Carlos A1 - Tamayo, Eduardo A1 - Tamayo-Velasco, Alvaro A1 - Taracido-Fernandez, Juan Carlos A1 - Teper, Alejandro A1 - Torres-Tobar, Lilian A1 - Urioste, Miguel A1 - Valencia-Ramos, Juan A1 - Yáñez, Zuleima A1 - Zarate, Ruth A1 - Nakanishi, Tomoko A1 - Pigazzini, Sara A1 - Degenhardt, Frauke A1 - Butler-Laporte, Guillaume A1 - Maya-Miles, Douglas A1 - Bujanda, Luis A1 - Bouysran, Youssef A1 - Palom, Adriana A1 - Ellinghaus, David A1 - Martínez-Bueno, Manuel A1 - Rolker, Selina A1 - Amitrano, Sara A1 - Roade, Luisa A1 - Fava, Francesca A1 - Spinner, Christoph D A1 - Prati, Daniele A1 - Bernardo, David A1 - García, Federico A1 - Darcis, Gilles A1 - Fernández-Cadenas, Israel A1 - Holter, Jan Cato A1 - Banales, Jesus M A1 - Frithiof, Robert A1 - Duga, Stefano A1 - Asselta, Rosanna A1 - Pereira, Alexandre C A1 - Romero-Gómez, Manuel A1 - Nafría-Jiménez, Beatriz A1 - Hov, Johannes R A1 - Migeotte, Isabelle A1 - Renieri, Alessandra A1 - Planas, Anna M A1 - Ludwig, Kerstin U A1 - Buti, Maria A1 - Rahmouni, Souad A1 - Alarcón-Riquelme, Marta E A1 - Schulte, Eva C A1 - Franke, Andre A1 - Karlsen, Tom H A1 - Valenti, Luca A1 - Zeberg, Hugo A1 - Richards, Brent A1 - Ganna, Andrea A1 - Boada, Mercè A1 - Rojas, Itziar A1 - Ruiz, Agustín A1 - Sánchez, Pascual A1 - Real, Luis Miguel A1 - Guillén-Navarro, Encarna A1 - Ayuso, Carmen A1 - González-Neira, Anna A1 - Riancho, José A A1 - Rojas-Martinez, Augusto A1 - Flores, Carlos A1 - Lapunzina, Pablo A1 - Carracedo, Ángel AB -

Here we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 COVID-19 positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (p < 5x10-8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (p = 1.3x10-22 and p = 8.1x10-12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (p = 4.4x10-8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (p = 2.7x10-8) and ARHGAP33 (p = 1.3x10-8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, p = 4.1x10-8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or ≥ 60 years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Protein and functional isoform levels and genetic variants of the BAFF and APRIL pathway components in systemic lupus erythematosus. JF - Sci Rep Y1 - 2022 A1 - Ortiz-Aljaro, Pilar A1 - Montes-Cano, Marco Antonio A1 - García-Lozano, José-Raúl A1 - Aquino, Virginia A1 - Carmona, Rosario A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - García-Hernández, Francisco José A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - González-Escribano, María Francisca AB -

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the prototype of an autoimmune disease. Belimumab, a monoclonal antibody targets BAFF, is the only biologic approved for SLE and active lupus nephritis. BAFF is a cytokine with a key-regulatory role in the B cell homeostasis, which acts by binding to three receptors: BAFF-R, TACI and BCMA. TACI and BCMA also bind APRIL. Many studies reported elevated soluble BAFF and APRIL levels in the sera of SLE patients, but other questions about the role of this system in the disease remain open. The study aimed to investigate the utility of the cytokine levels in serum and urine as biomarkers, the role of non-functional isoforms, and the association of gene variants with the disease. This case-control study includes a cohort (women, 18-60 years old) of 100 patients (48% with nephritis) and 100 healthy controls. We used ELISA assays to measure the cytokine concentrations in serum (sBAFF and sAPRIL) and urine (uBAFF and uAPRIL); TaqMan Gene Expression Assays to quantify the relative mRNA expression of ΔBAFF, βAPRIL, and εAPRIL, and next-generation sequencing to genotype the cytokine (TNFSF13 and TNFSF13B) and receptor (TNFRSF13B, TNFRSF17 and TNFRSF13C) genes. The statistical tests used were: Kruskal-Wallis (qualitative variables), the Spearman Rho coefficient (correlations), the Chi-square and SKAT (association of common and rare genetic variants, respectively). As expected, sBAFF and sAPRIL levels were higher in patients than in controls (p ≤ 0.001) but found differences between patient subgroups. sBAFF and sAPRIL significantly correlated only in patients with nephritis (r = 0.67, p ≤ 0.001) and βAPRIL levels were lower in patients with nephritis (p = 0.04), and ΔBAFF levels were lower in patients with dsDNA antibodies (p = 0.04). Rare variants of TNFSF13 and TNFRSF13B and TNFSF13 p.Gly67Arg and TNFRSF13B p.Val220Ala were associated with SLE. Our study supports differences among SLE patient subgroups with diverse clinical features in the BAFF/APRIL pathway. In addition, it suggests the involvement of genetic variants in the susceptibility to the disease.

VL - 12 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - An SPM-Enriched Marine Oil Supplement Shifted Microglia Polarization toward M2, Ameliorating Retinal Degeneration in Mice. JF - Antioxidants (Basel) Y1 - 2022 A1 - Olivares-González, Lorena A1 - Velasco, Sheyla A1 - Gallego, Idoia A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Puras, Gustavo A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Martínez-Romero, Alicia A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Pedraz, José Luis A1 - Rodrigo, Regina AB -

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is the most common inherited retinal dystrophy causing progressive vision loss. It is accompanied by chronic and sustained inflammation, including M1 microglia activation. This study evaluated the effect of an essential fatty acid (EFA) supplement containing specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs), on retinal degeneration and microglia activation in mice, a model of RP, as well as on LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. The EFA supplement was orally administered to mice from postnatal day (P)9 to P18. At P18, the electrical activity of the retina was examined by electroretinography (ERG) and innate behavior in response to light were measured. Retinal degeneration was studied via histology including the TUNEL assay and microglia immunolabeling. Microglia polarization (M1/M2) was assessed by flow cytometry, qPCR, ELISA and histology. Redox status was analyzed by measuring antioxidant enzymes and markers of oxidative damage. Interestingly, the EFA supplement ameliorated retinal dysfunction and degeneration by improving ERG recording and sensitivity to light, and reducing photoreceptor cell loss. The EFA supplement reduced inflammation and microglia activation attenuating M1 markers as well as inducing a shift to the M2 phenotype in mouse retinas and LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. It also reduced oxidative stress markers of lipid peroxidation and carbonylation. These findings could open up new therapeutic opportunities based on resolving inflammation with oral supplementation with SPMs such as the EFA supplement.

VL - 12 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A comprehensive database for integrated analysis of omics data in autoimmune diseases. JF - BMC Bioinformatics Y1 - 2021 A1 - Martorell-Marugán, Jordi A1 - López-Domínguez, Raúl A1 - García-Moreno, Adrián A1 - Toro-Domínguez, Daniel A1 - Villatoro-García, Juan Antonio A1 - Barturen, Guillermo A1 - Martín-Gómez, Adoración A1 - Troule, Kevin A1 - Gómez-López, Gonzalo A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima A1 - González-Rumayor, Víctor A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Saez-Rodriguez, Julio A1 - Alarcón-Riquelme, Marta E A1 - Carmona-Sáez, Pedro KW - Autoimmune Diseases KW - Computational Biology KW - Databases, Factual KW - Humans AB -

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune diseases are heterogeneous pathologies with difficult diagnosis and few therapeutic options. In the last decade, several omics studies have provided significant insights into the molecular mechanisms of these diseases. Nevertheless, data from different cohorts and pathologies are stored independently in public repositories and a unified resource is imperative to assist researchers in this field.

RESULTS: Here, we present Autoimmune Diseases Explorer ( https://adex.genyo.es ), a database that integrates 82 curated transcriptomics and methylation studies covering 5609 samples for some of the most common autoimmune diseases. The database provides, in an easy-to-use environment, advanced data analysis and statistical methods for exploring omics datasets, including meta-analysis, differential expression or pathway analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first omics database focused on autoimmune diseases. This resource incorporates homogeneously processed data to facilitate integrative analyses among studies.

VL - 22 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34167460?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - COVID19 Disease Map, a computational knowledge repository of virus-host interaction mechanisms. JF - Mol Syst Biol Y1 - 2021 A1 - Ostaszewski, Marek A1 - Niarakis, Anna A1 - Mazein, Alexander A1 - Kuperstein, Inna A1 - Phair, Robert A1 - Orta-Resendiz, Aurelio A1 - Singh, Vidisha A1 - Aghamiri, Sara Sadat A1 - Acencio, Marcio Luis A1 - Glaab, Enrico A1 - Ruepp, Andreas A1 - Fobo, Gisela A1 - Montrone, Corinna A1 - Brauner, Barbara A1 - Frishman, Goar A1 - Monraz Gómez, Luis Cristóbal A1 - Somers, Julia A1 - Hoch, Matti A1 - Kumar Gupta, Shailendra A1 - Scheel, Julia A1 - Borlinghaus, Hanna A1 - Czauderna, Tobias A1 - Schreiber, Falk A1 - Montagud, Arnau A1 - Ponce de Leon, Miguel A1 - Funahashi, Akira A1 - Hiki, Yusuke A1 - Hiroi, Noriko A1 - Yamada, Takahiro G A1 - Dräger, Andreas A1 - Renz, Alina A1 - Naveez, Muhammad A1 - Bocskei, Zsolt A1 - Messina, Francesco A1 - Börnigen, Daniela A1 - Fergusson, Liam A1 - Conti, Marta A1 - Rameil, Marius A1 - Nakonecnij, Vanessa A1 - Vanhoefer, Jakob A1 - Schmiester, Leonard A1 - Wang, Muying A1 - Ackerman, Emily E A1 - Shoemaker, Jason E A1 - Zucker, Jeremy A1 - Oxford, Kristie A1 - Teuton, Jeremy A1 - Kocakaya, Ebru A1 - Summak, Gökçe Yağmur A1 - Hanspers, Kristina A1 - Kutmon, Martina A1 - Coort, Susan A1 - Eijssen, Lars A1 - Ehrhart, Friederike A1 - Rex, Devasahayam Arokia Balaya A1 - Slenter, Denise A1 - Martens, Marvin A1 - Pham, Nhung A1 - Haw, Robin A1 - Jassal, Bijay A1 - Matthews, Lisa A1 - Orlic-Milacic, Marija A1 - Senff Ribeiro, Andrea A1 - Rothfels, Karen A1 - Shamovsky, Veronica A1 - Stephan, Ralf A1 - Sevilla, Cristoffer A1 - Varusai, Thawfeek A1 - Ravel, Jean-Marie A1 - Fraser, Rupsha A1 - Ortseifen, Vera A1 - Marchesi, Silvia A1 - Gawron, Piotr A1 - Smula, Ewa A1 - Heirendt, Laurent A1 - Satagopam, Venkata A1 - Wu, Guanming A1 - Riutta, Anders A1 - Golebiewski, Martin A1 - Owen, Stuart A1 - Goble, Carole A1 - Hu, Xiaoming A1 - Overall, Rupert W A1 - Maier, Dieter A1 - Bauch, Angela A1 - Gyori, Benjamin M A1 - Bachman, John A A1 - Vega, Carlos A1 - Grouès, Valentin A1 - Vazquez, Miguel A1 - Porras, Pablo A1 - Licata, Luana A1 - Iannuccelli, Marta A1 - Sacco, Francesca A1 - Nesterova, Anastasia A1 - Yuryev, Anton A1 - de Waard, Anita A1 - Turei, Denes A1 - Luna, Augustin A1 - Babur, Ozgun A1 - Soliman, Sylvain A1 - Valdeolivas, Alberto A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Rian, Kinza A1 - Helikar, Tomáš A1 - Puniya, Bhanwar Lal A1 - Modos, Dezso A1 - Treveil, Agatha A1 - Olbei, Marton A1 - De Meulder, Bertrand A1 - Ballereau, Stephane A1 - Dugourd, Aurélien A1 - Naldi, Aurélien A1 - Noël, Vincent A1 - Calzone, Laurence A1 - Sander, Chris A1 - Demir, Emek A1 - Korcsmaros, Tamas A1 - Freeman, Tom C A1 - Augé, Franck A1 - Beckmann, Jacques S A1 - Hasenauer, Jan A1 - Wolkenhauer, Olaf A1 - Wilighagen, Egon L A1 - Pico, Alexander R A1 - Evelo, Chris T A1 - Gillespie, Marc E A1 - Stein, Lincoln D A1 - Hermjakob, Henning A1 - D'Eustachio, Peter A1 - Saez-Rodriguez, Julio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Valencia, Alfonso A1 - Kitano, Hiroaki A1 - Barillot, Emmanuel A1 - Auffray, Charles A1 - Balling, Rudi A1 - Schneider, Reinhard KW - Antiviral Agents KW - Computational Biology KW - Computer Graphics KW - COVID-19 KW - Cytokines KW - Data Mining KW - Databases, Factual KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Host Microbial Interactions KW - Humans KW - Immunity, Cellular KW - Immunity, Humoral KW - Immunity, Innate KW - Lymphocytes KW - Metabolic Networks and Pathways KW - Myeloid Cells KW - Protein Interaction Mapping KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - Signal Transduction KW - Software KW - Transcription Factors KW - Viral Proteins AB -

We need to effectively combine the knowledge from surging literature with complex datasets to propose mechanistic models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, improving data interpretation and predicting key targets of intervention. Here, we describe a large-scale community effort to build an open access, interoperable and computable repository of COVID-19 molecular mechanisms. The COVID-19 Disease Map (C19DMap) is a graphical, interactive representation of disease-relevant molecular mechanisms linking many knowledge sources. Notably, it is a computational resource for graph-based analyses and disease modelling. To this end, we established a framework of tools, platforms and guidelines necessary for a multifaceted community of biocurators, domain experts, bioinformaticians and computational biologists. The diagrams of the C19DMap, curated from the literature, are integrated with relevant interaction and text mining databases. We demonstrate the application of network analysis and modelling approaches by concrete examples to highlight new testable hypotheses. This framework helps to find signatures of SARS-CoV-2 predisposition, treatment response or prioritisation of drug candidates. Such an approach may help deal with new waves of COVID-19 or similar pandemics in the long-term perspective.

VL - 17 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34664389?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - CSVS, a crowdsourcing database of the Spanish population genetic variability. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2021 A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Roldán, Gema A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Ortuno, Francisco M A1 - Carmona, Rosario A1 - Aquino, Virginia A1 - López-López, Daniel A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L A1 - Gallego, Asunción A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - González-Neira, Anna A1 - Pita, Guillermo A1 - Núñez-Torres, Rocío A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Ayuso, Carmen A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Avila-Fernandez, Almudena A1 - Corton, Marta A1 - Moreno-Pelayo, Miguel Ángel A1 - Morin, Matías A1 - Gallego-Martinez, Alvaro A1 - Lopez-Escamez, Jose A A1 - Borrego, Salud A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Amigo, Jorge A1 - Salgado-Garrido, Josefa A1 - Pasalodos-Sanchez, Sara A1 - Morte, Beatriz A1 - Carracedo, Ángel A1 - Alonso, Ángel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Alleles KW - Chromosome Mapping KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Exome KW - Gene Frequency KW - Genetic Variation KW - Genetics, Population KW - Genome, Human KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Internet KW - Precision Medicine KW - Software KW - Spain AB -

The knowledge of the genetic variability of the local population is of utmost importance in personalized medicine and has been revealed as a critical factor for the discovery of new disease variants. Here, we present the Collaborative Spanish Variability Server (CSVS), which currently contains more than 2000 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. This database has been generated in a collaborative crowdsourcing effort collecting sequencing data produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes. Sequences have been grouped by ICD10 upper categories. A web interface allows querying the database removing one or more ICD10 categories. In this way, aggregated counts of allele frequencies of the pseudo-control Spanish population can be obtained for diseases belonging to the category removed. Interestingly, in addition to pseudo-control studies, some population studies can be made, as, for example, prevalence of pharmacogenomic variants, etc. In addition, this genomic data has been used to define the first Spanish Genome Reference Panel (SGRP1.0) for imputation. This is the first local repository of variability entirely produced by a crowdsourcing effort and constitutes an example for future initiatives to characterize local variability worldwide. CSVS is also part of the GA4GH Beacon network. CSVS can be accessed at: http://csvs.babelomics.org/.

VL - 49 IS - D1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32990755?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - De novo small deletion affecting transcription start site of short isoform of AUTS2 gene in a patient with syndromic neurodevelopmental defects. JF - Am J Med Genet A Y1 - 2021 A1 - Martinez-Delgado, Beatriz A1 - Lopez-Martin, Estrella A1 - Lara-Herguedas, Julián A1 - Monzon, Sara A1 - Cuesta, Isabel A1 - Juliá, Miguel A1 - Aquino, Virginia A1 - Rodriguez-Martin, Carlos A1 - Damian, Alejandra A1 - Gonzalo, Irene A1 - Gomez-Mariano, Gema A1 - Baladron, Beatriz A1 - Cazorla, Rosario A1 - Iglesias, Gema A1 - Roman, Enriqueta A1 - Ros, Purificacion A1 - Tutor, Pablo A1 - Mellor, Susana A1 - Jimenez, Carlos A1 - Cabrejas, Maria Jose A1 - Gonzalez-Vioque, Emiliano A1 - Alonso, Javier A1 - Bermejo-Sánchez, Eva A1 - Posada, Manuel KW - Child, Preschool KW - Cytoskeletal Proteins KW - Dwarfism KW - Exons KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Genetic Association Studies KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Neurodevelopmental Disorders KW - Protein Isoforms KW - RNA, Messenger KW - Sequence Deletion KW - Syndrome KW - Transcription Factors KW - Transcription Initiation Site KW - Transcription, Genetic AB -

Disruption of the autism susceptibility candidate 2 (AUTS2) gene through genomic rearrangements, copy number variations (CNVs), and intragenic deletions and mutations, has been recurrently involved in syndromic forms of developmental delay and intellectual disability, known as AUTS2 syndrome. The AUTS2 gene plays an important role in regulation of neuronal migration, and when altered, associates with a variable phenotype from severely to mildly affected patients. The more severe phenotypes significantly correlate with the presence of defects affecting the C-terminus part of the gene. This article reports a new patient with a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder, who presents a deletion of 30 nucleotides in the exon 9 of the AUTS2 gene. Importantly, this deletion includes the transcription start site for the AUTS2 short transcript isoform, which has an important role in brain development. Gene expression analysis of AUTS2 full-length and short isoforms revealed that the deletion found in this patient causes a remarkable reduction in the expression level, not only of the short isoform, but also of the full AUTS2 transcripts. This report adds more evidence for the role of mutated AUTS2 short transcripts in the development of a severe phenotype in the AUTS2 syndrome.

VL - 185 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A DNA damage repair gene-associated signature predicts responses of patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma to treatment with trabectedin. JF - Mol Oncol Y1 - 2021 A1 - Moura, David S A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Cordero Varela, Juan Antonio A1 - Alvarez-Alegret, Ramiro A1 - Agra-Pujol, Carolina A1 - Izquierdo, Francisco A1 - Ramos, Rafael A1 - Ortega-Medina, Luis A1 - Martin-Davila, Francisco A1 - Castilla-Ramirez, Carolina A1 - Hernandez-Leon, Carmen Nieves A1 - Romagosa, Cleofe A1 - Vaz Salgado, Maria Angeles A1 - Lavernia, Javier A1 - Bagué, Silvia A1 - Mayodormo-Aranda, Empar A1 - Vicioso, Luis A1 - Hernández Barceló, Jose Emilio A1 - Rubio-Casadevall, Jordi A1 - de Juan, Ana A1 - Fiaño-Valverde, Maria Concepcion A1 - Hindi, Nadia A1 - Lopez-Alvarez, Maria A1 - Lacerenza, Serena A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Gutierrez, Antonio A1 - Alvarez, Rosa A1 - Valverde, Claudia A1 - Martinez-Trufero, Javier A1 - Martin-Broto, Javier AB -

Predictive biomarkers of trabectedin represent an unmet need in advanced soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). DNA damage repair (DDR) genes, involved in homologous recombination or nucleotide excision repair, had been previously described as biomarkers of trabectedin resistance or sensitivity, respectively. The majority of these studies only focused on specific factors (ERCC1, ERCC5, and BRCA1) and did not evaluate several other DDR-related genes that could have a relevant role for trabectedin efficacy. In this retrospective translational study, 118 genes involved in DDR were evaluated to determine, by transcriptomics, a predictive gene signature of trabectedin efficacy. A six-gene predictive signature of trabectedin efficacy was built in a series of 139 tumor samples from patients with advanced STS. Patients in the high-risk gene signature group showed a significantly worse progression-free survival compared with patients in the low-risk group (2.1 vs 6.0 months, respectively). Differential gene expression analysis defined new potential predictive biomarkers of trabectedin sensitivity (PARP3 and CCNH) or resistance (DNAJB11 and PARP1). Our study identified a new gene signature that significantly predicts patients with higher probability to respond to treatment with trabectedin. Targeting some genes of this signature emerges as a potential strategy to enhance trabectedin efficacy.

VL - 15 IS - 12 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33983674?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - DOME: recommendations for supervised machine learning validation in biology. JF - Nat Methods Y1 - 2021 A1 - Walsh, Ian A1 - Fishman, Dmytro A1 - Garcia-Gasulla, Dario A1 - Titma, Tiina A1 - Pollastri, Gianluca A1 - Harrow, Jennifer A1 - Psomopoulos, Fotis E A1 - Tosatto, Silvio C E KW - Algorithms KW - Computational Biology KW - Guidelines as Topic KW - Humans KW - Models, Biological KW - Research Design KW - Supervised Machine Learning VL - 18 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34316068?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Highly accurate whole-genome imputation of SARS-CoV-2 from partial or low-quality sequences. JF - Gigascience Y1 - 2021 A1 - Ortuno, Francisco M A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S A1 - Lepe, Jose A A1 - Camacho Martinez, Pedro A1 - Merino Diaz, Laura A1 - de Salazar, Adolfo A1 - Chueca, Natalia A1 - García, Federico A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Genome, Viral KW - Phylogeny KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - Whole Genome Sequencing AB -

BACKGROUND: The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has emphasized the utility of viral whole-genome sequencing in the surveillance and control of the pathogen. An unprecedented ongoing global initiative is producing hundreds of thousands of sequences worldwide. However, the complex circumstances in which viruses are sequenced, along with the demand of urgent results, causes a high rate of incomplete and, therefore, useless sequences. Viral sequences evolve in the context of a complex phylogeny and different positions along the genome are in linkage disequilibrium. Therefore, an imputation method would be able to predict missing positions from the available sequencing data.

RESULTS: We have developed the impuSARS application, which takes advantage of the enormous number of SARS-CoV-2 genomes available, using a reference panel containing 239,301 sequences, to produce missing data imputation in viral genomes. ImpuSARS was tested in a wide range of conditions (continuous fragments, amplicons or sparse individual positions missing), showing great fidelity when reconstructing the original sequences, recovering the lineage with a 100% precision for almost all the lineages, even in very poorly covered genomes (<20%).

CONCLUSIONS: Imputation can improve the pace of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing production by recovering many incomplete or low-quality sequences that would be otherwise discarded. ImpuSARS can be incorporated in any primary data processing pipeline for SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing.

VL - 10 IS - 12 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34865008?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Immunotherapy in nonsmall-cell lung cancer: current status and future prospects for liquid biopsy. JF - Cancer Immunol Immunother Y1 - 2021 A1 - Brozos-Vázquez, Elena María A1 - Díaz-Peña, Roberto A1 - García-González, Jorge A1 - León-Mateos, Luis A1 - Mondelo-Macía, Patricia A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - López-López, Rafael KW - Animals KW - Biomarkers, Tumor KW - Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung KW - Cell-Free Nucleic Acids KW - Exosomes KW - Humans KW - Immunotherapy KW - Liquid Biopsy KW - Lung Neoplasms AB -

Immunotherapy has been one of the great advances in the recent years for the treatment of advanced tumors, with nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) being one of the cancers that has benefited most from this approach. Currently, the only validated companion diagnostic test for first-line immunotherapy in metastatic NSCLC patients is testing for programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumor tissues. However, not all patients experience an effective response with the established selection criteria and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Liquid biopsy offers a noninvasive opportunity to monitor disease in patients with cancer and identify those who would benefit the most from immunotherapy. This review focuses on the use of liquid biopsy in immunotherapy treatment of NSCLC patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and exosomes are promising tools for developing new biomarkers. We discuss the current application and future implementation of these parameters to improve therapeutic decision-making and identify the patients who will benefit most from immunotherapy.

VL - 70 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Implementing Personalized Medicine in COVID-19 in Andalusia: An Opportunity to Transform the Healthcare System. JF - J Pers Med Y1 - 2021 A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Maya-Miles, Douglas A1 - García, Federico A1 - Lorusso, Nicola A1 - Calleja, Miguel Ángel A1 - Pareja, María Jesús A1 - López-Miranda, José A1 - Rodríguez-Baño, Jesús A1 - Padillo, Javier A1 - Túnez, Isaac A1 - Romero-Gómez, Manuel AB -

The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented opportunity to exploit the advantages of personalized medicine for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance and management of a new challenge in public health. COVID-19 infection is highly variable, ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe, life-threatening manifestations. Personalized medicine can play a key role in elucidating individual susceptibility to the infection as well as inter-individual variability in clinical course, prognosis and response to treatment. Integrating personalized medicine into clinical practice can also transform health care by enabling the design of preventive and therapeutic strategies tailored to individual profiles, improving the detection of outbreaks or defining transmission patterns at an increasingly local level. SARS-CoV2 genome sequencing, together with the assessment of specific patient genetic variants, will support clinical decision-makers and ultimately better ways to fight this disease. Additionally, it would facilitate a better stratification and selection of patients for clinical trials, thus increasing the likelihood of obtaining positive results. Lastly, defining a national strategy to implement in clinical practice all available tools of personalized medicine in COVID-19 could be challenging but linked to a positive transformation of the health care system. In this review, we provide an update of the achievements, promises, and challenges of personalized medicine in the fight against COVID-19 from susceptibility to natural history and response to therapy, as well as from surveillance to control measures and vaccination. We also discuss strategies to facilitate the adoption of this new paradigm for medical and public health measures during and after the pandemic in health care systems.

VL - 11 IS - 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34073493?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mechanistic modeling of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map. JF - BioData Min Y1 - 2021 A1 - Rian, Kinza A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Hidalgo, Marta R A1 - Cubuk, Cankut A1 - Falco, Matias M A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Gunyel, Devrim A1 - Ostaszewski, Marek A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin AB -

Here we present a web interface that implements a comprehensive mechanistic model of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map. In this framework, the detailed activity of the human signaling circuits related to the viral infection, covering from the entry and replication mechanisms to the downstream consequences as inflammation and antigenic response, can be inferred from gene expression experiments. Moreover, the effect of potential interventions, such as knock-downs, or drug effects (currently the system models the effect of more than 8000 DrugBank drugs) can be studied. This freely available tool not only provides an unprecedentedly detailed view of the mechanisms of viral invasion and the consequences in the cell but has also the potential of becoming an invaluable asset in the search for efficient antiviral treatments.

VL - 14 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33478554?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mutational Characterization of Cutaneous Melanoma Supports Divergent Pathways Model for Melanoma Development. JF - Cancers (Basel) Y1 - 2021 A1 - Millán-Esteban, David A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - García-Casado, Zaida A1 - Manrique-Silva, Esperanza A1 - Requena, Celia A1 - Bañuls, José A1 - Lopez-Guerrero, Jose Antonio A1 - Rodríguez-Hernández, Aranzazu A1 - Traves, Víctor A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Virós, Amaya A1 - Kumar, Rajiv A1 - Nagore, Eduardo AB -

According to the divergent pathway model, cutaneous melanoma comprises a nevogenic group with a propensity to melanocyte proliferation and another one associated with cumulative solar damage (CSD). While characterized clinically and epidemiologically, the differences in the molecular profiles between the groups have remained primarily uninvestigated. This study has used a custom gene panel and bioinformatics tools to investigate the potential molecular differences in a thoroughly characterized cohort of 119 melanoma patients belonging to nevogenic and CSD groups. We found that the nevogenic melanomas had a restricted set of mutations, with the prominently mutated gene being . The CSD melanomas, in contrast, showed mutations in a diverse group of genes that included , , , and . We thus provide evidence that nevogenic and CSD melanomas constitute different biological entities and highlight the need to explore new targeted therapies.

VL - 13 IS - 20 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The NCI Genomic Data Commons JF - Nature Genetics Y1 - 2021 A1 - Heath, Allison P. A1 - Ferretti, Vincent A1 - Agrawal, Stuti A1 - An, Maksim A1 - Angelakos, James C. A1 - Arya, Renuka A1 - Bajari, Rosita A1 - Baqar, Bilal A1 - Barnowski, Justin H. B. A1 - Burt, Jeffrey A1 - Catton, Ann A1 - Chan, Brandon F. A1 - Chu, Fay A1 - Cullion, Kim A1 - Davidsen, Tanja A1 - Do, Phuong-My A1 - Dompierre, Christian A1 - Ferguson, Martin L. A1 - Fitzsimons, Michael S. A1 - Ford, Michael A1 - Fukuma, Miyuki A1 - Gaheen, Sharon A1 - Ganji, Gajanan L. A1 - Garcia, Tzintzuni I. A1 - George, Sameera S. A1 - Gerhard, Daniela S. A1 - Gerthoffert, Francois A1 - Gomez, Fauzi A1 - Han, Kang A1 - Hernandez, Kyle M. A1 - Issac, Biju A1 - Jackson, Richard A1 - Jensen, Mark A. A1 - Joshi, Sid A1 - Kadam, Ajinkya A1 - Khurana, Aishmit A1 - Kim, Kyle M. J. A1 - Kraft, Victoria E. A1 - Li, Shenglai A1 - Lichtenberg, Tara M. A1 - Lodato, Janice A1 - Lolla, Laxmi A1 - Martinov, Plamen A1 - Mazzone, Jeffrey A. A1 - Miller, Daniel P. A1 - Miller, Ian A1 - Miller, Joshua S. A1 - Miyauchi, Koji A1 - Murphy, Mark W. A1 - Nullet, Thomas A1 - Ogwara, Rowland O. A1 - Ortuño, Francisco M. A1 - Pedrosa, Jesús A1 - Pham, Phuong L. A1 - Popov, Maxim Y. A1 - Porter, James J. A1 - Powell, Raymond A1 - Rademacher, Karl A1 - Reid, Colin P. A1 - Rich, Samantha A1 - Rogel, Bessie A1 - Sahni, Himanso A1 - Savage, Jeremiah H. A1 - Schmitt, Kyle A. A1 - Simmons, Trevar J. A1 - Sislow, Joseph A1 - Spring, Jonathan A1 - Stein, Lincoln A1 - Sullivan, Sean A1 - Tang, Yajing A1 - Thiagarajan, Mathangi A1 - Troyer, Heather D. A1 - Wang, Chang A1 - Wang, Zhining A1 - West, Bedford L. A1 - Wilmer, Alex A1 - Wilson, Shane A1 - Wu, Kaman A1 - Wysocki, William P. A1 - Xiang, Linda A1 - Yamada, Joseph T. A1 - Yang, Liming A1 - Yu, Christine A1 - Yung, Christina K. A1 - Zenklusen, Jean Claude A1 - Zhang, Junjun A1 - Zhang, Zhenyu A1 - Zhao, Yuanheng A1 - Zubair, Ariz A1 - Staudt, Louis M. A1 - Grossman, Robert L. UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-021-00791-5 JO - Nat Genet ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Phylogenetic Analysis of the 2020 West Nile Virus (WNV) Outbreak in Andalusia (Spain) JF - Viruses Y1 - 2021 A1 - Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S. A1 - Perez-Florido, Javier A1 - Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L. A1 - Pedrosa-Corral, Irene A1 - Guillot-Sulay, Vicente A1 - Lorusso, Nicola A1 - Martinez-Gonzalez, Luis Javier A1 - Navarro-Marí, Jose M. A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Sanbonmatsu-Gámez, Sara VL - 13 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/5/836 IS - 5 JO - Viruses ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Real world evidence of calcifediol or vitamin D prescription and mortality rate of COVID-19 in a retrospective cohort of hospitalized Andalusian patients. JF - Sci Rep Y1 - 2021 A1 - Loucera, Carlos A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Esteban-Medina, Marina A1 - Muñoyerro-Muñiz, Dolores A1 - Villegas, Román A1 - López-Miranda, José A1 - Rodríguez-Baño, Jesús A1 - Túnez, Isaac A1 - Bouillon, Roger A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Quesada Gomez, Jose Manuel KW - Calcifediol KW - COVID-19 KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Kaplan-Meier Estimate KW - Male KW - Retrospective Studies KW - Spain KW - Survival Analysis KW - Vitamin D AB -

COVID-19 is a major worldwide health problem because of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and mortality. Several lines of evidence have suggested a relationship between the vitamin D endocrine system and severity of COVID-19. We present a survival study on a retrospective cohort of 15,968 patients, comprising all COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Andalusia between January and November 2020. Based on a central registry of electronic health records (the Andalusian Population Health Database, BPS), prescription of vitamin D or its metabolites within 15-30 days before hospitalization were recorded. The effect of prescription of vitamin D (metabolites) for other indication previous to the hospitalization was studied with respect to patient survival. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and hazard ratios support an association between prescription of these metabolites and patient survival. Such association was stronger for calcifediol (Hazard Ratio, HR = 0.67, with 95% confidence interval, CI, of [0.50-0.91]) than for cholecalciferol (HR = 0.75, with 95% CI of [0.61-0.91]), when prescribed 15 days prior hospitalization. Although the relation is maintained, there is a general decrease of this effect when a longer period of 30 days prior hospitalization is considered (calcifediol HR = 0.73, with 95% CI [0.57-0.95] and cholecalciferol HR = 0.88, with 95% CI [0.75, 1.03]), suggesting that association was stronger when the prescription was closer to the hospitalization.

VL - 11 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reporting guidelines for human microbiome research: the STORMS checklist. JF - Nat Med Y1 - 2021 A1 - Mirzayi, Chloe A1 - Renson, Audrey A1 - Zohra, Fatima A1 - Elsafoury, Shaimaa A1 - Geistlinger, Ludwig A1 - Kasselman, Lora J A1 - Eckenrode, Kelly A1 - van de Wijgert, Janneke A1 - Loughman, Amy A1 - Marques, Francine Z A1 - MacIntyre, David A A1 - Arumugam, Manimozhiyan A1 - Azhar, Rimsha A1 - Beghini, Francesco A1 - Bergstrom, Kirk A1 - Bhatt, Ami A1 - Bisanz, Jordan E A1 - Braun, Jonathan A1 - Bravo, Hector Corrada A1 - Buck, Gregory A A1 - Bushman, Frederic A1 - Casero, David A1 - Clarke, Gerard A1 - Collado, Maria Carmen A1 - Cotter, Paul D A1 - Cryan, John F A1 - Demmer, Ryan T A1 - Devkota, Suzanne A1 - Elinav, Eran A1 - Escobar, Juan S A1 - Fettweis, Jennifer A1 - Finn, Robert D A1 - Fodor, Anthony A A1 - Forslund, Sofia A1 - Franke, Andre A1 - Furlanello, Cesare A1 - Gilbert, Jack A1 - Grice, Elizabeth A1 - Haibe-Kains, Benjamin A1 - Handley, Scott A1 - Herd, Pamela A1 - Holmes, Susan A1 - Jacobs, Jonathan P A1 - Karstens, Lisa A1 - Knight, Rob A1 - Knights, Dan A1 - Koren, Omry A1 - Kwon, Douglas S A1 - Langille, Morgan A1 - Lindsay, Brianna A1 - McGovern, Dermot A1 - McHardy, Alice C A1 - McWeeney, Shannon A1 - Mueller, Noel T A1 - Nezi, Luigi A1 - Olm, Matthew A1 - Palm, Noah A1 - Pasolli, Edoardo A1 - Raes, Jeroen A1 - Redinbo, Matthew R A1 - Rühlemann, Malte A1 - Balfour Sartor, R A1 - Schloss, Patrick D A1 - Schriml, Lynn A1 - Segal, Eran A1 - Shardell, Michelle A1 - Sharpton, Thomas A1 - Smirnova, Ekaterina A1 - Sokol, Harry A1 - Sonnenburg, Justin L A1 - Srinivasan, Sujatha A1 - Thingholm, Louise B A1 - Turnbaugh, Peter J A1 - Upadhyay, Vaibhav A1 - Walls, Ramona L A1 - Wilmes, Paul A1 - Yamada, Takuji A1 - Zeller, Georg A1 - Zhang, Mingyu A1 - Zhao, Ni A1 - Zhao, Liping A1 - Bao, Wenjun A1 - Culhane, Aedin A1 - Devanarayan, Viswanath A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Fan, Xiaohui A1 - Fischer, Matthias A1 - Jones, Wendell A1 - Kusko, Rebecca A1 - Mason, Christopher E A1 - Mercer, Tim R A1 - Sansone, Susanna-Assunta A1 - Scherer, Andreas A1 - Shi, Leming A1 - Thakkar, Shraddha A1 - Tong, Weida A1 - Wolfinger, Russ A1 - Hunter, Christopher A1 - Segata, Nicola A1 - Huttenhower, Curtis A1 - Dowd, Jennifer B A1 - Jones, Heidi E A1 - Waldron, Levi KW - Computational Biology KW - Dysbiosis KW - Humans KW - Microbiota KW - Observational Studies as Topic KW - Research Design KW - Translational Science, Biomedical AB -

The particularly interdisciplinary nature of human microbiome research makes the organization and reporting of results spanning epidemiology, biology, bioinformatics, translational medicine and statistics a challenge. Commonly used reporting guidelines for observational or genetic epidemiology studies lack key features specific to microbiome studies. Therefore, a multidisciplinary group of microbiome epidemiology researchers adapted guidelines for observational and genetic studies to culture-independent human microbiome studies, and also developed new reporting elements for laboratory, bioinformatics and statistical analyses tailored to microbiome studies. The resulting tool, called 'Strengthening The Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies' (STORMS), is composed of a 17-item checklist organized into six sections that correspond to the typical sections of a scientific publication, presented as an editable table for inclusion in supplementary materials. The STORMS checklist provides guidance for concise and complete reporting of microbiome studies that will facilitate manuscript preparation, peer review, and reader comprehension of publications and comparative analysis of published results.

VL - 27 IS - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34789871?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Schuurs–Hoeijmakers Syndrome (PACS1 Neurodevelopmental Disorder): Seven Novel Patients and a Review JF - Genes Y1 - 2021 A1 - Tenorio-Castaño, Jair A1 - Morte, Beatriz A1 - Nevado, Julián A1 - Martínez-Glez, Víctor A1 - Santos-Simarro, Fernando A1 - García-Miñaur, Sixto A1 - Palomares-Bralo, María A1 - Pacio-Míguez, Marta A1 - Gómez, Beatriz A1 - Arias, Pedro A1 - Alcochea, Alba A1 - Carrión, Juan A1 - Arias, Patricia A1 - Almoguera, Berta A1 - López-Grondona, Fermina A1 - Lorda-Sanchez, Isabel A1 - Galán-Gómez, Enrique A1 - Valenzuela, Irene A1 - Méndez Perez, María A1 - Cuscó, Ivón A1 - Barros, Francisco A1 - Pié, Juan A1 - Ramos, Sergio A1 - Ramos, Feliciano A1 - Kuechler, Alma A1 - Tizzano, Eduardo A1 - Ayuso, Carmen A1 - Kaiser, Frank A1 - Pérez-Jurado, Luis A1 - Carracedo, Ángel A1 - Lapunzina, Pablo VL - 12 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/5/738https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/5/738/pdf IS - 5 JO - Genes ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Uniform genomic data analysis in the NCI Genomic Data CommonsAbstract JF - Nature Communications Y1 - 2021 A1 - Zhang, Zhenyu A1 - Hernandez, Kyle A1 - Savage, Jeremiah A1 - Li, Shenglai A1 - Miller, Dan A1 - Agrawal, Stuti A1 - Ortuno, Francisco A1 - Staudt, Louis M. A1 - Heath, Allison A1 - Grossman, Robert L. VL - 12 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21254-9 IS - 1 JO - Nat Commun ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A versatile workflow to integrate RNA-seq genomic and transcriptomic data into mechanistic models of signaling pathways. JF - PLoS Comput Biol Y1 - 2021 A1 - Garrido-Rodriguez, Martín A1 - López-López, Daniel A1 - Ortuno, Francisco M A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Muñoz, Eduardo A1 - Calzado, Marco A A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Algorithms KW - Cell Line, Tumor KW - Computational Biology KW - Databases, Factual KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Genomics KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans KW - Models, Theoretical KW - mutation KW - RNA-seq KW - Signal Transduction KW - Software KW - Transcriptome KW - whole exome sequencing KW - Workflow AB -

MIGNON is a workflow for the analysis of RNA-Seq experiments, which not only efficiently manages the estimation of gene expression levels from raw sequencing reads, but also calls genomic variants present in the transcripts analyzed. Moreover, this is the first workflow that provides a framework for the integration of transcriptomic and genomic data based on a mechanistic model of signaling pathway activities that allows a detailed biological interpretation of the results, including a comprehensive functional profiling of cell activity. MIGNON covers the whole process, from reads to signaling circuit activity estimations, using state-of-the-art tools, it is easy to use and it is deployable in different computational environments, allowing an optimized use of the resources available.

VL - 17 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33571195?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - 10th Anniversary of the European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised (3P) Medicine - EPMA World Congress Supplement 2020. JF - EPMA J Y1 - 2020 A1 - Golubnitschaja, Olga A1 - Topolcan, Ondrej A1 - Kucera, Radek A1 - Costigliola, Vincenzo AB -

In 2019, the EPMA celebrated its 10th anniversary at the 5th World Congress in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The history of the International Professional Network dedicated to Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (PPPM / 3PM) is rich in achievements. Facing the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic it is getting evident globally that the predictive approach, targeted prevention and personalisation of medical services is the optimal paradigm in healthcare demonstrating the high potential to save lives and to benefit the society as a whole. The EPMA World Congress Supplement 2020 highlights advances in 3P medicine.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the ubxn6 gene with long-term non-progression phenotype in HIV-positive individuals. JF - Clin Microbiol Infect Y1 - 2020 A1 - Díez-Fuertes, F A1 - De La Torre-Tarazona, H E A1 - Calonge, E A1 - Pernas, M A1 - Bermejo, M A1 - García-Pérez, J A1 - Álvarez, A A1 - Capa, L A1 - García-García, F A1 - Saumoy, M A1 - Riera, M A1 - Boland-Auge, A A1 - López-Galíndez, C A1 - Lathrop, M A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - Sakuntabhai, A A1 - Alcamí, J KW - Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport KW - Autophagy-Related Proteins KW - Caveolin 1 KW - Cohort Studies KW - Dendritic Cells KW - Disease Progression KW - Gene Frequency KW - Gene Knockdown Techniques KW - Genetic Association Studies KW - HeLa Cells KW - HIV Infections KW - HIV Long-Term Survivors KW - HIV-1 KW - Humans KW - Macrophages KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Phenotype KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - whole exome sequencing AB -

OBJECTIVES: The long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) are a heterogeneous group of HIV-positive individuals characterized by their ability to maintain high CD4 T-cell counts and partially control viral replication for years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. The present study aims to identify host single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with non-progression in a cohort of 352 individuals.

METHODS: DNA microarrays and exome sequencing were used for genotyping about 240 000 functional polymorphisms throughout more than 20 000 human genes. The allele frequencies of 85 LTNPs were compared with a control population. SNPs associated with LTNPs were confirmed in a population of typical progressors. Functional analyses in the affected gene were carried out through knockdown experiments in HeLa-P4, macrophages and dendritic cells.

RESULTS: Several SNPs located within the major histocompatibility complex region previously related to LTNPs were confirmed in this new cohort. The SNP rs1127888 (UBXN6) surpassed the statistical significance of these markers after Bonferroni correction (q = 2.11 × 10). An uncommon allelic frequency of rs1127888 among LTNPs was confirmed by comparison with typical progressors and other publicly available populations. UBXN6 knockdown experiments caused an increase in CAV1 expression and its accumulation in the plasma membrane. In vitro infection of different cell types with HIV-1 replication-competent recombinant viruses caused a reduction of the viral replication capacity compared with their corresponding wild-type cells expressing UBXN6.

CONCLUSIONS: A higher prevalence of Ala31Thr in UBXN6 was found among LTNPs within its N-terminal region, which is crucial for UBXN6/VCP protein complex formation. UBXN6 knockdown affected CAV1 turnover and HIV-1 replication capacity.

VL - 26 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31158522?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Community Assessment of the Predictability of Cancer Protein and Phosphoprotein Levels from Genomics and Transcriptomics. JF - Cell Syst Y1 - 2020 A1 - Yang, Mi A1 - Petralia, Francesca A1 - Li, Zhi A1 - Li, Hongyang A1 - Ma, Weiping A1 - Song, Xiaoyu A1 - Kim, Sunkyu A1 - Lee, Heewon A1 - Yu, Han A1 - Lee, Bora A1 - Bae, Seohui A1 - Heo, Eunji A1 - Kaczmarczyk, Jan A1 - Stępniak, Piotr A1 - Warchoł, Michał A1 - Yu, Thomas A1 - Calinawan, Anna P A1 - Boutros, Paul C A1 - Payne, Samuel H A1 - Reva, Boris A1 - Boja, Emily A1 - Rodriguez, Henry A1 - Stolovitzky, Gustavo A1 - Guan, Yuanfang A1 - Kang, Jaewoo A1 - Wang, Pei A1 - Fenyö, David A1 - Saez-Rodriguez, Julio KW - Crowdsourcing KW - Female KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Machine Learning KW - Male KW - Neoplasms KW - Phosphoproteins KW - Proteins KW - Proteomics KW - Transcriptome AB -

Cancer is driven by genomic alterations, but the processes causing this disease are largely performed by proteins. However, proteins are harder and more expensive to measure than genes and transcripts. To catalyze developments of methods to infer protein levels from other omics measurements, we leveraged crowdsourcing via the NCI-CPTAC DREAM proteogenomic challenge. We asked for methods to predict protein and phosphorylation levels from genomic and transcriptomic data in cancer patients. The best performance was achieved by an ensemble of models, including as predictors transcript level of the corresponding genes, interaction between genes, conservation across tumor types, and phosphosite proximity for phosphorylation prediction. Proteins from metabolic pathways and complexes were the best and worst predicted, respectively. The performance of even the best-performing model was modest, suggesting that many proteins are strongly regulated through translational control and degradation. Our results set a reference for the limitations of computational inference in proteogenomics. A record of this paper's transparent peer review process is included in the Supplemental Information.

VL - 11 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32710834?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 Disease Map, building a computational repository of SARS-CoV-2 virus-host interaction mechanisms. JF - Sci Data Y1 - 2020 A1 - Ostaszewski, Marek A1 - Mazein, Alexander A1 - Gillespie, Marc E A1 - Kuperstein, Inna A1 - Niarakis, Anna A1 - Hermjakob, Henning A1 - Pico, Alexander R A1 - Willighagen, Egon L A1 - Evelo, Chris T A1 - Hasenauer, Jan A1 - Schreiber, Falk A1 - Dräger, Andreas A1 - Demir, Emek A1 - Wolkenhauer, Olaf A1 - Furlong, Laura I A1 - Barillot, Emmanuel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Orta-Resendiz, Aurelio A1 - Messina, Francesco A1 - Valencia, Alfonso A1 - Funahashi, Akira A1 - Kitano, Hiroaki A1 - Auffray, Charles A1 - Balling, Rudi A1 - Schneider, Reinhard KW - Betacoronavirus KW - Computational Biology KW - Coronavirus Infections KW - COVID-19 KW - Databases, Factual KW - Host Microbial Interactions KW - Host-Pathogen Interactions KW - Humans KW - International Cooperation KW - Models, Biological KW - Pandemics KW - Pneumonia, Viral KW - SARS-CoV-2 VL - 7 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32371892?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The ELIXIR Human Copy Number Variations Community: building bioinformatics infrastructure for research. JF - F1000Res Y1 - 2020 A1 - Salgado, David A1 - Armean, Irina M A1 - Baudis, Michael A1 - Beltran, Sergi A1 - Capella-Gutíerrez, Salvador A1 - Carvalho-Silva, Denise A1 - Dominguez Del Angel, Victoria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Furlong, Laura I A1 - Gao, Bo A1 - Garcia, Leyla A1 - Gerloff, Dietlind A1 - Gut, Ivo A1 - Gyenesei, Attila A1 - Habermann, Nina A1 - Hancock, John M A1 - Hanauer, Marc A1 - Hovig, Eivind A1 - Johansson, Lennart F A1 - Keane, Thomas A1 - Korbel, Jan A1 - Lauer, Katharina B A1 - Laurie, Steve A1 - Leskošek, Brane A1 - Lloyd, David A1 - Marqués-Bonet, Tomás A1 - Mei, Hailiang A1 - Monostory, Katalin A1 - Piñero, Janet A1 - Poterlowicz, Krzysztof A1 - Rath, Ana A1 - Samarakoon, Pubudu A1 - Sanz, Ferran A1 - Saunders, Gary A1 - Sie, Daoud A1 - Swertz, Morris A A1 - Tsukanov, Kirill A1 - Valencia, Alfonso A1 - Vidak, Marko A1 - Yenyxe González, Cristina A1 - Ylstra, Bauke A1 - Béroud, Christophe KW - Computational Biology KW - DNA Copy Number Variations KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans AB -

Copy number variations (CNVs) are major causative contributors both in the genesis of genetic diseases and human neoplasias. While "High-Throughput" sequencing technologies are increasingly becoming the primary choice for genomic screening analysis, their ability to efficiently detect CNVs is still heterogeneous and remains to be developed. The aim of this white paper is to provide a guiding framework for the future contributions of ELIXIR's recently established with implications beyond human disease diagnostics and population genomics. This white paper is the direct result of a strategy meeting that took place in September 2018 in Hinxton (UK) and involved representatives of 11 ELIXIR Nodes. The meeting led to the definition of priority objectives and tasks, to address a wide range of CNV-related challenges ranging from detection and interpretation to sharing and training. Here, we provide suggestions on how to align these tasks within the ELIXIR Platforms strategy, and on how to frame the activities of this new ELIXIR Community in the international context.

VL - 9 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34367618?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Immune Cell Associations with Cancer Risk. JF - iScience Y1 - 2020 A1 - Palomero, Luis A1 - Galván-Femenía, Ivan A1 - de Cid, Rafael A1 - Espín, Roderic A1 - Barnes, Daniel R A1 - Blommaert, Eline A1 - Gil-Gil, Miguel A1 - Falo, Catalina A1 - Stradella, Agostina A1 - Ouchi, Dan A1 - Roso-Llorach, Albert A1 - Violan, Concepció A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Extremera, Ana Isabel A1 - García-Valero, Mar A1 - Herranz, Carmen A1 - Mateo, Francesca A1 - Mereu, Elisabetta A1 - Beesley, Jonathan A1 - Chenevix-Trench, Georgia A1 - Roux, Cecilia A1 - Mak, Tak A1 - Brunet, Joan A1 - Hakem, Razq A1 - Gorrini, Chiara A1 - Antoniou, Antonis C A1 - Lázaro, Conxi A1 - Pujana, Miquel Angel AB -

Proper immune system function hinders cancer development, but little is known about whether genetic variants linked to cancer risk alter immune cells. Here, we report 57 cancer risk loci associated with differences in immune and/or stromal cell contents in the corresponding tissue. Predicted target genes show expression and regulatory associations with immune features. Polygenic risk scores also reveal associations with immune and/or stromal cell contents, and breast cancer scores show consistent results in normal and tumor tissue. SH2B3 links peripheral alterations of several immune cell types to the risk of this malignancy. Pleiotropic SH2B3 variants are associated with breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. A retrospective case-cohort study indicates a positive association between blood counts of basophils, leukocytes, and monocytes and age at breast cancer diagnosis. These findings broaden our knowledge of the role of the immune system in cancer and highlight promising prevention strategies for individuals at high risk.

VL - 23 IS - 7 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32622267?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - [Impact assessment on data protection in research projects]. JF - Gac Sanit Y1 - 2020 A1 - García-León, Francisco Javier A1 - Villegas-Portero, Román A1 - Goicoechea-Salazar, Juan Antonio A1 - Muñoyerro-Muñiz, Dolores A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Computer Security KW - Humans AB -

Recent changes in European regulations for personal data protection still allow the use of health data for research purposes, but they have set the Impact Assessment on Data Protection as an instrument for reflection and risk analysis in the process of data processing. The publication of a guide for facilitates this impact assessment, although it is not directly applicable to research projects. Experience in a specific project is detailed, showing how the context of the treatment becomes relevant with respect to the data characteristics. Carrying out an impact assessment is an opportunity to ensure compliance with the principles of data protection in an increasingly complex environment with greater ethical challenges.

VL - 34 IS - 5 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31980148?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Nivolumab and sunitinib combination in advanced soft tissue sarcomas: a multicenter, single-arm, phase Ib/II trial. JF - J Immunother Cancer Y1 - 2020 A1 - Martin-Broto, Javier A1 - Hindi, Nadia A1 - Grignani, Giovanni A1 - Martinez-Trufero, Javier A1 - Redondo, Andres A1 - Valverde, Claudia A1 - Stacchiotti, Silvia A1 - Lopez-Pousa, Antonio A1 - D'Ambrosio, Lorenzo A1 - Gutierrez, Antonio A1 - Perez-Vega, Herminia A1 - Encinas-Tobajas, Victor A1 - de Alava, Enrique A1 - Collini, Paola A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Carrasco-Garcia, Irene A1 - Lopez-Alvarez, Maria A1 - Moura, David S A1 - Lopez-Martin, Jose A KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Nivolumab KW - Sarcoma KW - Sunitinib KW - Young Adult AB -

BACKGROUND: Sarcomas exhibit low expression of factors related to immune response, which could explain the modest activity of PD-1 inhibitors. A potential strategy to convert a cold into an inflamed microenvironment lies on a combination therapy. As tumor angiogenesis promotes immunosuppression, we designed a phase Ib/II trial to test the double inhibition of angiogenesis (sunitinib) and PD-1/PD-L1 axis (nivolumab).

METHODS: This single-arm, phase Ib/II trial enrolled adult patients with selected subtypes of sarcoma. Phase Ib established two dose levels: level 0 with sunitinib 37.5 mg daily from day 1, plus nivolumab 3 mg/kg intravenously on day 15, and then every 2 weeks; and level -1 with sunitinib 37.5 mg on the first 14 days (induction) and then 25 mg per day plus nivolumab on the same schedule. The primary endpoint was to determine the recommended dose for phase II (phase I) and the 6-month progression-free survival rate, according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1 (phase II).

RESULTS: From May 2017 to April 2019, 68 patients were enrolled: 16 in phase Ib and 52 in phase II. The recommended dose of sunitinib for phase II was 37.5 mg as induction and then 25 mg in combination with nivolumab. After a median follow-up of 17 months (4-26), the 6-month progression-free survival rate was 48% (95% CI 41% to 55%). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events included transaminitis (17.3%) and neutropenia (11.5%).

CONCLUSIONS: Sunitinib plus nivolumab is an active scheme with manageable toxicity in the treatment of selected patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, with almost half of patients free of progression at 6 months. NCT03277924.

VL - 8 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33203665?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Optimised molecular genetic diagnostics of Fanconi anaemia by whole exome sequencing and functional studies. JF - J Med Genet Y1 - 2020 A1 - Bogliolo, Massimo A1 - Pujol, Roser A1 - Aza-Carmona, Miriam A1 - Muñoz-Subirana, Núria A1 - Rodriguez-Santiago, Benjamin A1 - Casado, José Antonio A1 - Rio, Paula A1 - Bauser, Christopher A1 - Reina-Castillón, Judith A1 - Lopez-Sanchez, Marcos A1 - Gonzalez-Quereda, Lidia A1 - Gallano, Pia A1 - Catalá, Albert A1 - Ruiz-Llobet, Ana A1 - Badell, Isabel A1 - Diaz-Heredia, Cristina A1 - Hladun, Raquel A1 - Senent, Leonort A1 - Argiles, Bienvenida A1 - Bergua Burgues, Juan Miguel A1 - Bañez, Fatima A1 - Arrizabalaga, Beatriz A1 - López Almaraz, Ricardo A1 - Lopez, Monica A1 - Figuera, Ángela A1 - Molinés, Antonio A1 - Pérez de Soto, Inmaculada A1 - Hernando, Inés A1 - Muñoz, Juan Antonio A1 - Del Rosario Marin, Maria A1 - Balmaña, Judith A1 - Stjepanovic, Neda A1 - Carrasco, Estela A1 - Cuesta, Isabel A1 - Cosuelo, José Miguel A1 - Regueiro, Alexandra A1 - Moraleda Jimenez, José A1 - Galera-Miñarro, Ana Maria A1 - Rosiñol, Laura A1 - Carrió, Anna A1 - Beléndez-Bieler, Cristina A1 - Escudero Soto, Antonio A1 - Cela, Elena A1 - de la Mata, Gregorio A1 - Fernández-Delgado, Rafael A1 - Garcia-Pardos, Maria Carmen A1 - Sáez-Villaverde, Raquel A1 - Barragaño, Marta A1 - Portugal, Raquel A1 - Lendinez, Francisco A1 - Hernadez, Ines A1 - Vagace, José Manue A1 - Tapia, Maria A1 - Nieto, José A1 - Garcia, Marta A1 - Gonzalez, Macarena A1 - Vicho, Cristina A1 - Galvez, Eva A1 - Valiente, Alberto A1 - Antelo, Maria Luisa A1 - Ancliff, Phil A1 - García, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Sevilla, Julian A1 - Paprotka, Tobias A1 - Pérez-Jurado, Luis Alberto A1 - Bueren, Juan A1 - Surralles, Jordi KW - Cell Line KW - DNA Copy Number Variations KW - DNA Repair KW - DNA-Binding Proteins KW - Fanconi Anemia KW - Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group A Protein KW - Female KW - Gene Knockout Techniques KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Mutation, Missense KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - whole exome sequencing AB -

PURPOSE: Patients with Fanconi anaemia (FA), a rare DNA repair genetic disease, exhibit chromosome fragility, bone marrow failure, malformations and cancer susceptibility. FA molecular diagnosis is challenging since FA is caused by point mutations and large deletions in 22 genes following three heritability patterns. To optimise FA patients' characterisation, we developed a simplified but effective methodology based on whole exome sequencing (WES) and functional studies.

METHODS: 68 patients with FA were analysed by commercial WES services. Copy number variations were evaluated by sequencing data analysis with RStudio. To test missense variants, wt FANCA cDNA was cloned and variants were introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. Vectors were then tested for their ability to complement DNA repair defects of a FANCA-KO human cell line generated by TALEN technologies.

RESULTS: We identified 93.3% of mutated alleles including large deletions. We determined the pathogenicity of three FANCA missense variants and demonstrated that two variants reported in mutations databases as 'affecting functions' are SNPs. Deep analysis of sequencing data revealed patients' true mutations, highlighting the importance of functional analysis. In one patient, no pathogenic variant could be identified in any of the 22 known FA genes, and in seven patients, only one deleterious variant could be identified (three patients each with FANCA and FANCD2 and one patient with FANCE mutations) CONCLUSION: WES and proper bioinformatics analysis are sufficient to effectively characterise patients with FA regardless of the rarity of their complementation group, type of mutations, mosaic condition and DNA source.

VL - 57 IS - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31586946?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pazopanib for treatment of typical solitary fibrous tumours: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. JF - Lancet Oncol Y1 - 2020 A1 - Martin-Broto, Javier A1 - Cruz, Josefina A1 - Penel, Nicolas A1 - Le Cesne, Axel A1 - Hindi, Nadia A1 - Luna, Pablo A1 - Moura, David S A1 - Bernabeu, Daniel A1 - de Alava, Enrique A1 - Lopez-Guerrero, Jose Antonio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Gutierrez, Antonio A1 - Collini, Paola A1 - Karanian, Marie A1 - Redondo, Andres A1 - Lopez-Pousa, Antonio A1 - Grignani, Giovanni A1 - Diaz-Martin, Juan A1 - Marcilla, David A1 - Fernandez-Serra, Antonio A1 - Gonzalez-Aguilera, Cristina A1 - Casali, Paolo G A1 - Blay, Jean-Yves A1 - Stacchiotti, Silvia KW - Aged KW - Female KW - Follow-Up Studies KW - Humans KW - Indazoles KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Neoplasm Metastasis KW - Prognosis KW - Prospective Studies KW - Protein Kinase Inhibitors KW - Pyrimidines KW - Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors KW - Solitary Fibrous Tumors KW - Sulfonamides KW - Survival Rate AB -

BACKGROUND: Solitary fibrous tumour is an ultra-rare sarcoma, which encompasses different clinicopathological subgroups. The dedifferentiated subgroup shows an aggressive course with resistance to pazopanib, whereas in the malignant subgroup, pazopanib shows higher activity than in previous studies with chemotherapy. We designed a trial to test pazopanib activity in two different cohorts of solitary fibrous tumour: the malignant-dedifferentiated cohort, which was previously published, and the typical cohort, which is presented here.

METHODS: In this single-arm, phase 2 trial, adult patients (aged ≥18 years) diagnosed with confirmed metastatic or unresectable typical solitary fibrous tumour of any location, who had progressed in the previous 6 months (by Choi criteria or Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors [RECIST]) and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2 were enrolled at 11 tertiary hospitals in Italy, France, and Spain. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg once daily, taken orally, until progression, unacceptable toxicity, withdrawal of consent, non-compliance, or a delay in pazopanib administration of longer than 3 weeks. The primary endpoint was proportion of patients achieving an overall response measured by Choi criteria in patients who received at least 1 month of treatment with at least one radiological assessment. All patients who received at least one dose of the study drug were included in the safety analyses. This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02066285, and with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT 2013-005456-15.

FINDINGS: From June 26, 2014, to Dec 13, 2018, of 40 patients who were assessed, 34 patients were enrolled and 31 patients were included in the response analysis. Median follow-up was 18 months (IQR 14-34), and 18 (58%) of 31 patients had a partial response, 12 (39%) had stable disease, and one (3%) showed progressive disease according to Choi criteria and central review. The proportion of overall response based on Choi criteria was 58% (95% CI 34-69). There were no deaths caused by toxicity, and the most frequent adverse events were diarrhoea (18 [53%] of 34 patients), fatigue (17 [50%]), and hypertension (17 [50%]).

INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective trial of pazopanib for advanced typical solitary fibrous tumour. The manageable toxicity and activity shown by pazopanib in this cohort suggest that this drug could be considered as first-line treatment for advanced typical solitary fibrous tumour.

FUNDING: Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS), Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), French Sarcoma Group (FSG), GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis.

VL - 21 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32066540?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Towards Improving Skin Cancer Diagnosis by Integrating Microarray and RNA-Seq Datasets. JF - IEEE J Biomed Health Inform Y1 - 2020 A1 - Galvez, Juan M A1 - Castillo-Secilla, Daniel A1 - Herrera, Luis J A1 - Valenzuela, Olga A1 - Caba, Octavio A1 - Prados, Jose C A1 - Ortuno, Francisco M A1 - Rojas, Ignacio KW - Biomarkers, Tumor KW - Computational Biology KW - Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Humans KW - Machine Learning KW - RNA-seq KW - Skin Neoplasms AB -

Many clinical studies have revealed the high biological similarities existing among different skin pathological states. These similarities create difficulties in the efficient diagnosis of skin cancer, and encourage to study and design new intelligent clinical decision support systems. In this sense, gene expression analysis can help find differentially expressed genes (DEGs) simultaneously discerning multiple skin pathological states in a single test. The integration of multiple heterogeneous transcriptomic datasets requires different pipeline stages to be properly designed: from suitable batch merging and efficient biomarker selection to automated classification assessment. This article presents a novel approach addressing all these technical issues, with the intention of providing new sights about skin cancer diagnosis. Although new future efforts will have to be made in the search for better biomarkers recognizing specific skin pathological states, our study found a panel of 8 highly relevant multiclass DEGs for discerning up to 10 skin pathological states: 2 healthy skin conditions a priori, 2 cataloged precancerous skin diseases and 6 cancerous skin states. Their power of diagnosis over new samples was widely tested by previously well-trained classification models. Robust performance metrics such as overall and mean multiclass F1-score outperformed recognition rates of 94% and 80%, respectively. Clinicians should give special attention to highlighted multiclass DEGs that have high gene expression changes present among them, and understand their biological relationship to different skin pathological states.

VL - 24 IS - 7 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31871000?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transcriptomic Analysis of a Diabetic Skin-Humanized Mouse Model Dissects Molecular Pathways Underlying the Delayed Wound Healing Response. JF - Genes (Basel) Y1 - 2020 A1 - León, Carlos A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Llames, Sara A1 - García-Pérez, Eva A1 - Carretero, Marta A1 - Arriba, María Del Carmen A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Del Rio, Marcela A1 - Escamez, Maria José A1 - Martínez-Santamaría, Lucía KW - Animals KW - Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Gene ontology KW - Humans KW - Metabolic Networks and Pathways KW - Mice KW - Mice, Nude KW - Microarray Analysis KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation KW - Principal Component Analysis KW - Signal Transduction KW - Skin KW - Skin Transplantation KW - Skin Ulcer KW - Streptozocin KW - Tissue Engineering KW - Transcriptome KW - Transplantation, Heterologous KW - Wound Healing AB -

Defective healing leading to cutaneous ulcer formation is one of the most feared complications of diabetes due to its consequences on patients' quality of life and on the healthcare system. A more in-depth analysis of the underlying molecular pathophysiology is required to develop effective healing-promoting therapies for those patients. Major architectural and functional differences with human epidermis limit extrapolation of results coming from rodents and other small mammal-healing models. Therefore, the search for reliable humanized models has become mandatory. Previously, we developed a diabetes-induced delayed humanized wound healing model that faithfully recapitulated the major histological features of such skin repair-deficient condition. Herein, we present the results of a transcriptomic and functional enrichment analysis followed by a mechanistic analysis performed in such humanized wound healing model. The deregulation of genes implicated in functions such as angiogenesis, apoptosis, and inflammatory signaling processes were evidenced, confirming published data in diabetic patients that in fact might also underlie some of the histological features previously reported in the delayed skin-humanized healing model. Altogether, these molecular findings support the utility of such preclinical model as a valuable tool to gain insight into the molecular basis of the delayed diabetic healing with potential impact in the translational medicine field.

VL - 12 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33396192?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transparency and reproducibility in artificial intelligence. JF - Nature Y1 - 2020 A1 - Haibe-Kains, Benjamin A1 - Adam, George Alexandru A1 - Hosny, Ahmed A1 - Khodakarami, Farnoosh A1 - Waldron, Levi A1 - Wang, Bo A1 - McIntosh, Chris A1 - Goldenberg, Anna A1 - Kundaje, Anshul A1 - Greene, Casey S A1 - Broderick, Tamara A1 - Hoffman, Michael M A1 - Leek, Jeffrey T A1 - Korthauer, Keegan A1 - Huber, Wolfgang A1 - Brazma, Alvis A1 - Pineau, Joelle A1 - Tibshirani, Robert A1 - Hastie, Trevor A1 - Ioannidis, John P A A1 - Quackenbush, John A1 - Aerts, Hugo J W L KW - Algorithms KW - Artificial Intelligence KW - Reproducibility of Results VL - 586 IS - 7829 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33057217?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Using AnABlast for intergenic sORF prediction in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. JF - Bioinformatics Y1 - 2020 A1 - Casimiro-Soriguer, C S A1 - Rigual, M M A1 - Brokate-Llanos, A M A1 - Muñoz, M J A1 - Garzón, A A1 - Pérez-Pulido, A J A1 - Jimenez, J KW - Animals KW - Caenorhabditis elegans KW - Computational Biology KW - Genome KW - Open Reading Frames KW - Software AB -

MOTIVATION: Short bioactive peptides encoded by small open reading frames (sORFs) play important roles in eukaryotes. Bioinformatics prediction of ORFs is an early step in a genome sequence analysis, but sORFs encoding short peptides, often using non-AUG initiation codons, are not easily discriminated from false ORFs occurring by chance.

RESULTS: AnABlast is a computational tool designed to highlight putative protein-coding regions in genomic DNA sequences. This protein-coding finder is independent of ORF length and reading frame shifts, thus making of AnABlast a potentially useful tool to predict sORFs. Using this algorithm, here, we report the identification of 82 putative new intergenic sORFs in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. Sequence similarity, motif presence, expression data and RNA interference experiments support that the underlined sORFs likely encode functional peptides, encouraging the use of AnABlast as a new approach for the accurate prediction of intergenic sORFs in annotated eukaryotic genomes.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: AnABlast is freely available at http://www.bioinfocabd.upo.es/ab/. The C.elegans genome browser with AnABlast results, annotated genes and all data used in this study is available at http://www.bioinfocabd.upo.es/celegans.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

VL - 36 IS - 19 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32614398?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Community assessment to advance computational prediction of cancer drug combinations in a pharmacogenomic screen. JF - Nat Commun Y1 - 2019 A1 - Menden, Michael P A1 - Wang, Dennis A1 - Mason, Mike J A1 - Szalai, Bence A1 - Bulusu, Krishna C A1 - Guan, Yuanfang A1 - Yu, Thomas A1 - Kang, Jaewoo A1 - Jeon, Minji A1 - Wolfinger, Russ A1 - Nguyen, Tin A1 - Zaslavskiy, Mikhail A1 - Jang, In Sock A1 - Ghazoui, Zara A1 - Ahsen, Mehmet Eren A1 - Vogel, Robert A1 - Neto, Elias Chaibub A1 - Norman, Thea A1 - Tang, Eric K Y A1 - Garnett, Mathew J A1 - Veroli, Giovanni Y Di A1 - Fawell, Stephen A1 - Stolovitzky, Gustavo A1 - Guinney, Justin A1 - Dry, Jonathan R A1 - Saez-Rodriguez, Julio KW - ADAM17 Protein KW - Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols KW - Benchmarking KW - Biomarkers, Tumor KW - Cell Line, Tumor KW - Computational Biology KW - Datasets as Topic KW - Drug Antagonism KW - Drug Resistance, Neoplasm KW - Drug Synergism KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Molecular Targeted Therapy KW - mutation KW - Neoplasms KW - pharmacogenetics KW - Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases KW - Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors KW - Treatment Outcome AB -

The effectiveness of most cancer targeted therapies is short-lived. Tumors often develop resistance that might be overcome with drug combinations. However, the number of possible combinations is vast, necessitating data-driven approaches to find optimal patient-specific treatments. Here we report AstraZeneca's large drug combination dataset, consisting of 11,576 experiments from 910 combinations across 85 molecularly characterized cancer cell lines, and results of a DREAM Challenge to evaluate computational strategies for predicting synergistic drug pairs and biomarkers. 160 teams participated to provide a comprehensive methodological development and benchmarking. Winning methods incorporate prior knowledge of drug-target interactions. Synergy is predicted with an accuracy matching biological replicates for >60% of combinations. However, 20% of drug combinations are poorly predicted by all methods. Genomic rationale for synergy predictions are identified, including ADAM17 inhibitor antagonism when combined with PIK3CB/D inhibition contrasting to synergy when combined with other PI3K-pathway inhibitors in PIK3CA mutant cells.

VL - 10 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31209238?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Fibroblast activation and abnormal extracellular matrix remodelling as common hallmarks in three cancer-prone genodermatoses. JF - Br J Dermatol Y1 - 2019 A1 - Chacón-Solano, E A1 - León, C A1 - Díaz, F A1 - García-García, F A1 - García, M A1 - Escámez, M J A1 - Guerrero-Aspizua, S A1 - Conti, C J A1 - Mencía, Á A1 - Martínez-Santamaría, L A1 - Llames, S A1 - Pévida, M A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, J A1 - Puig-Butillé, J A A1 - Maseda, R A1 - Puig, S A1 - de Lucas, R A1 - Baselga, E A1 - Larcher, F A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - Del Rio, M KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Biopsy KW - Blister KW - Case-Control Studies KW - Cells, Cultured KW - Child KW - Child, Preschool KW - Epidermolysis Bullosa KW - Epidermolysis Bullosa Dystrophica KW - Extracellular Matrix KW - Extracellular Matrix Proteins KW - Female KW - Fibroblasts KW - Fibrosis KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Healthy Volunteers KW - Humans KW - Infant KW - Infant, Newborn KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - mutation KW - Periodontal Diseases KW - Photosensitivity Disorders KW - Primary Cell Culture KW - RNA-seq KW - Skin KW - Xeroderma Pigmentosum KW - Young Adult AB -

BACKGROUND: Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), Kindler syndrome (KS) and xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) are three cancer-prone genodermatoses whose causal genetic mutations cannot fully explain, on their own, the array of associated phenotypic manifestations. Recent evidence highlights the role of the stromal microenvironment in the pathology of these disorders.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate, by means of comparative gene expression analysis, the role played by dermal fibroblasts in the pathogenesis of RDEB, KS and XPC.

METHODS: We conducted RNA-Seq analysis, which included a thorough examination of the differentially expressed genes, a functional enrichment analysis and a description of affected signalling circuits. Transcriptomic data were validated at the protein level in cell cultures, serum samples and skin biopsies.

RESULTS: Interdisease comparisons against control fibroblasts revealed a unifying signature of 186 differentially expressed genes and four signalling pathways in the three genodermatoses. Remarkably, some of the uncovered expression changes suggest a synthetic fibroblast phenotype characterized by the aberrant expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Western blot and immunofluorescence in situ analyses validated the RNA-Seq data. In addition, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed increased circulating levels of periostin in patients with RDEB.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the different causal genetic defects converge into common changes in gene expression, possibly due to injury-sensitive events. These, in turn, trigger a cascade of reactions involving abnormal ECM deposition and underexpression of antioxidant enzymes. The elucidated expression signature provides new potential biomarkers and common therapeutic targets in RDEB, XPC and KS. What's already known about this topic? Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), Kindler syndrome (KS) and xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) are three genodermatoses with high predisposition to cancer development. Although their causal genetic mutations mainly affect epithelia, the dermal microenvironment likely contributes to the physiopathology of these disorders. What does this study add? We disclose a large overlapping transcription profile between XPC, KS and RDEB fibroblasts that points towards an activated phenotype with high matrix-synthetic capacity. This common signature seems to be independent of the primary causal deficiency, but reflects an underlying derangement of the extracellular matrix via transforming growth factor-β signalling activation and oxidative state imbalance. What is the translational message? This study broadens the current knowledge about the pathology of these diseases and highlights new targets and biomarkers for effective therapeutic intervention. It is suggested that high levels of circulating periostin could represent a potential biomarker in RDEB.

VL - 181 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30693469?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pazopanib for treatment of advanced malignant and dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial. JF - Lancet Oncol Y1 - 2019 A1 - Martin-Broto, Javier A1 - Stacchiotti, Silvia A1 - Lopez-Pousa, Antonio A1 - Redondo, Andres A1 - Bernabeu, Daniel A1 - de Alava, Enrique A1 - Casali, Paolo G A1 - Italiano, Antoine A1 - Gutierrez, Antonio A1 - Moura, David S A1 - Peña-Chilet, Maria A1 - Diaz-Martin, Juan A1 - Biscuola, Michele A1 - Taron, Miguel A1 - Collini, Paola A1 - Ranchere-Vince, Dominique A1 - Garcia Del Muro, Xavier A1 - Grignani, Giovanni A1 - Dumont, Sarah A1 - Martinez-Trufero, Javier A1 - Palmerini, Emanuela A1 - Hindi, Nadia A1 - Sebio, Ana A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Dei Tos, Angelo Paolo A1 - LeCesne, Axel A1 - Blay, Jean-Yves A1 - Cruz, Josefina KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Angiogenesis Inhibitors KW - Antineoplastic Agents KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Indazoles KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Multivariate Analysis KW - Pyrimidines KW - Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors KW - Soft Tissue Neoplasms KW - Solitary Fibrous Tumors KW - Sulfonamides KW - Survival Analysis AB -

BACKGROUND: A solitary fibrous tumour is a rare soft-tissue tumour with three clinicopathological variants: typical, malignant, and dedifferentiated. Preclinical experiments and retrospective studies have shown different sensitivities of solitary fibrous tumour to chemotherapy and antiangiogenics. We therefore designed a trial to assess the activity of pazopanib in a cohort of patients with malignant or dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour. The clinical and translational results are presented here.

METHODS: In this single-arm, phase 2 trial, adult patients (aged ≥ 18 years) with histologically confirmed metastatic or unresectable malignant or dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour at any location, who had progressed (by RECIST and Choi criteria) in the previous 6 months and had an ECOG performance status of 0-2, were enrolled at 16 third-level hospitals with expertise in sarcoma care in Spain, Italy, and France. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg once daily, taken orally without food, at least 1 h before or 2 h after a meal, until progression or intolerance. The primary endpoint of the study was overall response measured by Choi criteria in the subset of the intention-to-treat population (patients who received at least 1 month of treatment with at least one radiological assessment). All patients who received at least one dose of the study drug were included in the safety analyses. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02066285, and with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT number 2013-005456-15.

FINDINGS: From June 26, 2014, to Nov 24, 2016, of 40 patients assessed, 36 were enrolled (34 with malignant solitary fibrous tumour and two with dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour). Median follow-up was 27 months (IQR 16-31). Based on central radiology review, 18 (51%) of 35 evaluable patients had partial responses, nine (26%) had stable disease, and eight (23%) had progressive disease according to Choi criteria. Further enrolment of patients with dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour was stopped after detection of early and fast progressions in a planned interim analysis. 51% (95% CI 34-69) of 35 patients achieved an overall response according to Choi criteria. Ten (29%) of 35 patients died. There were no deaths related to adverse events and the most frequent grade 3 or higher adverse events were hypertension (11 [31%] of 36 patients), neutropenia (four [11%]), increased concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (four [11%]), and increased concentrations of bilirubin (three [8%]).

INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first trial of pazopanib for treatment of malignant solitary fibrous tumour showing activity in this patient group. The manageable toxicity profile and the activity shown by pazopanib suggests that this drug could be an option for systemic treatment of advanced malignant solitary fibrous tumour, and provides a benchmark for future trials.

FUNDING: Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS), Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), French Sarcoma Group (FSG), GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis.

VL - 20 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30578023?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Precision medicine needs pioneering clinical bioinformaticians. JF - Brief Bioinform Y1 - 2019 A1 - Gómez-López, Gonzalo A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Cigudosa, Juan C A1 - Valencia, Alfonso A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima KW - Cohort Studies KW - Computational Biology KW - Humans KW - Precision Medicine AB -

Success in precision medicine depends on accessing high-quality genetic and molecular data from large, well-annotated patient cohorts that couple biological samples to comprehensive clinical data, which in conjunction can lead to effective therapies. From such a scenario emerges the need for a new professional profile, an expert bioinformatician with training in clinical areas who can make sense of multi-omics data to improve therapeutic interventions in patients, and the design of optimized basket trials. In this review, we first describe the main policies and international initiatives that focus on precision medicine. Secondly, we review the currently ongoing clinical trials in precision medicine, introducing the concept of 'precision bioinformatics', and we describe current pioneering bioinformatics efforts aimed at implementing tools and computational infrastructures for precision medicine in health institutions around the world. Thirdly, we discuss the challenges related to the clinical training of bioinformaticians, and the urgent need for computational specialists capable of assimilating medical terminologies and protocols to address real clinical questions. We also propose some skills required to carry out common tasks in clinical bioinformatics and some tips for emergent groups. Finally, we explore the future perspectives and the challenges faced by precision medicine bioinformatics.

VL - 20 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29077790?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A crowdsourced analysis to identify ab initio molecular signatures predictive of susceptibility to viral infection JF - Nature Communications Y1 - 2018 A1 - Fourati, Slim A1 - Talla, Aarthi A1 - Mahmoudian, Mehrad A1 - Burkhart, Joshua G. A1 - Klén, Riku A1 - Henao, Ricardo A1 - Yu, Thomas A1 - Aydın, Zafer A1 - Yeung, Ka Yee A1 - Ahsen, Mehmet Eren A1 - Almugbel, Reem A1 - Jahandideh, Samad A1 - Liang, Xiao A1 - Nordling, Torbjörn E. M. A1 - Shiga, Motoki A1 - Stanescu, Ana A1 - Vogel, Robert A1 - Pandey, Gaurav A1 - Chiu, Christopher A1 - McClain, Micah T. A1 - Woods, Christopher W. A1 - Ginsburg, Geoffrey S. A1 - Elo, Laura L. A1 - Tsalik, Ephraim L. A1 - Mangravite, Lara M. A1 - Sieberts, Solveig K. VL - 9 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8 IS - 1 JO - Nat Commun ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The effects of death and post-mortem cold ischemia on human tissue transcriptomes. JF - Nat Commun Y1 - 2018 A1 - Ferreira, Pedro G A1 - Muñoz-Aguirre, Manuel A1 - Reverter, Ferran A1 - Sá Godinho, Caio P A1 - Sousa, Abel A1 - Amadoz, Alicia A1 - Sodaei, Reza A1 - Hidalgo, Marta R A1 - Pervouchine, Dmitri A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, José A1 - Nurtdinov, Ramil A1 - Breschi, Alessandra A1 - Amador, Raziel A1 - Oliveira, Patrícia A1 - Cubuk, Cankut A1 - Curado, João A1 - Aguet, François A1 - Oliveira, Carla A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Sammeth, Michael A1 - Ardlie, Kristin G A1 - Guigó, Roderic KW - Blood KW - Cold Ischemia KW - Death KW - Female KW - gene expression KW - Humans KW - Models, Biological KW - Postmortem Changes KW - RNA, Messenger KW - Stochastic Processes KW - Transcriptome AB -

Post-mortem tissues samples are a key resource for investigating patterns of gene expression. However, the processes triggered by death and the post-mortem interval (PMI) can significantly alter physiologically normal RNA levels. We investigate the impact of PMI on gene expression using data from multiple tissues of post-mortem donors obtained from the GTEx project. We find that many genes change expression over relatively short PMIs in a tissue-specific manner, but this potentially confounding effect in a biological analysis can be minimized by taking into account appropriate covariates. By comparing ante- and post-mortem blood samples, we identify the cascade of transcriptional events triggered by death of the organism. These events do not appear to simply reflect stochastic variation resulting from mRNA degradation, but active and ongoing regulation of transcription. Finally, we develop a model to predict the time since death from the analysis of the transcriptome of a few readily accessible tissues.

VL - 9 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29440659?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The first complete genomic structure of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens and its chromid. JF - Microb Genom Y1 - 2018 A1 - Rodríguez Hernáez, Javier A1 - Cerón Cucchi, Maria Esperanza A1 - Cravero, Silvio A1 - Martinez, Maria Carolina A1 - Gonzalez, Sergio A1 - Puebla, Andrea A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Farber, Marisa A1 - Paniego, Norma A1 - Rivarola, Máximo KW - Animals KW - Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens KW - Cattle KW - Genome, Bacterial KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Milk KW - Rumen KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA AB -

Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens forms part of the gastrointestinal microbiome of ruminants and other mammals, including humans. Indeed, it is one of the most common bacteria found in the rumen and plays an important role in ruminal fermentation of polysaccharides, yet, to date, there is no closed reference genome published for this species in any ruminant animal. We successfully assembled the nearly complete genome sequence of B. fibrisolvens strain INBov1 isolated from cow rumen using Illumina paired-end reads, 454 Roche single-end and mate pair sequencing technology. Additionally, we constructed an optical restriction map of this strain to aid in scaffold ordering and positioning, and completed the first genomic structure of this species. Moreover, we identified and assembled the first chromid of this species (pINBov266). The INBov1 genome encodes a large set of genes involved in the cellulolytic process but lacks key genes. This seems to indicate that B. fibrisolvens plays an important role in ruminal cellulolytic processes, but does not have autonomous cellulolytic capacity. When searching for genes involved in the biohydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids, no linoleate isomerase gene was found in this strain. INBov1 does encode oleate hydratase genes known to participate in the hydrogenation of oleic acids. Furthermore, INBov1 contains an enolase gene, which has been recently determined to participate in the synthesis of conjugated linoleic acids. This work confirms the presence of a novel chromid in B. fibrisolvens and provides a new potential reference genome sequence for this species, providing new insight into its role in biohydrogenation and carbohydrate degradation.

VL - 4 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30216146?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Genomics of the origin and evolution of Citrus. JF - Nature Y1 - 2018 A1 - Wu, Guohong Albert A1 - Terol, Javier A1 - Ibañez, Victoria A1 - López-García, Antonio A1 - Pérez-Román, Estela A1 - Borredá, Carles A1 - Domingo, Concha A1 - Tadeo, Francisco R A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, José A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Curk, Franck A1 - Du, Dongliang A1 - Ollitrault, Patrick A1 - Roose, Mikeal L A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Gmitter, Frederick G A1 - Rokhsar, Daniel S A1 - Talon, Manuel KW - Asia, Southeastern KW - Biodiversity KW - citrus KW - Crop Production KW - Evolution, Molecular KW - Genetic Speciation KW - Genome, Plant KW - Genomics KW - Haplotypes KW - Heterozygote KW - History, Ancient KW - Human Migration KW - Hybridization, Genetic KW - Phylogeny AB -

The genus Citrus, comprising some of the most widely cultivated fruit crops worldwide, includes an uncertain number of species. Here we describe ten natural citrus species, using genomic, phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses of 60 accessions representing diverse citrus germ plasms, and propose that citrus diversified during the late Miocene epoch through a rapid southeast Asian radiation that correlates with a marked weakening of the monsoons. A second radiation enabled by migration across the Wallace line gave rise to the Australian limes in the early Pliocene epoch. Further identification and analyses of hybrids and admixed genomes provides insights into the genealogy of major commercial cultivars of citrus. Among mandarins and sweet orange, we find an extensive network of relatedness that illuminates the domestication of these groups. Widespread pummelo admixture among these mandarins and its correlation with fruit size and acidity suggests a plausible role of pummelo introgression in the selection of palatable mandarins. This work provides a new evolutionary framework for the genus Citrus.

VL - 554 IS - 7692 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29414943?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - LRH-1 agonism favours an immune-islet dialogue which protects against diabetes mellitus. JF - Nat Commun Y1 - 2018 A1 - Cobo-Vuilleumier, Nadia A1 - Lorenzo, Petra I A1 - Rodríguez, Noelia García A1 - Herrera Gómez, Irene de Gracia A1 - Fuente-Martin, Esther A1 - López-Noriega, Livia A1 - Mellado-Gil, José Manuel A1 - Romero-Zerbo, Silvana-Yanina A1 - Baquié, Mathurin A1 - Lachaud, Christian Claude A1 - Stifter, Katja A1 - Perdomo, German A1 - Bugliani, Marco A1 - De Tata, Vincenzo A1 - Bosco, Domenico A1 - Parnaud, Geraldine A1 - Pozo, David A1 - Hmadcha, Abdelkrim A1 - Florido, Javier P A1 - Toscano, Miguel G A1 - de Haan, Peter A1 - Schoonjans, Kristina A1 - Sánchez Palazón, Luis A1 - Marchetti, Piero A1 - Schirmbeck, Reinhold A1 - Martín-Montalvo, Alejandro A1 - Meda, Paolo A1 - Soria, Bernat A1 - Bermúdez-Silva, Francisco-Javier A1 - St-Onge, Luc A1 - Gauthier, Benoit R KW - Animals KW - Apoptosis KW - Cell Communication KW - Cell Survival KW - Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental KW - Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Humans KW - Hypoglycemic Agents KW - Immunity, Innate KW - insulin KW - Insulin-Secreting Cells KW - Islets of Langerhans KW - Islets of Langerhans Transplantation KW - Macrophages KW - Male KW - Mice KW - Mice, Inbred C57BL KW - Phenalenes KW - Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear KW - Streptozocin KW - T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory KW - Transplantation, Heterologous AB -

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is due to the selective destruction of islet beta cells by immune cells. Current therapies focused on repressing the immune attack or stimulating beta cell regeneration still have limited clinical efficacy. Therefore, it is timely to identify innovative targets to dampen the immune process, while promoting beta cell survival and function. Liver receptor homologue-1 (LRH-1) is a nuclear receptor that represses inflammation in digestive organs, and protects pancreatic islets against apoptosis. Here, we show that BL001, a small LRH-1 agonist, impedes hyperglycemia progression and the immune-dependent inflammation of pancreas in murine models of T1DM, and beta cell apoptosis in islets of type 2 diabetic patients, while increasing beta cell mass and insulin secretion. Thus, we suggest that LRH-1 agonism favors a dialogue between immune and islet cells, which could be druggable to protect against diabetes mellitus.

VL - 9 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29662071?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The modular network structure of the mutational landscape of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2018 A1 - Ibáñez, Mariam A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, José A1 - Such, Esperanza A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Liquori, Alessandro A1 - López-Pavía, María A1 - LLop, Marta A1 - Alonso, Carmen A1 - Barragán, Eva A1 - Gómez-Seguí, Inés A1 - Neef, Alexander A1 - Hervás, David A1 - Montesinos, Pau A1 - Sanz, Guillermo A1 - Sanz, Miguel Angel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Cervera, José KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Cytodiagnosis KW - Female KW - Gene Regulatory Networks KW - Genetic Association Studies KW - Genetic Heterogeneity KW - Humans KW - Karyotype KW - Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - mutation KW - Neoplasm Proteins KW - Nucleophosmin KW - Prognosis KW - whole exome sequencing AB -

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with the sequential accumulation of acquired genetic alterations. Although at diagnosis cytogenetic alterations are frequent in AML, roughly 50% of patients present an apparently normal karyotype (NK), leading to a highly heterogeneous prognosis. Due to this significant heterogeneity, it has been suggested that different molecular mechanisms may trigger the disease with diverse prognostic implications. We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) of tumor-normal matched samples of de novo AML-NK patients lacking mutations in NPM1, CEBPA or FLT3-ITD to identify new gene mutations with potential prognostic and therapeutic relevance to patients with AML. Novel candidate-genes, together with others previously described, were targeted resequenced in an independent cohort of 100 de novo AML patients classified in the cytogenetic intermediate-risk (IR) category. A mean of 4.89 mutations per sample were detected in 73 genes, 35 of which were mutated in more than one patient. After a network enrichment analysis, we defined a single in silico model and established a set of seed-genes that may trigger leukemogenesis in patients with normal karyotype. The high heterogeneity of gene mutations observed in AML patients suggested that a specific alteration could not be as essential as the interaction of deregulated pathways.

VL - 13 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30303964?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ATGC transcriptomics: a web-based application to integrate, explore and analyze de novo transcriptomic data. JF - BMC Bioinformatics Y1 - 2017 A1 - Gonzalez, Sergio A1 - Clavijo, Bernardo A1 - Rivarola, Máximo A1 - Moreno, Patricio A1 - Fernandez, Paula A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Paniego, Norma KW - Animals KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Internet KW - Sequence Analysis, RNA KW - Transcriptome KW - User-Computer Interface AB -

BACKGROUND: In the last years, applications based on massively parallelized RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) have become valuable approaches for studying non-model species, e.g., without a fully sequenced genome. RNA-seq is a useful tool for detecting novel transcripts and genetic variations and for evaluating differential gene expression by digital measurements. The large and complex datasets resulting from functional genomic experiments represent a challenge in data processing, management, and analysis. This problem is especially significant for small research groups working with non-model species.

RESULTS: We developed a web-based application, called ATGC transcriptomics, with a flexible and adaptable interface that allows users to work with new generation sequencing (NGS) transcriptomic analysis results using an ontology-driven database. This new application simplifies data exploration, visualization, and integration for a better comprehension of the results.

CONCLUSIONS: ATGC transcriptomics provides access to non-expert computer users and small research groups to a scalable storage option and simple data integration, including database administration and management. The software is freely available under the terms of GNU public license at http://atgcinta.sourceforge.net .

VL - 18 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28222698?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Genomic expression differences between cutaneous cells from red hair color individuals and black hair color individuals based on bioinformatic analysis. JF - Oncotarget Y1 - 2017 A1 - Puig-Butille, Joan Anton A1 - Gimenez-Xavier, Pol A1 - Visconti, Alessia A1 - Nsengimana, Jérémie A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Tell-Marti, Gemma A1 - Escamez, Maria José A1 - Newton-Bishop, Julia A1 - Bataille, Veronique A1 - Del Rio, Marcela A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Falchi, Mario A1 - Puig, Susana KW - Adult KW - Coculture Techniques KW - Computational Biology KW - gene expression KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease KW - Genomics KW - Hair Color KW - Humans KW - Keratinocytes KW - Melanocytes KW - Middle Aged KW - Phenotype KW - Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 1 AB -

The MC1R gene plays a crucial role in pigmentation synthesis. Loss-of-function MC1R variants, which impair protein function, are associated with red hair color (RHC) phenotype and increased skin cancer risk. Cultured cutaneous cells bearing loss-of-function MC1R variants show a distinct gene expression profile compared to wild-type MC1R cultured cutaneous cells. We analysed the gene signature associated with RHC co-cultured melanocytes and keratinocytes by Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) network analysis to identify genes related with non-functional MC1R variants. From two detected networks, we selected 23 nodes as hub genes based on topological parameters. Differential expression of hub genes was then evaluated in healthy skin biopsies from RHC and black hair color (BHC) individuals. We also compared gene expression in melanoma tumors from individuals with RHC versus BHC. Gene expression in normal skin from RHC cutaneous cells showed dysregulation in 8 out of 23 hub genes (CLN3, ATG10, WIPI2, SNX2, GABARAPL2, YWHA, PCNA and GBAS). Hub genes did not differ between melanoma tumors in RHC versus BHC individuals. The study suggests that healthy skin cells from RHC individuals present a constitutive genomic deregulation associated with the red hair phenotype and identify novel genes involved in melanocyte biology.

VL - 8 UR - http://www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget/index.php?journal=oncotarget&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=14140&path%5B%5D=45094 IS - 7 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28030792?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - GGPS1 Mutation and Atypical Femoral Fractures with Bisphosphonates. JF - N Engl J Med Y1 - 2017 A1 - Roca-Ayats, Neus A1 - Balcells, Susana A1 - Garcia-Giralt, Natàlia A1 - Falcó-Mascaró, Maite A1 - Martínez-Gil, Núria A1 - Abril, Josep F A1 - Urreizti, Roser A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Quesada-Gómez, José M A1 - Nogués, Xavier A1 - Mellibovsky, Leonardo A1 - Prieto-Alhambra, Daniel A1 - Dunford, James E A1 - Javaid, Muhammad K A1 - Russell, R Graham A1 - Grinberg, Daniel A1 - Díez-Pérez, Adolfo KW - Aged KW - Amino Acid Sequence KW - Bone Density Conservation Agents KW - Dimethylallyltranstransferase KW - Diphosphonates KW - Exome KW - Farnesyltranstransferase KW - Female KW - Femoral Fractures KW - Geranyltranstransferase KW - Humans KW - Middle Aged KW - mutation VL - 376 UR - http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1612804 IS - 18 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28467865?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Global Transcriptome Analysis of Primary Cerebrocortical Cells: Identification of Genes Regulated by Triiodothyronine in Specific Cell Types. JF - Cereb Cortex Y1 - 2017 A1 - Gil-Ibañez, Pilar A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Bernal, Juan A1 - Morte, Beatriz KW - Animals KW - Astrocytes KW - Cells, Cultured KW - Cerebral Cortex KW - Fluorescent Antibody Technique KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Mice, 129 Strain KW - Mice, Inbred BALB C KW - Mice, Inbred C57BL KW - Neurons KW - Piperazines KW - Transcriptome KW - Triiodothyronine AB -

Thyroid hormones, thyroxine, and triiodothyronine (T3) are crucial for cerebral cortex development acting through regulation of gene expression. To define the transcriptional program under T3 regulation, we have performed RNA-Seq of T3-treated and untreated primary mouse cerebrocortical cells. The expression of 1145 genes or 7.7% of expressed genes was changed upon T3 addition, of which 371 responded to T3 in the presence of cycloheximide indicating direct transcriptional regulation. The results were compared with available transcriptomic datasets of defined cellular types. In this way, we could identify targets of T3 within genes enriched in astrocytes and neurons, in specific layers including the subplate, and in specific neurons such as prepronociceptin, cholecystokinin, or cortistatin neurons. The subplate and the prepronociceptin neurons appear as potentially major targets of T3 action. T3 upregulates mostly genes related to cell membrane events, such as G-protein signaling, neurotransmission, and ion transport and downregulates genes involved in nuclear events associated with the M phase of cell cycle, such as chromosome organization and segregation. Remarkably, the transcriptomic changes induced by T3 sustain the transition from fetal to adult patterns of gene expression. The results allow defining in molecular terms the elusive role of thyroid hormones on neocortical development.

VL - 27 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26534908?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - HGVA: the Human Genome Variation Archive. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2017 A1 - Lopez, Javier A1 - Coll, Jacobo A1 - Haimel, Matthias A1 - Kandasamy, Swaathi A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Furio-Tari, Pedro A1 - Bari, Wasim A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Rueda, Antonio A1 - Gräf, Stefan A1 - Rendon, Augusto A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Medina, Ignacio KW - Genetic Variation KW - Genome, Human KW - Humans KW - Internet KW - Software KW - User-Computer Interface AB -

High-profile genomic variation projects like the 1000 Genomes project or the Exome Aggregation Consortium, are generating a wealth of human genomic variation knowledge which can be used as an essential reference for identifying disease-causing genotypes. However, accessing these data, contrasting the various studies and integrating those data in downstream analyses remains cumbersome. The Human Genome Variation Archive (HGVA) tackles these challenges and facilitates access to genomic data for key reference projects in a clean, fast and integrated fashion. HGVA provides an efficient and intuitive web-interface for easy data mining, a comprehensive RESTful API and client libraries in Python, Java and JavaScript for fast programmatic access to its knowledge base. HGVA calculates population frequencies for these projects and enriches their data with variant annotation provided by CellBase, a rich and fast annotation solution. HGVA serves as a proof-of-concept of the genome analysis developments being carried out by the University of Cambridge together with UK's 100 000 genomes project and the National Institute for Health Research BioResource Rare-Diseases, in particular, deploying open-source for Computational Biology (OpenCB) software platform for storing and analyzing massive genomic datasets.

VL - 45 UR - https://academic.oup.com/nar/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/nar/gkx445 IS - W1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28535294?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Integration of transcriptomic and metabolic data reveals hub transcription factors involved in drought stress response in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). JF - Plant Mol Biol Y1 - 2017 A1 - Moschen, Sebastián A1 - Di Rienzo, Julio A A1 - Higgins, Janet A1 - Tohge, Takayuki A1 - Watanabe, Mutsumi A1 - Gonzalez, Sergio A1 - Rivarola, Máximo A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Hopp, H Esteban A1 - Hoefgen, Rainer A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R A1 - Paniego, Norma A1 - Fernandez, Paula A1 - Heinz, Ruth A KW - Chlorophyll KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Plant KW - Helianthus KW - Plant Leaves KW - Plant Proteins KW - Protein Array Analysis KW - RNA, Plant KW - Stress, Physiological KW - Transcription Factors KW - Water AB -

By integration of transcriptional and metabolic profiles we identified pathways and hubs transcription factors regulated during drought conditions in sunflower, useful for applications in molecular and/or biotechnological breeding. Drought is one of the most important environmental stresses that effects crop productivity in many agricultural regions. Sunflower is tolerant to drought conditions but the mechanisms involved in this tolerance remain unclear at the molecular level. The aim of this study was to characterize and integrate transcriptional and metabolic pathways related to drought stress in sunflower plants, by using a system biology approach. Our results showed a delay in plant senescence with an increase in the expression level of photosynthesis related genes as well as higher levels of sugars, osmoprotectant amino acids and ionic nutrients under drought conditions. In addition, we identified transcription factors that were upregulated during drought conditions and that may act as hubs in the transcriptional network. Many of these transcription factors belong to families implicated in the drought response in model species. The integration of transcriptomic and metabolomic data in this study, together with physiological measurements, has improved our understanding of the biological responses during droughts and contributes to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved under this environmental condition. These findings will provide useful biotechnological tools to improve stress tolerance while maintaining crop yield under restricted water availability.

VL - 94 IS - 4-5 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28639116?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mutations in TRAPPC11 are associated with a congenital disorder of glycosylation. JF - Hum Mutat Y1 - 2017 A1 - Matalonga, Leslie A1 - Bravo, Miren A1 - Serra-Peinado, Carla A1 - García-Pelegrí, Elisabeth A1 - Ugarteburu, Olatz A1 - Vidal, Silvia A1 - Llambrich, Maria A1 - Quintana, Ester A1 - Fuster-Jorge, Pedro A1 - Gonzalez-Bravo, Maria Nieves A1 - Beltran, Sergi A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Foulquier, François A1 - Matthijs, Gert A1 - Mills, Philippa A1 - Ribes, Antonia A1 - Egea, Gustavo A1 - Briones, Paz A1 - Tort, Frederic A1 - Girós, Marisa KW - Abnormalities, Multiple KW - Alleles KW - Amino Acid Substitution KW - Brain KW - Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation KW - Genotype KW - Humans KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging KW - Male KW - mutation KW - Phenotype KW - Vesicular Transport Proteins KW - Whole Genome Sequencing AB -

Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a heterogeneous and rapidly growing group of diseases caused by abnormal glycosylation of proteins and/or lipids. Mutations in genes involved in the homeostasis of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the Golgi apparatus (GA), and the vesicular trafficking from the ER to the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) have been found to be associated with CDG. Here, we report a patient with defects in both N- and O-glycosylation combined with a delayed vesicular transport in the GA due to mutations in TRAPPC11, a subunit of the TRAPPIII complex. TRAPPIII is implicated in the anterograde transport from the ER to the ERGIC as well as in the vesicle export from the GA. This report expands the spectrum of genetic alterations associated with CDG, providing new insights for the diagnosis and the understanding of the physiopathological mechanisms underlying glycosylation disorders.

VL - 38 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27862579?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - VISMapper: ultra-fast exhaustive cartography of viral insertion sites for gene therapy. JF - BMC Bioinformatics Y1 - 2017 A1 - Juanes, José M A1 - Gallego, Asunción A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Chaves, Felipe J A1 - Marin-Garcia, Pablo A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Arnau, Vicente A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Base Sequence KW - Genetic Therapy KW - Genetic Vectors KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans KW - Internet KW - User-Computer Interface KW - Virus Integration AB -

BACKGROUND: The possibility of integrating viral vectors to become a persistent part of the host genome makes them a crucial element of clinical gene therapy. However, viral integration has associated risks, such as the unintentional activation of oncogenes that can result in cancer. Therefore, the analysis of integration sites of retroviral vectors is a crucial step in developing safer vectors for therapeutic use.

RESULTS: Here we present VISMapper, a vector integration site analysis web server, to analyze next-generation sequencing data for retroviral vector integration sites. VISMapper can be found at: http://vismapper.babelomics.org .

CONCLUSIONS: Because it uses novel mapping algorithms VISMapper is remarkably faster than previous available programs. It also provides a useful graphical interface to analyze the integration sites found in the genomic context.

VL - 18 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28931371?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Whole exome sequencing coupled with unbiased functional analysis reveals new Hirschsprung disease genes JF - Genome Biology Y1 - 2017 A1 - Gui, Hongsheng A1 - Schriemer, Duco A1 - Cheng, William W. A1 - Chauhan, Rajendra K. A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Berrios, Courtney A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Brooks, Alice S. A1 - Brouwer, Rutger W. W. A1 - Burns, Alan J. A1 - Cherny, Stacey S. A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Eggen, Bart J. L. A1 - Griseri, Paola A1 - Jalloh, Binta A1 - Le, Thuy-Linh A1 - Lui, Vincent C. H. A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - Matera, Ivana A1 - Ngan, Elly S. W. A1 - Pelet, Anna A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Sham, Pak C. A1 - Shepherd, Iain T. A1 - So, Man-Ting A1 - Sribudiani, Yunia A1 - Tang, Clara S. M. A1 - van den Hout, Mirjam C. G. N. A1 - van der Linde, Herma C. A1 - van Ham, Tjakko J. A1 - van IJcken, Wilfred F. J. A1 - Verheij, Joke B. G. M. A1 - Amiel, Jeanne A1 - Borrego, Salud A1 - Ceccherini, Isabella A1 - Chakravarti, Aravinda A1 - Lyonnet, Stanislas A1 - Tam, Paul K. H. A1 - Garcia-Barceló, Maria-Mercè A1 - Hofstra, Robert M. W. VL - 18 UR - http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6.pdf IS - 1 JO - Genome Biol ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Whole exome sequencing coupled with unbiased functional analysis reveals new Hirschsprung disease genes. JF - Genome biology Y1 - 2017 A1 - Gui, Hongsheng A1 - Schriemer, Duco A1 - Cheng, William W A1 - Chauhan, Rajendra K A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Berrios, Courtney A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Brooks, Alice S A1 - Brouwer, Rutger W W A1 - Burns, Alan J A1 - Cherny, Stacey S A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Eggen, Bart J L A1 - Griseri, Paola A1 - Jalloh, Binta A1 - Le, Thuy-Linh A1 - Lui, Vincent C H A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - Matera, Ivana A1 - Ngan, Elly S W A1 - Pelet, Anna A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Sham, Pak C A1 - Shepherd, Iain T A1 - So, Man-Ting A1 - Sribudiani, Yunia A1 - Tang, Clara S M A1 - van den Hout, Mirjam C G N A1 - van der Linde, Herma C A1 - van Ham, Tjakko J A1 - van IJcken, Wilfred F J A1 - Verheij, Joke B G M A1 - Amiel, Jeanne A1 - Borrego, Salud A1 - Ceccherini, Isabella A1 - Chakravarti, Aravinda A1 - Lyonnet, Stanislas A1 - Tam, Paul K H A1 - Garcia-Barceló, Maria-Mercè A1 - Hofstra, Robert Mw KW - Hirschprung KW - Rare Disease KW - WES AB - BACKGROUND: Hirschsprung disease (HSCR), which is congenital obstruction of the bowel, results from a failure of enteric nervous system (ENS) progenitors to migrate, proliferate, differentiate, or survive within the distal intestine. Previous studies that have searched for genes underlying HSCR have focused on ENS-related pathways and genes not fitting the current knowledge have thus often been ignored. We identify and validate novel HSCR genes using whole exome sequencing (WES), burden tests, in silico prediction, unbiased in vivo analyses of the mutated genes in zebrafish, and expression analyses in zebrafish, mouse, and human. RESULTS: We performed de novo mutation (DNM) screening on 24 HSCR trios. We identify 28 DNMs in 21 different genes. Eight of the DNMs we identified occur in RET, the main HSCR gene, and the remaining 20 DNMs reside in genes not reported in the ENS. Knockdown of all 12 genes with missense or loss-of-function DNMs showed that the orthologs of four genes (DENND3, NCLN, NUP98, and TBATA) are indispensable for ENS development in zebrafish, and these results were confirmed by CRISPR knockout. These genes are also expressed in human and mouse gut and/or ENS progenitors. Importantly, the encoded proteins are linked to neuronal processes shared by the central nervous system and the ENS. CONCLUSIONS: Our data open new fields of investigation into HSCR pathology and provide novel insights into the development of the ENS. Moreover, the study demonstrates that functional analyses of genes carrying DNMs are warranted to delineate the full genetic architecture of rare complex diseases. VL - 18 UR - http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - 267 Spanish exomes reveal population-specific differences in disease-related genetic variation. JF - Molecular biology and evolution Y1 - 2016 A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Amadoz, Alicia A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Alemán, Alejandro A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Rodriguez, Juan A A1 - Daub, Josephine T A1 - Muntané, Gerard A1 - Antonio Rueda A1 - Vela-Boza, Alicia A1 - López-Domingo, Francisco J A1 - Florido, Javier P A1 - Arce, Pablo A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Méndez-Vidal, Cristina A1 - Arnold, Todd E A1 - Spleiss, Olivia A1 - Alvarez-Tejado, Miguel A1 - Navarro, Arcadi A1 - Bhattacharya, Shomi S A1 - Borrego, Salud A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo KW - disease KW - NGS KW - polymorphisms KW - Population genomics KW - prioritization KW - SNP AB - Recent results from large-scale genomic projects suggest that allele frequencies, which are highly relevant for medical purposes, differ considerably across different populations. The need for a detailed catalogue of local variability motivated the whole exome sequencing of 267 unrelated individuals, representative of the healthy Spanish population. Like in other studies, a considerable number of rare variants were found (almost one third of the described variants). There were also relevant differences in allelic frequencies in polymorphic variants, including about 10,000 polymorphisms private to the Spanish population. The allelic frequencies of variants conferring susceptibility to complex diseases (including cancer, schizophrenia, Alzheimer disease, type 2 diabetes and other pathologies) were overall similar to those of other populations. However, the trend is the opposite for variants linked to Mendelian and rare diseases (including several retinal degenerative dystrophies and cardiomyopathies) that show marked frequency differences between populations. Interestingly, a correspondence between differences in allelic frequencies and disease prevalence was found, highlighting the relevance of frequency differences in disease risk. These differences are also observed in variants that disrupt known drug binding sites, suggesting an important role for local variability in population-specific drug resistances or adverse effects. We have made the Spanish population variant server web page that contains population frequency information for the complete list of 170,888 variant positions we found publicly available (http://spv.babelomics.org/), We show that it if fundamental to determine population-specific variant frequencies in order to distinguish real disease associations from population-specific polymorphisms. UR - https://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/02/17/molbev.msw005.full ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Assessment of Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing as a Tool for the Diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease and Hereditary Motor Neuropathy. JF - The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD Y1 - 2016 A1 - Lupo, Vincenzo A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Sancho, Paula A1 - Tello, Cristina A1 - García-Romero, Mar A1 - Villarreal, Liliana A1 - Alberti, Antonia A1 - Sivera, Rafael A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Pascual-Pascual, Samuel I A1 - Márquez-Infante, Celedonio A1 - Casasnovas, Carlos A1 - Sevilla, Teresa A1 - Espinós, Carmen KW - Charcot-Marie-Tooth KW - CMT KW - Diagnostic KW - NGS KW - Panels KW - rare diseases KW - Targeted resequencing AB - Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is characterized by broad genetic heterogeneity with >50 known disease-associated genes. Mutations in some of these genes can cause a pure motor form of hereditary motor neuropathy, the genetics of which are poorly characterized. We designed a panel comprising 56 genes associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease/hereditary motor neuropathy. We validated this diagnostic tool by first testing 11 patients with pathological mutations. A cohort of 33 affected subjects was selected for this study. The DNAJB2 c.352+1G>A mutation was detected in two cases; novel changes and/or variants with low frequency (<1%) were found in 12 cases. There were no candidate variants in 18 cases, and amplification failed for one sample. The DNAJB2 c.352+1G>A mutation was also detected in three additional families. On haplotype analysis, all of the patients from these five families shared the same haplotype; therefore, the DNAJB2 c.352+1G>A mutation may be a founder event. Our gene panel allowed us to perform a very rapid and cost-effective screening of genes involved in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease/hereditary motor neuropathy. Our diagnostic strategy was robust in terms of both coverage and read depth for all of the genes and patient samples. These findings demonstrate the difficulty in achieving a definitive molecular diagnosis because of the complexity of interpreting new variants and the genetic heterogeneity that is associated with these neuropathies. UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525157815002615 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Dysfunctional mitochondrial fission impairs cell reprogramming. JF - Cell Cycle Y1 - 2016 A1 - Prieto, Javier A1 - León, Marian A1 - Ponsoda, Xavier A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Bort, Roque A1 - Serna, Eva A1 - Barneo-Muñoz, Manuela A1 - Palau, Francesc A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - López-García, Carlos A1 - Torres, Josema KW - Animals KW - Cell Cycle Checkpoints KW - Cellular Reprogramming KW - DNA Damage KW - G2 Phase KW - Gene Knockdown Techniques KW - Mice KW - Mitochondrial Dynamics KW - Mitosis KW - Nerve Tissue Proteins KW - Pluripotent Stem Cells KW - Transcription Factors AB -

We have recently shown that mitochondrial fission is induced early in reprogramming in a Drp1-dependent manner; however, the identity of the factors controlling Drp1 recruitment to mitochondria was unexplored. To investigate this, we used a panel of RNAi targeting factors involved in the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics and we observed that MiD51, Gdap1 and, to a lesser extent, Mff were found to play key roles in this process. Cells derived from Gdap1-null mice were used to further explore the role of this factor in cell reprogramming. Microarray data revealed a prominent down-regulation of cell cycle pathways in Gdap1-null cells early in reprogramming and cell cycle profiling uncovered a G2/M growth arrest in Gdap1-null cells undergoing reprogramming. High-Content analysis showed that this growth arrest was DNA damage-independent. We propose that lack of efficient mitochondrial fission impairs cell reprogramming by interfering with cell cycle progression in a DNA damage-independent manner.

VL - 15 IS - 23 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27753531?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Extension of human lncRNA transcripts by RACE coupled with long-read high-throughput sequencing (RACE-Seq) JF - Nature Communications Y1 - 2016 A1 - Lagarde, Julien A1 - Uszczynska-Ratajczak, Barbara A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Gonzalez, Jose Manuel A1 - Tapanari, Electra A1 - Mudge, Jonathan M. A1 - Steward, Charles A. A1 - Wilming, Laurens A1 - Tanzer, Andrea A1 - Howald, Cédric A1 - Chrast, Jacqueline A1 - Vela-Boza, Alicia A1 - Rueda, Antonio A1 - Lopez-Domingo, Francisco J. A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Reymond, Alexandre A1 - Guigó, Roderic A1 - Harrow, Jennifer VL - 7 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12339http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12339.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12339.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12339 IS - 1 JO - Nat Commun ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Extension of human lncRNA transcripts by RACE coupled with long-read high-throughput sequencing (RACE-Seq). JF - Nature communications Y1 - 2016 A1 - Lagarde, Julien A1 - Uszczynska-Ratajczak, Barbara A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Gonzalez, Jose Manuel A1 - Tapanari, Electra A1 - Mudge, Jonathan M A1 - Steward, Charles A A1 - Wilming, Laurens A1 - Tanzer, Andrea A1 - Howald, Cédric A1 - Chrast, Jacqueline A1 - Vela-Boza, Alicia A1 - Antonio Rueda A1 - López-Domingo, Francisco J A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Reymond, Alexandre A1 - Guigó, Roderic A1 - Harrow, Jennifer AB - Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute a large, yet mostly uncharacterized fraction of the mammalian transcriptome. Such characterization requires a comprehensive, high-quality annotation of their gene structure and boundaries, which is currently lacking. Here we describe RACE-Seq, an experimental workflow designed to address this based on RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) and long-read RNA sequencing. We apply RACE-Seq to 398 human lncRNA genes in seven tissues, leading to the discovery of 2,556 on-target, novel transcripts. About 60% of the targeted loci are extended in either 5’ or 3’, often reaching genomic hallmarks of gene boundaries. Analysis of the novel transcripts suggests that lncRNAs are as long, have as many exons and undergo as much alternative splicing as protein-coding genes, contrary to current assumptions. Overall, we show that RACE-Seq is an effective tool to annotate an organism’s deep transcriptome, and compares favourably to other targeted sequencing techniques. VL - 7 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12339 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - HPG pore: an efficient and scalable framework for nanopore sequencing data. JF - BMC bioinformatics Y1 - 2016 A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Gallego, Asunción A1 - Arnau, Vicente A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - hadoop KW - HPC KW - nanopore KW - NGS AB - BACKGROUND: The use of nanopore technologies is expected to spread in the future because they are portable and can sequence long fragments of DNA molecules without prior amplification. The first nanopore sequencer available, the MinION™ from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, is a USB-connected, portable device that allows real-time DNA analysis. In addition, other new instruments are expected to be released soon, which promise to outperform the current short-read technologies in terms of throughput. Despite the flood of data expected from this technology, the data analysis solutions currently available are only designed to manage small projects and are not scalable. RESULTS: Here we present HPG Pore, a toolkit for exploring and analysing nanopore sequencing data. HPG Pore can run on both individual computers and in the Hadoop distributed computing framework, which allows easy scale-up to manage the large amounts of data expected to result from extensive use of nanopore technologies in the future. CONCLUSIONS: HPG Pore allows for virtually unlimited sequencing data scalability, thus guaranteeing its continued management in near future scenarios. HPG Pore is available in GitHub at http://github.com/opencb/hpg-pore . VL - 17 UR - http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/17/107 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - HPG pore: an efficient and scalable framework for nanopore sequencing data JF - BMC Bioinformatics Y1 - 2016 A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Gallego, Asunción A1 - Arnau, Vicente A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin VL - 17 UR - http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/17/107http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12859-016-0966-0 IS - 1 JO - BMC Bioinformatics ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Human DNA methylomes of neurodegenerative diseases show common epigenomic patterns. JF - Transl Psychiatry Y1 - 2016 A1 - Sanchez-Mut, J V A1 - Heyn, H A1 - Vidal, E A1 - Moran, S A1 - Sayols, S A1 - Delgado-Morales, R A1 - Schultz, M D A1 - Ansoleaga, B A1 - Garcia-Esparcia, P A1 - Pons-Espinal, M A1 - de Lagran, M M A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - Rabano, A A1 - Avila, J A1 - Dierssen, M A1 - Lott, I A1 - Ferrer, I A1 - Ecker, J R A1 - Esteller, M KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - DNA Methylation KW - Epigenomics KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - neurodegenerative diseases KW - Prefrontal Cortex KW - Tissue Array Analysis AB -

Different neurodegenerative disorders often show similar lesions, such as the presence of amyloid plaques, TAU-neurotangles and synuclein inclusions. The genetically inherited forms are rare, so we wondered whether shared epigenetic aberrations, such as those affecting DNA methylation, might also exist. The studied samples were gray matter samples from the prefrontal cortex of control and neurodegenerative disease-associated cases. We performed the DNA methylation analyses of Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer-like neurodegenerative profile associated with Down's syndrome samples. The DNA methylation landscapes obtained show that neurodegenerative diseases share similar aberrant CpG methylation shifts targeting a defined gene set. Our findings suggest that neurodegenerative disorders might have similar pathogenetic mechanisms that subsequently evolve into different clinical entities. The identified aberrant DNA methylation changes can be used as biomarkers of the disorders and as potential new targets for the development of new therapies.

VL - 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26784972?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Identification of the Photoreceptor Transcriptional Co-Repressor SAMD11 as Novel Cause of Autosomal Recessive Retinitis Pigmentosa. JF - Sci Rep Y1 - 2016 A1 - Corton, M A1 - Avila-Fernández, A A1 - Campello, L A1 - Sánchez, M A1 - Benavides, B A1 - López-Molina, M I A1 - Fernández-Sánchez, L A1 - Sánchez-Alcudia, R A1 - da Silva, L R J A1 - Reyes, N A1 - Martín-Garrido, E A1 - Zurita, O A1 - Fernández-San José, P A1 - Pérez-Carro, R A1 - García-García, F A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - García-Sandoval, B A1 - Cuenca, N A1 - Ayuso, C KW - Aged KW - Animals KW - Co-Repressor Proteins KW - Codon, Nonsense KW - Cohort Studies KW - Comparative Genomic Hybridization KW - Consanguinity KW - DNA Mutational Analysis KW - Exome KW - Eye Proteins KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Genes, Recessive KW - Homeodomain Proteins KW - Homozygote KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Mice KW - Middle Aged KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Protein Interaction Mapping KW - Retina KW - Retinal Dystrophies KW - Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells KW - Retinitis pigmentosa KW - Spain KW - Trans-Activators KW - Transcription Factors AB -

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most frequent form of inherited retinal dystrophy is characterized by progressive photoreceptor degeneration. Many genes have been implicated in RP development, but several others remain to be identified. Using a combination of homozygosity mapping, whole-exome and targeted next-generation sequencing, we found a novel homozygous nonsense mutation in SAMD11 in five individuals diagnosed with adult-onset RP from two unrelated consanguineous Spanish families. SAMD11 is ortholog to the mouse major retinal SAM domain (mr-s) protein that is implicated in CRX-mediated transcriptional regulation in the retina. Accordingly, protein-protein network analysis revealed a significant interaction of SAMD11 with CRX. Immunoblotting analysis confirmed strong expression of SAMD11 in human retina. Immunolocalization studies revealed SAMD11 was detected in the three nuclear layers of the human retina and interestingly differential expression between cone and rod photoreceptors was observed. Our study strongly implicates SAMD11 as novel cause of RP playing an important role in the pathogenesis of human degeneration of photoreceptors.

VL - 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27734943?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Integrated gene set analysis for microRNA studies. JF - Bioinformatics Y1 - 2016 A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Panadero, Joaquin A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Montaner, David KW - Computational Biology KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene ontology KW - Gene Regulatory Networks KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans KW - MicroRNAs KW - Neoplasms KW - Reproducibility of Results AB -

MOTIVATION: Functional interpretation of miRNA expression data is currently done in a three step procedure: select differentially expressed miRNAs, find their target genes, and carry out gene set overrepresentation analysis Nevertheless, major limitations of this approach have already been described at the gene level, while some newer arise in the miRNA scenario.Here, we propose an enhanced methodology that builds on the well-established gene set analysis paradigm. Evidence for differential expression at the miRNA level is transferred to a gene differential inhibition score which is easily interpretable in terms of gene sets or pathways. Such transferred indexes account for the additive effect of several miRNAs targeting the same gene, and also incorporate cancellation effects between cases and controls. Together, these two desirable characteristics allow for more accurate modeling of regulatory processes.

RESULTS: We analyze high-throughput sequencing data from 20 different cancer types and provide exhaustive reports of gene and Gene Ontology-term deregulation by miRNA action.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The proposed methodology was implemented in the Bioconductor library mdgsa http://bioconductor.org/packages/mdgsa For the purpose of reproducibility all of the scripts are available at https://github.com/dmontaner-papers/gsa4mirna

CONTACT: : david.montaner@gmail.com

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

VL - 32 IS - 18 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27324197?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis to understand natural leaf senescence in sunflower. JF - Plant Biotechnol J Y1 - 2016 A1 - Moschen, Sebastián A1 - Bengoa Luoni, Sofía A1 - Di Rienzo, Julio A A1 - Caro, María Del Pilar A1 - Tohge, Takayuki A1 - Watanabe, Mutsumi A1 - Hollmann, Julien A1 - Gonzalez, Sergio A1 - Rivarola, Máximo A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Hopp, Horacio Esteban A1 - Hoefgen, Rainer A1 - Fernie, Alisdair R A1 - Paniego, Norma A1 - Fernandez, Paula A1 - Heinz, Ruth A KW - Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Plant KW - Gene ontology KW - Genes, Plant KW - Helianthus KW - Ions KW - metabolomics KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Plant Leaves KW - Principal Component Analysis KW - RNA, Messenger KW - Transcription Factors AB -

Leaf senescence is a complex process, which has dramatic consequences on crop yield. In sunflower, gap between potential and actual yields reveals the economic impact of senescence. Indeed, sunflower plants are incapable of maintaining their green leaf area over sustained periods. This study characterizes the leaf senescence process in sunflower through a systems biology approach integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses: plants being grown under both glasshouse and field conditions. Our results revealed a correspondence between profile changes detected at the molecular, biochemical and physiological level throughout the progression of leaf senescence measured at different plant developmental stages. Early metabolic changes were detected prior to anthesis and before the onset of the first senescence symptoms, with more pronounced changes observed when physiological and molecular variables were assessed under field conditions. During leaf development, photosynthetic activity and cell growth processes decreased, whereas sucrose, fatty acid, nucleotide and amino acid metabolisms increased. Pathways related to nutrient recycling processes were also up-regulated. Members of the NAC, AP2-EREBP, HB, bZIP and MYB transcription factor families showed high expression levels, and their expression level was highly correlated, suggesting their involvement in sunflower senescence. The results of this study thus contribute to the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms involved in the onset and progression of leaf senescence in sunflower leaves as well as to the identification of candidate genes involved in this process.

VL - 14 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26132509?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Mutational Landscape of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Reveals an Interacting Network of Co-Occurrences and Recurrent Mutations. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2016 A1 - Ibáñez, Mariam A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, José A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Such, Esperanza A1 - Jiménez-Almazán, Jorge A1 - Vidal, Enrique A1 - Barragán, Eva A1 - López-Pavía, María A1 - LLop, Marta A1 - Martín, Iván A1 - Gómez-Seguí, Inés A1 - Montesinos, Pau A1 - Sanz, Miguel A A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Cervera, José KW - Exome KW - Gene Regulatory Networks KW - Genome, Human KW - Humans KW - INDEL Mutation KW - Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute KW - mutation KW - Mutation Rate KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Reproducibility of Results AB -

Preliminary Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) whole exome sequencing (WES) studies have identified a huge number of somatic mutations affecting more than a hundred different genes mainly in a non-recurrent manner, suggesting that APL is a heterogeneous disease with secondary relevant changes not yet defined. To extend our knowledge of subtle genetic alterations involved in APL that might cooperate with PML/RARA in the leukemogenic process, we performed a comprehensive analysis of somatic mutations in APL combining WES with sequencing of a custom panel of targeted genes by next-generation sequencing. To select a reduced subset of high confidence candidate driver genes, further in silico analysis were carried out. After prioritization and network analysis we found recurrent deleterious mutations in 8 individual genes (STAG2, U2AF1, SMC1A, USP9X, IKZF1, LYN, MYCBP2 and PTPN11) with a strong potential of being involved in APL pathogenesis. Our network analysis of multiple mutations provides a reliable approach to prioritize genes for additional analysis, improving our knowledge of the leukemogenesis interactome. Additionally, we have defined a functional module in the interactome of APL. The hypothesis is that the number, or the specific combinations, of mutations harbored in each patient might not be as important as the disturbance caused in biological key functions, triggered by several not necessarily recurrent mutations.

VL - 11 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26886259?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mutations in the MORC2 gene cause axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. JF - Brain Y1 - 2016 A1 - Sevilla, Teresa A1 - Lupo, Vincenzo A1 - Martínez-Rubio, Dolores A1 - Sancho, Paula A1 - Sivera, Rafael A1 - Chumillas, María J A1 - García-Romero, Mar A1 - Pascual-Pascual, Samuel I A1 - Muelas, Nuria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Vílchez, Juan J A1 - Palau, Francesc A1 - Espinós, Carmen KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Animals KW - Axons KW - Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease KW - Female KW - gene expression KW - Humans KW - Infant KW - Male KW - Mice KW - Middle Aged KW - mutation KW - Pedigree KW - Phenotype KW - Sciatic Nerve KW - Sural Nerve KW - Transcription Factors KW - Young Adult AB -

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a complex disorder with wide genetic heterogeneity. Here we present a new axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease form, associated with the gene microrchidia family CW-type zinc finger 2 (MORC2). Whole-exome sequencing in a family with autosomal dominant segregation identified the novel MORC2 p.R190W change in four patients. Further mutational screening in our axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease clinical series detected two additional sporadic cases, one patient who also carried the same MORC2 p.R190W mutation and another patient that harboured a MORC2 p.S25L mutation. Genetic and in silico studies strongly supported the pathogenicity of these sequence variants. The phenotype was variable and included patients with congenital or infantile onset, as well as others whose symptoms started in the second decade. The patients with early onset developed a spinal muscular atrophy-like picture, whereas in the later onset cases, the initial symptoms were cramps, distal weakness and sensory impairment. Weakness and atrophy progressed in a random and asymmetric fashion and involved limb girdle muscles, leading to a severe incapacity in adulthood. Sensory loss was always prominent and proportional to disease severity. Electrophysiological studies were consistent with an asymmetric axonal motor and sensory neuropathy, while fasciculations and myokymia were recorded rather frequently by needle electromyography. Sural nerve biopsy revealed pronounced multifocal depletion of myelinated fibres with some regenerative clusters and occasional small onion bulbs. Morc2 is expressed in both axons and Schwann cells of mouse peripheral nerve. Different roles in biological processes have been described for MORC2. As the silencing of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease genes have been associated with DNA damage response, it is tempting to speculate that a deregulation of this pathway may be linked to the axonal degeneration observed in MORC2 neuropathy, thus adding a new pathogenic mechanism to the long list of causes of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

VL - 139 IS - Pt 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26497905?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Screening of CD96 and ASXL1 in 11 patients with Opitz C or Bohring-Opitz syndromes. JF - Am J Med Genet A Y1 - 2016 A1 - Urreizti, Roser A1 - Roca-Ayats, Neus A1 - Trepat, Judith A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Alemán, Alejandro A1 - Orteschi, Daniela A1 - Marangi, Giuseppe A1 - Neri, Giovanni A1 - Opitz, John M A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Cormand, Bru A1 - Vilageliu, Lluïsa A1 - Balcells, Susana A1 - Grinberg, Daniel KW - Adolescent KW - Antigens, CD KW - Child KW - Child, Preschool KW - Craniosynostoses KW - Exome KW - Female KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans KW - Infant KW - Intellectual Disability KW - Male KW - mutation KW - Pedigree KW - Phenotype KW - Prognosis KW - Repressor Proteins AB -

Opitz C trigonocephaly (or Opitz C syndrome, OTCS) and Bohring-Opitz syndrome (BOS or C-like syndrome) are two rare genetic disorders with phenotypic overlap. The genetic causes of these diseases are not understood. However, two genes have been associated with OTCS or BOS with dominantly inherited de novo mutations. Whereas CD96 has been related to OTCS (one case) and to BOS (one case), ASXL1 has been related to BOS only (several cases). In this study we analyze CD96 and ASXL1 in a group of 11 affected individuals, including 2 sibs, 10 of them were diagnosed with OTCS, and one had a BOS phenotype. Exome sequences were available on six patients with OTCS and three parent pairs. Thus, we could analyze the CD96 and ASXL1 sequences in these patients bioinformatically. Sanger sequencing of all exons of CD96 and ASXL1 was carried out in the remaining patients. Detailed scrutiny of the sequences and assessment of variants allowed us to exclude putative pathogenic and private mutations in all but one of the patients. In this patient (with BOS) we identified a de novo mutation in ASXL1 (c.2100dupT). By nature and location within the gene, this mutation resembles those previously described in other BOS patients and we conclude that it may be responsible for the condition. Our results indicate that in 10 of 11, the disease (OTCS or BOS) cannot be explained by small changes in CD96 or ASXL1. However, the cohort is too small to make generalizations about the genetic etiology of these diseases.

VL - 170A IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26768331?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Serum metabolomic profiling facilitates the non-invasive identification of metabolic biomarkers associated with the onset and progression of non-small cell lung cancer. JF - Oncotarget Y1 - 2016 A1 - Puchades-Carrasco, Leonor A1 - Jantus-Lewintre, Eloisa A1 - Pérez-Rambla, Clara A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Lucas, Rut A1 - Calabuig, Silvia A1 - Blasco, Ana A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Camps, Carlos A1 - Pineda-Lucena, Antonio KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Biomarkers, Tumor KW - Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung KW - Disease Progression KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Lung Neoplasms KW - Male KW - metabolomics KW - Middle Aged KW - Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy AB -

Lung cancer (LC) is responsible for most cancer deaths. One of the main factors contributing to the lethality of this disease is the fact that a large proportion of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages when a clinical intervention is unlikely to succeed. In this study, we evaluated the potential of metabolomics by 1H-NMR to facilitate the identification of accurate and reliable biomarkers to support the early diagnosis and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).We found that the metabolic profile of NSCLC patients, compared with healthy individuals, is characterized by statistically significant changes in the concentration of 18 metabolites representing different amino acids, organic acids and alcohols, as well as different lipids and molecules involved in lipid metabolism. Furthermore, the analysis of the differences between the metabolic profiles of NSCLC patients at different stages of the disease revealed the existence of 17 metabolites involved in metabolic changes associated with disease progression.Our results underscore the potential of metabolomics profiling to uncover pathophysiological mechanisms that could be useful to objectively discriminate NSCLC patients from healthy individuals, as well as between different stages of the disease.

VL - 7 IS - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26883203?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Stress-induced activation of brown adipose tissue prevents obesity in conditions of low adaptive thermogenesis. JF - Mol Metab Y1 - 2016 A1 - Razzoli, Maria A1 - Frontini, Andrea A1 - Gurney, Allison A1 - Mondini, Eleonora A1 - Cubuk, Cankut A1 - Katz, Liora S A1 - Cero, Cheryl A1 - Bolan, Patrick J A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Vidal-Puig, Antonio A1 - Cinti, Saverio A1 - Bartolomucci, Alessandro AB -

BACKGROUND: Stress-associated conditions such as psychoemotional reactivity and depression have been paradoxically linked to either weight gain or weight loss. This bi-directional effect of stress is not understood at the functional level. Here we tested the hypothesis that pre-stress level of adaptive thermogenesis and brown adipose tissue (BAT) functions explain the vulnerability or resilience to stress-induced obesity.

METHODS: We used wt and triple β1,β2,β3-Adrenergic Receptors knockout (β-less) mice exposed to a model of chronic subordination stress (CSS) at either room temperature (22 °C) or murine thermoneutrality (30 °C). A combined behavioral, physiological, molecular, and immunohistochemical analysis was conducted to determine stress-induced modulation of energy balance and BAT structure and function. Immortalized brown adipocytes were used for in vitro assays.

RESULTS: Departing from our initial observation that βARs are dispensable for cold-induced BAT browning, we demonstrated that under physiological conditions promoting low adaptive thermogenesis and BAT activity (e.g. thermoneutrality or genetic deletion of the βARs), exposure to CSS acted as a stimulus for BAT activation and thermogenesis, resulting in resistance to diet-induced obesity despite the presence of hyperphagia. Conversely, in wt mice acclimatized to room temperature, and therefore characterized by sustained BAT function, exposure to CSS increased vulnerability to obesity. Exposure to CSS enhanced the sympathetic innervation of BAT in wt acclimatized to thermoneutrality and in β-less mice. Despite increased sympathetic innervation suggesting adrenergic-mediated browning, norepinephrine did not promote browning in βARs knockout brown adipocytes, which led us to identify an alternative sympathetic/brown adipocytes purinergic pathway in the BAT. This pathway is downregulated under conditions of low adaptive thermogenesis requirements, is induced by stress, and elicits activation of UCP1 in wt and β-less brown adipocytes. Importantly, this purinergic pathway is conserved in human BAT.

CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that thermogenesis and BAT function are determinant of the resilience or vulnerability to stress-induced obesity. Our data support a model in which adrenergic and purinergic pathways exert complementary/synergistic functions in BAT, thus suggesting an alternative to βARs agonists for the activation of human BAT.

VL - 5 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26844204?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The transcriptomics of an experimentally evolved plant-virus interaction. JF - Sci Rep Y1 - 2016 A1 - Hillung, Julia A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Cuevas, José M A1 - Elena, Santiago F KW - Arabidopsis KW - Ecotype KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Host-Pathogen Interactions KW - Potyvirus AB -

Models of plant-virus interaction assume that the ability of a virus to infect a host genotype depends on the matching between virulence and resistance genes. Recently, we evolved tobacco etch potyvirus (TEV) lineages on different ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana, and found that some ecotypes selected for specialist viruses whereas others selected for generalists. Here we sought to evaluate the transcriptomic basis of such relationships. We have characterized the transcriptomic responses of five ecotypes infected with the ancestral and evolved viruses. Genes and functional categories differentially expressed by plants infected with local TEV isolates were identified, showing heterogeneous responses among ecotypes, although significant parallelism existed among lineages evolved in the same ecotype. Although genes involved in immune responses were altered upon infection, other functional groups were also pervasively over-represented, suggesting that plant resistance genes were not the only drivers of viral adaptation. Finally, the transcriptomic consequences of infection with the generalist and specialist lineages were compared. Whilst the generalist induced very similar perturbations in the transcriptomes of the different ecotypes, the perturbations induced by the specialist were divergent. Plant defense mechanisms were activated when the infecting virus was specialist but they were down-regulated when infecting with generalist.

VL - 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27113435?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Web-based network analysis and visualization using CellMaps. JF - Bioinformatics Y1 - 2016 A1 - Salavert, Francisco A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Sánchez, Rubén A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Biochemical Phenomena KW - Internet KW - Software AB -

UNLABELLED: : CellMaps is an HTML5 open-source web tool that allows displaying, editing, exploring and analyzing biological networks as well as integrating metadata into them. Computations and analyses are remotely executed in high-end servers, and all the functionalities are available through RESTful web services. CellMaps can easily be integrated in any web page by using an available JavaScript API.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The application is available at: http://cellmaps.babelomics.org/ and the code can be found in: https://github.com/opencb/cell-maps The client is implemented in JavaScript and the server in C and Java.

CONTACT: jdopazo@cipf.es

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

VL - 32 IS - 19 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27296979?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Babelomics 5.0: functional interpretation for new generations of genomic data. JF - Nucleic acids research Y1 - 2015 A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Salavert, Francisco A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, José A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Sanchis-Juan, Alba A1 - Perez-Gil, Daniel A1 - Marin-Garcia, Pablo A1 - Sánchez, Rubén A1 - Cubuk, Cankut A1 - Hidalgo, Marta R A1 - Amadoz, Alicia A1 - Hernansaiz-Ballesteros, Rosa D A1 - Alemán, Alejandro A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - babelomics KW - data integration KW - gene set analysis KW - interactome KW - network analysis KW - NGS KW - RNA-seq KW - Systems biology KW - transcriptomics AB - Babelomics has been running for more than one decade offering a user-friendly interface for the functional analysis of gene expression and genomic data. Here we present its fifth release, which includes support for Next Generation Sequencing data including gene expression (RNA-seq), exome or genome resequencing. Babelomics has simplified its interface, being now more intuitive. Improved visualization options, such as a genome viewer as well as an interactive network viewer, have been implemented. New technical enhancements at both, client and server sides, makes the user experience faster and more dynamic. Babelomics offers user-friendly access to a full range of methods that cover: (i) primary data analysis, (ii) a variety of tests for different experimental designs and (iii) different enrichment and network analysis algorithms for the interpretation of the results of such tests in the proper functional context. In addition to the public server, local copies of Babelomics can be downloaded and installed. Babelomics is freely available at: http://www.babelomics.org. VL - 43 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/W1/W117 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - BRCA1 Alternative splicing landscape in breast tissue samples. JF - BMC cancer Y1 - 2015 A1 - Romero, Atocha A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - López-Perolio, Irene A1 - Ruiz de Garibay, Gorka A1 - García-Sáenz, José A A1 - Garre, Pilar A1 - Ayllón, Patricia A1 - Benito, Esperanza A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Díaz-Rubio, Eduardo A1 - Caldés, Trinidad A1 - de la Hoya, Miguel AB - BACKGROUND: BRCA1 is a key protein in cell network, involved in DNA repair pathways and cell cycle. Recently, the ENIGMA consortium has reported a high number of alternative splicing (AS) events at this locus in blood-derived samples. However, BRCA1 splicing pattern in breast tissue samples is unknown. Here, we provide an accurate description of BRCA1 splicing events distribution in breast tissue samples. METHODS: BRCA1 splicing events were scanned in 70 breast tumor samples, 4 breast samples from healthy individuals and in 72 blood-derived samples by capillary electrophoresis (capillary EP). Molecular subtype was identified in all tumor samples. Splicing events were considered predominant if their relative expression level was at least the 10% of the full-length reference signal. RESULTS: 54 BRCA1 AS events were identified, 27 of them were annotated as predominant in at least one sample. Δ5q, Δ13, Δ9, Δ5 and ▼1aA were significantly more frequently annotated as predominant in breast tumor samples than in blood-derived samples. Predominant splicing events were, on average, more frequent in tumor samples than in normal breast tissue samples (P = 0.010). Similarly, likely inactivating splicing events (PTC-NMDs, Non-Coding, Δ5 and Δ18) were more frequently annotated as predominant in tumor than in normal breast samples (P = 0.020), whereas there were no significant differences for other splicing events (No-Fs) frequency distribution between tumor and normal breast samples (P = 0.689). CONCLUSIONS: Our results complement recent findings by the ENIGMA consortium, demonstrating that BRCA1 AS, despite its tremendous complexity, is similar in breast and blood samples, with no evidences for tissue specific AS events. Further on, we conclude that somatic inactivation of BRCA1 through spliciogenic mutations is, at best, a rare mechanism in breast carcinogenesis, albeit our data detects an excess of likely inactivating AS events in breast tumor samples. VL - 15 UR - http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/15/219 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Combining tumor genome simulation with crowdsourcing to benchmark somatic single-nucleotide-variant detection. JF - Nature methods Y1 - 2015 A1 - Ewing, Adam D A1 - Houlahan, Kathleen E A1 - Hu, Yin A1 - Ellrott, Kyle A1 - Caloian, Cristian A1 - Yamaguchi, Takafumi N A1 - Bare, J Christopher A1 - P’ng, Christine A1 - Waggott, Daryl A1 - Sabelnykova, Veronica Y A1 - Kellen, Michael R A1 - Norman, Thea C A1 - Haussler, David A1 - Friend, Stephen H A1 - Stolovitzky, Gustavo A1 - Margolin, Adam A A1 - Stuart, Joshua M A1 - Boutros, Paul C ED - ICGC-TCGA DREAM Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge participants ED - Liu Xi ED - Ninad Dewal ED - Yu Fan ED - Wenyi Wang ED - David Wheeler ED - Andreas Wilm ED - Grace Hui Ting ED - Chenhao Li ED - Denis Bertrand ED - Niranjan Nagarajan ED - Qing-Rong Chen ED - Chih-Hao Hsu ED - Ying Hu ED - Chunhua Yan ED - Warren Kibbe ED - Daoud Meerzaman ED - Kristian Cibulskis ED - Mara Rosenberg ED - Louis Bergelson ED - Adam Kiezun ED - Amie Radenbaugh ED - Anne-Sophie Sertier ED - Anthony Ferrari ED - Laurie Tonton ED - Kunal Bhutani ED - Nancy F Hansen ED - Difei Wang ED - Lei Song ED - Zhongwu Lai ED - Liao, Yang ED - Shi, Wei ED - Carbonell-Caballero, José ED - Joaquín Dopazo ED - Cheryl C K Lau ED - Justin Guinney KW - cancer KW - NGS KW - variant calling AB - The detection of somatic mutations from cancer genome sequences is key to understanding the genetic basis of disease progression, patient survival and response to therapy. Benchmarking is needed for tool assessment and improvement but is complicated by a lack of gold standards, by extensive resource requirements and by difficulties in sharing personal genomic information. To resolve these issues, we launched the ICGC-TCGA DREAM Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge, a crowdsourced benchmark of somatic mutation detection algorithms. Here we report the BAMSurgeon tool for simulating cancer genomes and the results of 248 analyses of three in silico tumors created with it. Different algorithms exhibit characteristic error profiles, and, intriguingly, false positives show a trinucleotide profile very similar to one found in human tumors. Although the three simulated tumors differ in sequence contamination (deviation from normal cell sequence) and in subclonality, an ensemble of pipelines outperforms the best individual pipeline in all cases. BAMSurgeon is available at https://github.com/adamewing/bamsurgeon/. UR - http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmeth.3407.html ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Deregulation of key signaling pathways involved in oocyte maturation in FMR1 premutation carriers with Fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency. JF - Gene Y1 - 2015 A1 - Alvarez-Mora, M I A1 - Rodriguez-Revenga, L A1 - Madrigal, I A1 - García-García, F A1 - Duran, M A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - Estivill, X A1 - Milà, M KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Female KW - Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein KW - Fragile X Syndrome KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental KW - Gene ontology KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Heterozygote KW - Humans KW - Middle Aged KW - Models, Genetic KW - mutation KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Oocytes KW - Primary Ovarian Insufficiency KW - Signal Transduction AB -

FMR1 premutation female carriers are at risk for Fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI). Insights from knock-in mouse model have recently demonstrated that FXPOI is due to an increased rate of follicle depletion or an impaired development of the growing follicles. Molecular mechanisms responsible for this reduced viability are still unknown. In an attempt to provide new data on the mechanisms that lead to FXPOI, we report the first investigation involving transcription profiling of total blood from FMR1 premutation female carriers with and without FXPOI. A total of 16 unrelated female individuals (6 FMR1 premutated females with FXPOI; 6 FMR1 premutated females without FXPOI; and 4 no-FXPOI females) were studied by whole human genome oligonucleotide microarray (Agilent Technologies). Fold change analysis did not show any genes with significant differential gene expression. However, functional profiling by gene set analysis showed large number of statistically significant deregulated GO annotations as well as numerous KEGG pathways in FXPOI females. These results suggest that the impairment of fertility in these females might be due to a generalized deregulation of key signaling pathways involved in oocyte maturation. In particular, the vasoendotelial growth factor signaling, the inositol phosphate metabolism, the cell cycle, and the MAPK signaling pathways were found to be down-regulated in FXPOI females. Furthermore, a high statistical enrichment of biological processes involved in cell death and survival were found deregulated among FXPOI females. Our results provide new strategic approaches to further investigate the molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets for FXPOI not focused in a single gene but rather in the set of genes involved in these pathways.

VL - 571 IS - 1 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26095811?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Differential Features Between Chronic Skin Inflammatory Diseases Revealed in Skin-Humanized Psoriasis and Atopic Dermatitis Mouse Models. JF - J Invest Dermatol Y1 - 2015 A1 - Carretero, M A1 - Guerrero-Aspizua, S A1 - Illera, N A1 - Galvez, V A1 - Navarro, M A1 - García-García, F A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - Jorcano, J L A1 - Larcher, F A1 - Del Rio, M AB -

Psoriasis (PS) and atopic dermatitis (AD) are chronic and relapsing inflammatory diseases of the skin affecting a large number of patients worldwide. Psoriasis is characterized by a Th1/Th17 immunological response whereas acute AD lesions exhibit Th2-dominant inflammation. Current single gene and signaling pathways-based models of inflammatory skin diseases are incomplete. Previous work allowed us to model psoriasis in skin-humanized mice through proper combinations of inflammatory cell components and disruption of barrier function. Herein we describe and characterize an animal model for AD using similar bioengineered-based approaches, by intradermal injection of human Th2 lymphocytes in regenerated human skin after partial removal of stratum corneum. In the present work we have extensively compared this model with the previous and an improved version of the PS model, in which Th17/Th1 lymphocytes replace exogenous cytokines. Comparative expression analyses revealed marked differences in specific epidermal proliferation and differentiation markers and immune-related molecules including antimicrobial peptides. Likewise, the composition of the dermal inflammatory infiltrate presented important differences. Availability of accurate and reliable animal models for these diseases will contribute to the understanding of the pathogenesis and provide valuable tools for drug development and testing.Journal of Investigative Dermatology accepted article preview online, 23 September 2015. doi:10.1038/jid.2015.362.

U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26398345?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exome sequencing reveals a high genetic heterogeneity on familial Hirschsprung disease JF - Scientific Reports Y1 - 2015 A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - Gui, Hongsheng A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Sze-Man Tang, Clara A1 - Fernández, Raquel M. A1 - Sham, Pak-Chung A1 - Torroglosa, Ana A1 - Kwong-Hang Tam, Paul A1 - Espino-Paisán, Laura A1 - Cherny, Stacey S. A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Enguix-Riego, María Del Valle A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Garcia-Barceló, Maria-Mercè A1 - Borrego, Salud VL - 5 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/srep16473http://www.nature.com/articles/srep16473.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/srep16473.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/srep16473 IS - 1 JO - Sci Rep ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exome sequencing reveals a high genetic heterogeneity on familial Hirschsprung disease. JF - Scientific reports Y1 - 2015 A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - Gui, Hongsheng A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Sze-Man Tang, Clara A1 - Fernández, Raquel M A1 - Sham, Pak-Chung A1 - Torroglosa, Ana A1 - Kwong-Hang Tam, Paul A1 - Espino-Paisán, Laura A1 - Cherny, Stacey S A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Enguix-Riego, María Del Valle A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Garcia-Barceló, Maria-Mercè A1 - Borrego, Salud KW - babelomics KW - Hirschprung KW - NGS KW - prioritization AB - Hirschsprung disease (HSCR; OMIM 142623) is a developmental disorder characterized by aganglionosis along variable lengths of the distal gastrointestinal tract, which results in intestinal obstruction. Interactions among known HSCR genes and/or unknown disease susceptibility loci lead to variable severity of phenotype. Neither linkage nor genome-wide association studies have efficiently contributed to completely dissect the genetic pathways underlying this complex genetic disorder. We have performed whole exome sequencing of 16 HSCR patients from 8 unrelated families with SOLID platform. Variants shared by affected relatives were validated by Sanger sequencing. We searched for genes recurrently mutated across families. Only variations in the FAT3 gene were significantly enriched in five families. Within-family analysis identified compound heterozygotes for AHNAK and several genes (N = 23) with heterozygous variants that co-segregated with the phenotype. Network and pathway analyses facilitated the discovery of polygenic inheritance involving FAT3, HSCR known genes and their gene partners. Altogether, our approach has facilitated the detection of more than one damaging variant in biologically plausible genes that could jointly contribute to the phenotype. Our data may contribute to the understanding of the complex interactions that occur during enteric nervous system development and the etiopathology of familial HSCR. VL - 5 UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/srep16473 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Identification of epistatic interactions through genome-wide association studies in sporadic medullary and juvenile papillary thyroid carcinomas. JF - BMC medical genomics Y1 - 2015 A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Navarro, Elena A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Martín-Sánchez, Marta A1 - Gonzalez, Cristina Y A1 - Fernández, Raquel M A1 - Torroglosa, Ana A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Borrego, Salud KW - epistasis KW - GWAS KW - Thyroid cancer AB - BACKGROUND: The molecular mechanisms leading to sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (sMTC) and juvenile papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), two rare tumours of the thyroid gland, remain poorly understood. Genetic studies on thyroid carcinomas have been conducted, although just a few loci have been systematically associated. Given the difficulties to obtain single-loci associations, this work expands its scope to the study of epistatic interactions that could help to understand the genetic architecture of complex diseases and explain new heritable components of genetic risk. METHODS: We carried out the first screening for epistasis by Multifactor-Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) in genome-wide association study (GWAS) on sMTC and juvenile PTC, to identify the potential simultaneous involvement of pairs of variants in the disease. RESULTS: We have identified two significant epistatic gene interactions in sMTC (CHFR-AC016582.2 and C8orf37-RNU1-55P) and three in juvenile PTC (RP11-648k4.2-DIO1, RP11-648k4.2-DMGDH and RP11-648k4.2-LOXL1). Interestingly, each interacting gene pair included a non-coding RNA, providing thus support to the relevance that these elements are increasingly gaining to explain carcinoma development and progression. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of the genetic basis of thyroid carcinoma susceptibility in two different case scenarios such as sMTC and juvenile PTC. VL - 8 UR - http://bmcmedgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12920-015-0160-7 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Identification of epistatic interactions through genome-wide association studies in sporadic medullary and juvenile papillary thyroid carcinomas JF - BMC Medical Genomics Y1 - 2015 A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Navarro, Elena A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Martín-Sánchez, Marta A1 - Gonzalez, Cristina Y. A1 - Fernández, Raquel M. A1 - Torroglosa, Ana A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Borrego, Salud AB - The molecular mechanisms leading to sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (sMTC) and juvenile papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), two rare tumours of the thyroid gland, remain poorly understood. Genetic studies on thyroid carcinomas have been conducted, although just a few loci have been systematically associated. Given the difficulties to obtain single-loci associations, this work expands its scope to the study of epistatic interactions that could help to understand the genetic architecture of complex diseases and explain new heritable components of genetic risk. VL - 8 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12920-015-0160-7 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Involvement of a citrus meiotic recombination TTC-repeat motif in the formation of gross deletions generated by ionizing radiation and MULE activation JF - BMC Genomics Y1 - 2015 A1 - Terol, Javier A1 - Ibañez, Victoria A1 - Carbonell, José A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Estornell, Leandro H. A1 - Licciardello, Concetta A1 - Gut, Ivo G. A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Talon, Manuel AB - Transposable-element mediated chromosomal rearrangements require the involvement of two transposons and two double-strand breaks (DSB) located in close proximity. In radiobiology, DSB proximity is also a major factor contributing to rearrangements. However, the whole issue of DSB proximity remains virtually unexplored. VL - 16 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-1280-3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Involvement of a citrus meiotic recombination TTC-repeat motif in the formation of gross deletions generated by ionizing radiation and MULE activation. JF - BMC genomics Y1 - 2015 A1 - Terol, Javier A1 - Ibañez, Victoria A1 - Carbonell, José A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Estornell, Leandro H A1 - Licciardello, Concetta A1 - Gut, Ivo G A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Talon, Manuel AB - BACKGROUND: Transposable-element mediated chromosomal rearrangements require the involvement of two transposons and two double-strand breaks (DSB) located in close proximity. In radiobiology, DSB proximity is also a major factor contributing to rearrangements. However, the whole issue of DSB proximity remains virtually unexplored. RESULTS: Based on DNA sequencing analysis we show that the genomes of 2 derived mutations, Arrufatina (sport) and Nero (irradiation), share a similar 2 Mb deletion of chromosome 3. A 7 kb Mutator-like element found in Clemenules was present in Arrufatina in inverted orientation flanking the 5’ end of the deletion. The Arrufatina Mule displayed "dissimilar" 9-bp target site duplications separated by 2 Mb. Fine-scale single nucleotide variant analyses of the deleted fragments identified a TTC-repeat sequence motif located in the center of the deletion responsible of a meiotic crossover detected in the citrus reference genome. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this information is compatible with the proposal that in both mutants, the TTC-repeat motif formed a triplex DNA structure generating a loop that brought in close proximity the originally distinct reactive ends. In Arrufatina, the loop brought the Mule ends nearby the 2 distinct insertion target sites and the inverted insertion of the transposable element between these target sites provoked the release of the in-between fragment. This proposal requires the involvement of a unique transposon and sheds light on the unresolved question of how two distinct sites become located in close proximity. These observations confer a crucial role to the TTC-repeats in fundamental plant processes as meiotic recombination and chromosomal rearrangements. VL - 16 UR - http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/16/69 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Pan-Cancer Catalogue of Cancer Driver Protein Interaction Interfaces. JF - PLoS Comput Biol Y1 - 2015 A1 - Porta-Pardo, Eduard A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Hrabe, Thomas A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Godzik, Adam KW - Animals KW - Base Sequence KW - Biomarkers, Tumor KW - Catalogs as Topic KW - Chromosome Mapping KW - Computer Simulation KW - DNA Mutational Analysis KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease KW - Humans KW - Models, Genetic KW - Molecular Sequence Data KW - mutation KW - Neoplasm Proteins KW - Neoplasms KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Protein Interaction Mapping KW - Signal Transduction AB -

Despite their importance in maintaining the integrity of all cellular pathways, the role of mutations on protein-protein interaction (PPI) interfaces as cancer drivers has not been systematically studied. Here we analyzed the mutation patterns of the PPI interfaces from 10,028 proteins in a pan-cancer cohort of 5,989 tumors from 23 projects of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to find interfaces enriched in somatic missense mutations. To that end we use e-Driver, an algorithm to analyze the mutation distribution of specific protein functional regions. We identified 103 PPI interfaces enriched in somatic cancer mutations. 32 of these interfaces are found in proteins coded by known cancer driver genes. The remaining 71 interfaces are found in proteins that have not been previously identified as cancer drivers even that, in most cases, there is an extensive literature suggesting they play an important role in cancer. Finally, we integrate these findings with clinical information to show how tumors apparently driven by the same gene have different behaviors, including patient outcomes, depending on which specific interfaces are mutated.

VL - 11 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26485003?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - PTMcode v2: a resource for functional associations of post-translational modifications within and between proteins. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2015 A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Letunic, Ivica A1 - Parca, Luca A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Bork, Peer KW - Databases, Protein KW - Internet KW - Protein Interaction Mapping KW - Protein Processing, Post-Translational AB -

The post-translational regulation of proteins is mainly driven by two molecular events, their modification by several types of moieties and their interaction with other proteins. These two processes are interdependent and together are responsible for the function of the protein in a particular cell state. Several databases focus on the prediction and compilation of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and no less on the collection and analysis of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), however, there are no resources that concentrate on describing the regulatory role of PTMs in PPIs. We developed several methods based on residue co-evolution and proximity to predict the functional associations of pairs of PTMs that we apply to modifications in the same protein and between two interacting proteins. In order to make data available for understudied organisms, PTMcode v2 (http://ptmcode.embl.de) includes a new strategy to propagate PTMs from validated modified sites through orthologous proteins. The second release of PTMcode covers 19 eukaryotic species from which we collected more than 300,000 experimentally verified PTMs (>1,300,000 propagated) of 69 types extracting the post-translational regulation of >100,000 proteins and >100,000 interactions. In total, we report 8 million associations of PTMs regulating single proteins and over 9.4 million interplays tuning PPIs.

VL - 43 IS - Database issue U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25361965?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals ZNF408 as a New Gene Associated With Autosomal Recessive Retinitis Pigmentosa with Vitreal Alterations. JF - Human molecular genetics Y1 - 2015 A1 - Avila-Fernandez, Almudena A1 - Perez-Carro, Raquel A1 - Corton, Marta A1 - Lopez-Molina, Maria Isabel A1 - Campello, Laura A1 - Garanto, Alex A1 - Fernadez-Sanchez, Laura A1 - Duijkers, Lonneke A1 - Lopez-Martinez, Miguel Angel A1 - Riveiro-Alvarez, Rosa A1 - da Silva, Luciana Rodrigues Jacy A1 - Sanchez-Alcudia, Rocío A1 - Martin-Garrido, Esther A1 - Reyes, Noelia A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Garcia-Sandoval, Blanca A1 - Collin, Rob W A1 - Cuenca, Nicolas A1 - Ayuso, Carmen AB - Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a group of progressive inherited retinal dystrophies that cause visual impairment as a result of photoreceptor cell death. RP is heterogeneous, both clinically and genetically making difficult to establish precise genotype-phenotype correlations. In a Spanish family with autosomal recessive RP (arRP), homozygosity mapping and whole exome sequencing led to the identification of a homozygous mutation (c.358_359delGT; p.Ala122Leufs*2) in the ZNF408 gene. A screening performed in 217 additional unrelated families revealed another homozygous mutation (c.1621C>T; p.Arg541Cys) in an isolated RP case. ZNF408 encodes a transcription factor that harbors ten predicted C2H2-type fingers thought to be implicated in DNA binding. To elucidate the ZNF408 role in the retina and the pathogenesis of these mutations we have performed different functional studies. By immunohistochemical analysis in healthy human retina, we identified that ZNF408 is expressed in both cone and rod photoreceptors, in a specific type of amacrine and ganglion cells, and in retinal blood vessels. ZNF408 revealed a cytoplasmic localization and a nuclear distribution in areas corresponding with the euchromatin fraction. Immunolocalization studies showed a partial mislocalization of the p.Arg541Cys mutant protein retaining part of the WT protein in the cytoplasm. Our study demonstrates that ZNF408, previously associated with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), is a new gene causing arRP with vitreous condensations supporting the evidence that this protein plays additional functions into the human retina. VL - 24 UR - http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/04/16/hmg.ddv140.abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Whole-exome sequencing reveals ZNF408 as a new gene associated with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa with vitreal alterations. JF - Hum Mol Genet Y1 - 2015 A1 - Avila-Fernandez, Almudena A1 - Perez-Carro, Raquel A1 - Corton, Marta A1 - Lopez-Molina, Maria Isabel A1 - Campello, Laura A1 - Garanto, Alejandro A1 - Fernandez-Sanchez, Laura A1 - Duijkers, Lonneke A1 - Lopez-Martinez, Miguel Angel A1 - Riveiro-Alvarez, Rosa A1 - da Silva, Luciana Rodrigues Jacy A1 - Sanchez-Alcudia, Rocío A1 - Martin-Garrido, Esther A1 - Reyes, Noelia A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Garcia-Sandoval, Blanca A1 - Collin, Rob W J A1 - Cuenca, Nicolas A1 - Ayuso, Carmen KW - Amino Acid Sequence KW - Animals KW - Chlorocebus aethiops KW - Chromosome Mapping KW - COS Cells KW - DNA-Binding Proteins KW - Exome KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Homozygote KW - Humans KW - Molecular Sequence Data KW - Mutant Proteins KW - Pedigree KW - Retina KW - Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells KW - Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells KW - Retinitis pigmentosa KW - Transcription Factors AB -

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of progressive inherited retinal dystrophies that cause visual impairment as a result of photoreceptor cell death. RP is heterogeneous, both clinically and genetically making difficult to establish precise genotype-phenotype correlations. In a Spanish family with autosomal recessive RP (arRP), homozygosity mapping and whole-exome sequencing led to the identification of a homozygous mutation (c.358_359delGT; p.Ala122Leufs*2) in the ZNF408 gene. A screening performed in 217 additional unrelated families revealed another homozygous mutation (c.1621C>T; p.Arg541Cys) in an isolated RP case. ZNF408 encodes a transcription factor that harbors 10 predicted C2H2-type fingers thought to be implicated in DNA binding. To elucidate the ZNF408 role in the retina and the pathogenesis of these mutations we have performed different functional studies. By immunohistochemical analysis in healthy human retina, we identified that ZNF408 is expressed in both cone and rod photoreceptors, in a specific type of amacrine and ganglion cells, and in retinal blood vessels. ZNF408 revealed a cytoplasmic localization and a nuclear distribution in areas corresponding with the euchromatin fraction. Immunolocalization studies showed a partial mislocalization of the p.Arg541Cys mutant protein retaining part of the WT protein in the cytoplasm. Our study demonstrates that ZNF408, previously associated with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), is a new gene causing arRP with vitreous condensations supporting the evidence that this protein plays additional functions into the human retina.

VL - 24 IS - 14 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25882705?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Activation of the Sox2 RR2 Pluripotency Transcriptional Reporter in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines is Dynamic and Labels Cells with Higher Tumorigenic Potential. JF - Front Oncol Y1 - 2014 A1 - Iglesias, Juan Manuel A1 - Leis, Olatz A1 - Pérez Ruiz, Estíbaliz A1 - Gumuzio Barrie, Juan A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Aduriz, Ariane A1 - Beloqui, Izaskun A1 - Hernandez-Garcia, Susana A1 - Lopez-Mato, Maria Paz A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Pandiella, Atanasio A1 - Menendez, Javier A A1 - Martin, Angel Garcia AB -

The striking similarity displayed at the mechanistic level between tumorigenesis and the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells and the fact that genes and pathways relevant for embryonic development are reactivated during tumor progression highlights the link between pluripotency and cancer. Based on these observations, we tested whether it is possible to use a pluripotency-associated transcriptional reporter, whose activation is driven by the SRR2 enhancer from the Sox2 gene promoter (named S4+ reporter), to isolate cancer stem cells (CSCs) from breast cancer cell lines. The S4+ pluripotency transcriptional reporter allows the isolation of cells with enhanced tumorigenic potential and its activation was switched on and off in the cell lines studied, reflecting a plastic cellular process. Microarray analysis comparing the populations in which the reporter construct is active versus inactive showed that positive cells expressed higher mRNA levels of cytokines (IL-8, IL-6, TNF) and genes (such as ATF3, SNAI2, and KLF6) previously related with the CSC phenotype in breast cancer.

VL - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25414831?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Combined genetic and high-throughput strategies for molecular diagnosis of inherited retinal dystrophies. JF - PloS one Y1 - 2014 A1 - de Castro-Miró, Marta A1 - Pomares, Esther A1 - Lorés-Motta, Laura A1 - Tonda, Raul A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Marfany, Gemma A1 - Gonzàlez-Duarte, Roser AB - Most diagnostic laboratories are confronted with the increasing demand for molecular diagnosis from patients and families and the ever-increasing genetic heterogeneity of visual disorders. Concerning Retinal Dystrophies (RD), almost 200 causative genes have been reported to date, and most families carry private mutations. We aimed to approach RD genetic diagnosis using all the available genetic information to prioritize candidates for mutational screening, and then restrict the number of cases to be analyzed by massive sequencing. We constructed and optimized a comprehensive cosegregation RD-chip based on SNP genotyping and haplotype analysis. The RD-chip allows to genotype 768 selected SNPs (closely linked to 100 RD causative genes) in a single cost-, time-effective step. Full diagnosis was attained in 17/36 Spanish pedigrees, yielding 12 new and 12 previously reported mutations in 9 RD genes. The most frequently mutated genes were USH2A and CRB1. Notably, RD3-up to now only associated to Leber Congenital Amaurosis- was identified as causative of Retinitis Pigmentosa. The main assets of the RD-chip are: i) the robustness of the genetic information that underscores the most probable candidates, ii) the invaluable clues in cases of shared haplotypes, which are indicative of a common founder effect, and iii) the detection of extended haplotypes over closely mapping genes, which substantiates cosegregation, although the assumptions in which the genetic analysis is based could exceptionally lead astray. The combination of the genetic approach with whole exome sequencing (WES) greatly increases the diagnosis efficiency, and revealed novel mutations in USH2A and GUCY2D. Overall, the RD-chip diagnosis efficiency ranges from 16% in dominant, to 80% in consanguineous recessive pedigrees, with an average of 47%, well within the upper range of massive sequencing approaches, highlighting the validity of this time- and cost-effective approach whilst high-throughput methodologies become amenable for routine diagnosis in medium sized labs. VL - 9 UR - http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088410 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Comprehensive DNA Methylation Profile of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition. JF - Cancer research Y1 - 2014 A1 - Carmona, F Javier A1 - Davalos, Veronica A1 - Vidal, Enrique A1 - Gomez, Antonio A1 - Heyn, Holger A1 - Hashimoto, Yutaka A1 - Vizoso, Miguel A1 - Martinez-Cardus, Anna A1 - Sayols, Sergi A1 - Ferreira, Humberto A1 - Sanchez-Mut, Jose A1 - Moran, Sebastian A1 - Margeli, Mireia A1 - Castella, Eva A1 - Berdasco, Maria A1 - Stefansson, Olafur Andri A1 - Eyfjord, Jorunn E A1 - Gonzalez-Suarez, Eva A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Orozco, Modesto A1 - Gut, Ivo A1 - Esteller, Manel KW - Methyl-Seq KW - Methylomics KW - Next Generation Sequencing AB - Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a plastic process in which fully differentiated epithelial cells are converted into poorly differentiated, migratory and invasive mesenchymal cells and it has been related to the metastasis potential of tumors. This is a reversible process and cells can also eventually undergo mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). The existence of a dynamic EMT process suggests the involvement of epigenetic shifts in the phenotype. Herein, we obtained the DNA methylomes at single-base resolution of MDCK cells undergoing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and translated the identified differentially methylated regions (DMRs) to human breast cancer cells undergoing a gain of migratory and invasive capabilities associated with the EMT phenotype. We noticed dynamic and reversible changes of DNA methylation, both on promoter sequences and gene-bodies in association with transcription regulation of EMT-related genes. Most importantly, the identified DNA methylation markers of EMT were present in primary mammary tumors in association with the epithelial or the mesenchymal phenotype of the studied breast cancer samples. VL - 74 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25106427 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Deciphering intrafamilial phenotypic variability by exome sequencing in a Bardet-Biedl family. JF - Mol Genet Genomic Med Y1 - 2014 A1 - González-del Pozo, María A1 - Méndez-Vidal, Cristina A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Vela-Boza, Alicia A1 - Bravo-Gil, Nereida A1 - Rueda, Antonio A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Vázquez-Marouschek, Carmen A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Borrego, Salud A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo AB -

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a model ciliopathy characterized by a wide range of clinical variability. The heterogeneity of this condition is reflected in the number of underlying gene defects and the epistatic interactions between the proteins encoded. BBS is generally inherited in an autosomal recessive trait. However, in some families, mutations across different loci interact to modulate the expressivity of the phenotype. In order to investigate the magnitude of epistasis in one BBS family with remarkable intrafamilial phenotypic variability, we designed an exome sequencing-based approach using SOLID 5500xl platform. This strategy allowed the reliable detection of the primary causal mutations in our family consisting of two novel compound heterozygous mutations in McKusick-Kaufman syndrome (MKKS) gene (p.D90G and p.V396F). Additionally, exome sequencing enabled the detection of one novel heterozygous NPHP4 variant which is predicted to activate a cryptic acceptor splice site and is only present in the most severely affected patient. Here, we provide an exome sequencing analysis of a BBS family and show the potential utility of this tool, in combination with network analysis, to detect disease-causing mutations and second-site modifiers. Our data demonstrate how next-generation sequencing (NGS) can facilitate the dissection of epistatic phenomena, and shed light on the genetic basis of phenotypic variability.

VL - 2 IS - 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24689075?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Deciphering intrafamilial phenotypic variability by exome sequencing in a Bardet–Biedl family JF - Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine Y1 - 2014 A1 - González-del Pozo, María A1 - Méndez-Vidal, Cristina A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Vela-Boza, Alicia A1 - Nereida Bravo-Gil A1 - Antonio Rueda A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Vázquez-Marouschek, Carmen A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Borrego, Salud A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo AB - Bardet–Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a model ciliopathy characterized by a wide range of clinical variability. The heterogeneity of this condition is reflected in the number of underlying gene defects and the epistatic interactions between the proteins encoded. BBS is generally inherited in an autosomal recessive trait. However, in some families, mutations across different loci interact to modulate the expressivity of the phenotype. In order to investigate the magnitude of epistasis in one BBS family with remarkable intrafamilial phenotypic variability, we designed an exome sequencing–based approach using SOLID 5500xl platform. This strategy allowed the reliable detection of the primary causal mutations in our family consisting of two novel compound heterozygous mutations in McKusick–Kaufman syndrome (MKKS) gene (p.D90G and p.V396F). Additionally, exome sequencing enabled the detection of one novel heterozygous NPHP4 variant which is predicted to activate a cryptic acceptor splice site and is only present in the most severely affected patient. Here, we provide an exome sequencing analysis of a BBS family and show the potential utility of this tool, in combination with network analysis, to detect disease-causing mutations and second-site modifiers. Our data demonstrate how next-generation sequencing (NGS) can facilitate the dissection of epistatic phenomena, and shed light on the genetic basis of phenotypic variability. VL - 2 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mgg3.50/full ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A New Overgrowth Syndrome is Due to Mutations in RNF125. JF - Human mutation Y1 - 2014 A1 - Tenorio, Jair A1 - Mansilla, Alicia A1 - Valencia, María A1 - Martínez-Glez, Víctor A1 - Romanelli, Valeria A1 - Arias, Pedro A1 - Castrejón, Nerea A1 - Poletta, Fernando A1 - Guillén-Navarro, Encarna A1 - Gordo, Gema A1 - Mansilla, Elena A1 - García-Santiago, Fé A1 - González-Casado, Isabel A1 - Vallespín, Elena A1 - Palomares, María A1 - Mori, María A A1 - Santos-Simarro, Fernando A1 - García-Miñaur, Sixto A1 - Fernández, Luis A1 - Mena, Rocío A1 - Benito-Sanz, Sara A1 - Del Pozo, Angela A1 - Silla, Juan Carlos A1 - Ibañez, Kristina A1 - López-Granados, Eduardo A1 - Martín-Trujillo, Alex A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Heath, Karen E A1 - Campos-Barros, Angel A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Nevado, Julián A1 - Monk, David A1 - Ruiz-Pérez, Víctor L A1 - Lapunzina, Pablo KW - NGS KW - prioritization KW - Rare Disease AB - Overgrowth syndromes (OGS) are a group of disorders in which all parameters of growth and physical development are above the mean for age and sex. We evaluated a series of 270 families from the Spanish Overgrowth Syndrome Registry with no known overgrowth syndrome. We identified one de novo deletion and three missense mutations in RNF125 in six patients from 4 families with overgrowth, macrocephaly, intellectual disability, mild hydrocephaly, hypoglycaemia and inflammatory diseases resembling Sjögren syndrome. RNF125 encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase and is a novel gene of OGS. Our studies of the RNF125 pathway point to upregulation of RIG-I-IPS1-MDA5 and/or disruption of the PI3K-AKT and interferon signaling pathways as the putative final effectors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. VL - 35 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/humu.22689/abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A novel locus for a hereditary recurrent neuropathy on chromosome 21q21. JF - Neuromuscular disorders : NMD Y1 - 2014 A1 - Calpena, E A1 - Martínez-Rubio, D A1 - Arpa, J A1 - García-Peñas, J J A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Palau, F A1 - Espinós, C AB - Hereditary recurrent neuropathies are uncommon. Disorders with a known molecular basis falling within this group include hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) due to the deletion of the PMP22 gene or to mutations in this same gene, and hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy (HNA) caused by mutations in the SEPT9 gene. We report a three-generation family presenting a hereditary recurrent neuropathy without pathological changes in either PMP22 or SEPT9 genes. We performed a genome-wide mapping, which yielded a locus of 12.4Mb on chromosome 21q21. The constructed haplotype fully segregated with the disease and we found significant evidence of linkage. After mutational screening of genes located within this locus, encoding for proteins and microRNAs, as well as analysis of large deletions/insertions, we identified 71 benign polymorphisms. Our findings suggest a novel genetic locus for a recurrent hereditary neuropathy of which the molecular defect remains elusive. Our results further underscore the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of this group of neuropathies. VL - 24 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960896614001060# ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pathway network inference from gene expression data. JF - BMC Syst Biol Y1 - 2014 A1 - Ponzoni, Ignacio A1 - Nueda, María A1 - Tarazona, Sonia A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Dussaut, Julieta A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Conesa, Ana KW - Alzheimer Disease KW - Cell Cycle KW - DNA Replication KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Regulatory Networks KW - Gluconeogenesis KW - Glycolysis KW - Oxidative Phosphorylation KW - Proteolysis KW - Purines KW - Saccharomyces cerevisiae KW - Systems biology KW - Ubiquitin AB -

BACKGROUND: The development of high-throughput omics technologies enabled genome-wide measurements of the activity of cellular elements and provides the analytical resources for the progress of the Systems Biology discipline. Analysis and interpretation of gene expression data has evolved from the gene to the pathway and interaction level, i.e. from the detection of differentially expressed genes, to the establishment of gene interaction networks and the identification of enriched functional categories. Still, the understanding of biological systems requires a further level of analysis that addresses the characterization of the interaction between functional modules.

RESULTS: We present a novel computational methodology to study the functional interconnections among the molecular elements of a biological system. The PANA approach uses high-throughput genomics measurements and a functional annotation scheme to extract an activity profile from each functional block -or pathway- followed by machine-learning methods to infer the relationships between these functional profiles. The result is a global, interconnected network of pathways that represents the functional cross-talk within the molecular system. We have applied this approach to describe the functional transcriptional connections during the yeast cell cycle and to identify pathways that change their connectivity in a disease condition using an Alzheimer example.

CONCLUSIONS: PANA is a useful tool to deepen in our understanding of the functional interdependences that operate within complex biological systems. We show the approach is algorithmically consistent and the inferred network is well supported by the available functional data. The method allows the dissection of the molecular basis of the functional connections and we describe the different regulatory mechanisms that explain the network's topology obtained for the yeast cell cycle data.

VL - 8 Suppl 2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25032889?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Permanent cardiac sarcomere changes in a rabbit model of intrauterine growth restriction. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2014 A1 - Torre, Iratxe A1 - González-Tendero, Anna A1 - García-Cañadilla, Patricia A1 - Crispi, Fátima A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Bijnens, Bart A1 - Iruretagoyena, Igor A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Amat-Roldán, Ivan A1 - Gratacós, Eduard KW - Animals KW - biomarkers KW - Blood Pressure KW - Body Weight KW - Disease Models, Animal KW - Echocardiography KW - Female KW - Fetal Growth Retardation KW - Fetal Heart KW - Fetus KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Organ Size KW - Placenta KW - Pregnancy KW - Rabbits KW - Sarcomeres AB -

BACKGROUND: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) induces fetal cardiac remodelling and dysfunction, which persists postnatally and may explain the link between low birth weight and increased cardiovascular mortality in adulthood. However, the cellular and molecular bases for these changes are still not well understood. We tested the hypothesis that IUGR is associated with structural and functional gene expression changes in the fetal sarcomere cytoarchitecture, which remain present in adulthood.

METHODS AND RESULTS: IUGR was induced in New Zealand pregnant rabbits by selective ligation of the utero-placental vessels. Fetal echocardiography demonstrated more globular hearts and signs of cardiac dysfunction in IUGR. Second harmonic generation microscopy (SHGM) showed shorter sarcomere length and shorter A-band and thick-thin filament interaction lengths, that were already present in utero and persisted at 70 postnatal days (adulthood). Sarcomeric M-band (GO: 0031430) functional term was over-represented in IUGR fetal hearts.

CONCLUSION: The results suggest that IUGR induces cardiac dysfunction and permanent changes on the sarcomere.

VL - 9 IS - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25402351?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Programmed cell death activated by Rose Bengal in Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension cultures requires functional chloroplasts. JF - Journal of experimental botany Y1 - 2014 A1 - Gutiérrez, Jorge A1 - González-Pérez, Sergio A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Daly, Cara T A1 - Lorenzo, Oscar A1 - Revuelta, José L A1 - McCabe, Paul F A1 - Arellano, Juan B AB - Light-grown Arabidopsis thaliana cell suspension culture (ACSC) were subjected to mild photooxidative damage with Rose Bengal (RB) with the aim of gaining a better understanding of singlet oxygen-mediated defence responses in plants. Additionally, ACSC were treated with H2O2 at concentrations that induced comparable levels of protein oxidation damage. Under low to medium light conditions, both RB and H2O2 treatments activated transcriptional defence responses and inhibited photosynthetic activity, but they differed in that programmed cell death (PCD) was only observed in cells treated with RB. When dark-grown ACSC were subjected to RB in the light, PCD was suppressed, indicating that the singlet oxygen-mediated signalling pathway in ACSC requires functional chloroplasts. Analysis of up-regulated transcripts in light-grown ACSC, treated with RB in the light, showed that both singlet oxygen-responsive transcripts and transcripts with a key role in hormone-activated PCD (i.e. ethylene and jasmonic acid) were present. A co-regulation analysis proved that ACSC treated with RB exhibited higher correlation with the conditional fluorescence (flu) mutant than with other singlet oxygen-producing mutants or wild-type plants subjected to high light. However, there was no evidence for the up-regulation of EDS1, suggesting that activation of PCD was not associated with the EXECUTER- and EDS1-dependent signalling pathway described in the flu mutant. Indigo Carmine and Methylene Violet, two photosensitizers unable to enter chloroplasts, did not activate transcriptional defence responses in ACSC; however, whether this was due to their location or to their inherently low singlet oxygen quantum efficiencies was not determined. UR - http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/04/09/jxb.eru151.long ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The role of the interactome in the maintenance of deleterious variability in human populations. JF - Mol Syst Biol Y1 - 2014 A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Jiménez-Almazán, Jorge A1 - Carbonell-Caballero, José A1 - Vela-Boza, Alicia A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Alleles KW - Exome KW - Gene Library KW - Genetic Variation KW - Genetics, Population KW - Genome, Human KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Models, Genetic KW - mutation KW - Phenotype KW - Protein Conformation KW - Protein Interaction Maps KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA KW - Whites AB -

Recent genomic projects have revealed the existence of an unexpectedly large amount of deleterious variability in the human genome. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain such an apparently high mutational load. However, the mechanisms by which deleterious mutations in some genes cause a pathological effect but are apparently innocuous in other genes remain largely unknown. This study searched for deleterious variants in the 1,000 genomes populations, as well as in a newly sequenced population of 252 healthy Spanish individuals. In addition, variants causative of monogenic diseases and somatic variants from 41 chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients were analysed. The deleterious variants found were analysed in the context of the interactome to understand the role of network topology in the maintenance of the observed mutational load. Our results suggest that one of the mechanisms whereby the effect of these deleterious variants on the phenotype is suppressed could be related to the configuration of the protein interaction network. Most of the deleterious variants observed in healthy individuals are concentrated in peripheral regions of the interactome, in combinations that preserve their connectivity, and have a marginal effect on interactome integrity. On the contrary, likely pathogenic cancer somatic deleterious variants tend to occur in internal regions of the interactome, often with associated structural consequences. Finally, variants causative of monogenic diseases seem to occupy an intermediate position. Our observations suggest that the real pathological potential of a variant might be more a systems property rather than an intrinsic property of individual proteins.

VL - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25261458?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Two novel mutations in the BCKDK (branched-chain keto-acid dehydrogenase kinase) gene are responsible for a neurobehavioral deficit in two pediatric unrelated patients. JF - Hum Mutat Y1 - 2014 A1 - García-Cazorla, Angels A1 - Oyarzabal, Alfonso A1 - Fort, Joana A1 - Robles, Concepción A1 - Castejón, Esperanza A1 - Ruiz-Sala, Pedro A1 - Bodoy, Susanna A1 - Merinero, Begoña A1 - Lopez-Sala, Anna A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Nunes, Virginia A1 - Ugarte, Magdalena A1 - Artuch, Rafael A1 - Palacín, Manuel A1 - Rodríguez-Pombo, Pilar A1 - Alcaide, Patricia A1 - Navarrete, Rosa A1 - Sanz, Paloma A1 - Font-Llitjós, Mariona A1 - Vilaseca, Ma Antonia A1 - Ormaizabal, Aida A1 - Pristoupilova, Anna A1 - Agulló, Sergi Beltran KW - Amino Acids, Branched-Chain KW - Developmental Disabilities KW - Fibroblasts KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Mutation, Missense KW - Nervous System Diseases KW - Pediatrics KW - Protein Kinases AB -

Inactivating mutations in the BCKDK gene, which codes for the kinase responsible for the negative regulation of the branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase complex (BCKD), have recently been associated with a form of autism in three families. In this work, two novel exonic BCKDK mutations, c.520C>G/p.R174G and c.1166T>C/p.L389P, were identified at the homozygous state in two unrelated children with persistently reduced body fluid levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), developmental delay, microcephaly, and neurobehavioral abnormalities. Functional analysis of the mutations confirmed the missense character of the c.1166T>C change and showed a splicing defect r.[520c>g;521_543del]/p.R174Gfs1*, for c.520C>G due to the presence of a new donor splice site. Mutation p.L389P showed total loss of kinase activity. Moreover, patient-derived fibroblasts showed undetectable (p.R174Gfs1*) or barely detectable (p.L389P) levels of BCKDK protein and its phosphorylated substrate (phospho-E1α), resulting in increased BCKD activity and the very rapid BCAA catabolism manifested by the patients' clinical phenotype. Based on these results, a protein-rich diet plus oral BCAA supplementation was implemented in the patient homozygous for p.R174Gfs1*. This treatment normalized plasma BCAA levels and improved growth, developmental and behavioral variables. Our results demonstrate that BCKDK mutations can result in neurobehavioral deficits in humans and support the rationale for dietary intervention.

VL - 35 IS - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24449431?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Two Novel Mutations in the BCKDK Gene (Branched-Chain Keto-Acid Dehydrogenase Kinase) are Responsible of a Neurobehavioral Deficit in two Pediatric Unrelated Patients. JF - Human mutation Y1 - 2014 A1 - García-Cazorla, Angels A1 - Oyarzabal, Alfonso A1 - Fort, Joana A1 - Robles, Concepción A1 - Castejón, Esperanza A1 - Ruiz-Sala, Pedro A1 - Bodoy, Susanna A1 - Merinero, Begoña A1 - Lopez-Sala, Anna A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Nunes, Virginia A1 - Ugarte, Magdalena A1 - Artuch, Rafael A1 - Palacín, Manuel A1 - Rodríguez-Pombo, Pilar AB - Inactivating mutations in the BCKDK gene, which codes for the kinase responsible for the negative regulation of the branched-chain keto-acid dehydrogenase complex (BCKD), have recently been associated with a form of autism in three families. In this work, two novel exonic BCKDK mutations, c.520C>G/p.R174G and c.1166T>C/p.L389P, were identified at the homozygous state in two unrelated children with persistently reduced body fluid levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), developmental delay, microcephaly and neurobehavioral abnormalities. Functional analysis of the mutations confirmed the missense character of the c.1166T>C change and showed a splicing defect r.[520c>g;521_543del]/p.R174Gfs1*, for c.520C>G due to the presence of a new donor splice site. Mutation p.L389P showed total loss of kinase activity. Moreover, patient-derived fibroblasts showed undetectable (p.R174Gfs1*) or barely detectable (p.L389P) levels of BCKDK protein and its phosphorylated substrate (phospho-E1α), resulting in increased BCKD activity and the very rapid BCAA catabolism manifested by the patients’ clinical phenotype. Based on these results, a protein-rich diet plus oral BCAA supplementation was implemented in the patient homozygous for p.R174Gfs1*. This treatment normalized plasma BCAA levels and improved growth, developmental and behavioral variables. Our results demonstrate that BCKDK mutations can result in neurobehavioral deficits in humans and support the rationale for dietary intervention. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. VL - 35 UR - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/humu.22513/abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A web tool for the design and management of panels of genes for targeted enrichment and massive sequencing for clinical applications. JF - Nucleic acids research Y1 - 2014 A1 - Alemán, Alejandro A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Joaquín Dopazo KW - Diagnostic KW - Targeted enrichment sequencing KW - WES AB - Disease targeted sequencing is gaining importance as a powerful and cost-effective application of high throughput sequencing technologies to the diagnosis. However, the lack of proper tools to process the data hinders its extensive adoption. Here we present TEAM, an intuitive and easy-to-use web tool that fills the gap between the predicted mutations and the final diagnostic in targeted enrichment sequencing analysis. The tool searches for known diagnostic mutations, corresponding to a disease panel, among the predicted patient’s variants. Diagnostic variants for the disease are taken from four databases of disease-related variants (HGMD-public, HUMSAVAR, ClinVar and COSMIC.) If no primary diagnostic variant is found, then a list of secondary findings that can help to establish a diagnostic is produced. TEAM also provides with an interface for the definition of and customization of panels, by means of which, genes and mutations can be added or discarded to adjust panel definitions. TEAM is freely available at: http://team.babelomics.org. VL - 42 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=24861626 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A web-based interactive framework to assist in the prioritization of disease candidate genes in whole-exome sequencing studies. JF - Nucleic acids research Y1 - 2014 A1 - Alemán, Alejandro A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Salavert, Francisco A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Joaquín Dopazo KW - NGS. prioritization AB - Whole-exome sequencing has become a fundamental tool for the discovery of disease-related genes of familial diseases and the identification of somatic driver variants in cancer. However, finding the causal mutation among the enormous background of individual variability in a small number of samples is still a big challenge. Here we describe a web-based tool, BiERapp, which efficiently helps in the identification of causative variants in family and sporadic genetic diseases. The program reads lists of predicted variants (nucleotide substitutions and indels) in affected individuals or tumor samples and controls. In family studies, different modes of inheritance can easily be defined to filter out variants that do not segregate with the disease along the family. Moreover, BiERapp integrates additional information such as allelic frequencies in the general population and the most popular damaging scores to further narrow down the number of putative variants in successive filtering steps. BiERapp provides an interactive and user-friendly interface that implements the filtering strategy used in the context of a large-scale genomic project carried out by the Spanish Network for Research in Rare Diseases (CIBERER) in which more than 800 exomes have been analyzed. BiERapp is freely available at: http://bierapp.babelomics.org/ VL - 42 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/42/W1/W88 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Capturing the biological impact of CDKN2A and MC1R genes as an early predisposing event in melanoma and non melanoma skin cancer. JF - Oncotarget Y1 - 2013 A1 - Puig-Butille, Joan Anton A1 - Escamez, Maria José A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Tell-Marti, Gemma A1 - Fabra, Angels A1 - Martínez-Santamaría, Lucía A1 - Badenas, Celia A1 - Aguilera, Paula A1 - Pevida, Marta A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Del Rio, Marcela A1 - Puig, Susana AB - Germline mutations in CDKN2A and/or red hair color variants in MC1R genes are associated with an increased susceptibility to develop cutaneous melanoma or non melanoma skin cancer. We studied the impact of the CDKN2A germinal mutation p.G101W and MC1R variants on gene expression and transcription profiles associated with skin cancer. To this end we set-up primary skin cell co-cultures from siblings of melanoma prone-families that were later analyzed using the expression array approach. As a result, we found that 1535 transcripts were deregulated in CDKN2A mutated cells, with over-expression of immunity-related genes (HLA-DPB1, CLEC2B, IFI44, IFI44L, IFI27, IFIT1, IFIT2, SP110 and IFNK) and down-regulation of genes playing a role in the Notch signaling pathway. 3570 transcripts were deregulated in MC1R variant carriers. In particular, genes related to oxidative stress and DNA damage pathways were up-regulated as well as genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer and Huntington. Finally, we observed that the expression signatures indentified in phenotypically normal cells carrying CDKN2A mutations or MC1R variants are maintained in skin cancer tumors (melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma). These results indicate that transcriptome deregulation represents an early event critical for skin cancer development. UR - http://www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget/index.php?journal=oncotarget&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=1444&path%5B%5D=1824 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Defining the genomic signature of totipotency and pluripotency during early human development. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2013 A1 - Galan, Amparo A1 - Diaz-Gimeno, Patricia A1 - Poo, Maria Eugenia A1 - Valbuena, Diana A1 - Sanchez, Eva A1 - Ruiz, Veronica A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Conesa, Ana A1 - Simon, Carlos KW - Blastocyst Inner Cell Mass KW - Blastomeres KW - Cell Differentiation KW - Embryonic Development KW - Embryonic Stem Cells KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Regulatory Networks KW - Genome, Human KW - Humans KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation KW - Pluripotent Stem Cells KW - Totipotent Stem Cells AB -

The genetic mechanisms governing human pre-implantation embryo development and the in vitro counterparts, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), still remain incomplete. Previous global genome studies demonstrated that totipotent blastomeres from day-3 human embryos and pluripotent inner cell masses (ICMs) from blastocysts, display unique and differing transcriptomes. Nevertheless, comparative gene expression analysis has revealed that no significant differences exist between hESCs derived from blastomeres versus those obtained from ICMs, suggesting that pluripotent hESCs involve a new developmental progression. To understand early human stages evolution, we developed an undifferentiation network signature (UNS) and applied it to a differential gene expression profile between single blastomeres from day-3 embryos, ICMs and hESCs. This allowed us to establish a unique signature composed of highly interconnected genes characteristic of totipotency (61 genes), in vivo pluripotency (20 genes), and in vitro pluripotency (107 genes), and which are also proprietary according to functional analysis. This systems biology approach has led to an improved understanding of the molecular and signaling processes governing human pre-implantation embryo development, as well as enabling us to comprehend how hESCs might adapt to in vitro culture conditions.

VL - 8 IS - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23614026?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Docencia en Estadística: Experiencias de Innovación T2 - III Jornadas de Intercambio de Experiencias de Innovación Educativa en Estadística Y1 - 2013 A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Montaner, David JF - III Jornadas de Intercambio de Experiencias de Innovación Educativa en Estadística VL - 1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exome sequencing identifies a new mutation in SERAC1 in a patient with 3-methylglutaconic aciduria. JF - Mol Genet Metab Y1 - 2013 A1 - Tort, Frederic A1 - García-Silva, María Teresa A1 - Ferrer-Cortès, Xènia A1 - Navarro-Sastre, Aleix A1 - Garcia-Villoria, Judith A1 - Coll, Maria Josep A1 - Vidal, Enrique A1 - Jiménez-Almazán, Jorge A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Briones, Paz A1 - Elpeleg, Orly A1 - Ribes, Antonia KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases KW - Child KW - Exome KW - Female KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans KW - Infant KW - Male KW - Metabolism, Inborn Errors KW - mutation AB -

3-Methylglutaconic aciduria (3-MGA-uria) is a heterogeneous group of syndromes characterized by an increased excretion of 3-methylglutaconic and 3-methylglutaric acids. Five types of 3-MGA-uria (I to V) with different clinical presentations have been described. Causative mutations in TAZ, OPA3, DNAJC19, ATP12, ATP5E, and TMEM70 have been identified. After excluding the known genetic causes of 3-MGA-uria we used exome sequencing to investigate a patient with Leigh syndrome and 3-MGA-uria. We identified a homozygous variant in SERAC1 (c.202C>T; p.Arg68*), that generates a premature stop codon at position 68 of SERAC1 protein. Western blot analysis in patient's fibroblasts showed a complete absence of SERAC1 that was consistent with the prediction of a truncated protein and supports the pathogenic role of the mutation. During the course of this project a parallel study identified mutations in SERAC1 as the genetic cause of the disease in 15 patients with MEGDEL syndrome, which was compatible with the clinical and biochemical phenotypes of the patient described here. In addition, our patient developed microcephaly and optic atrophy, two features not previously reported in MEGDEL syndrome. We highlight the usefulness of exome sequencing to reveal the genetic bases of human rare diseases even if only one affected individual is available.

VL - 110 IS - 1-2 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23707711?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Grape antioxidant dietary fiber (GADF) inhibits intestinal polyposis in ApcMin/+ mice: relation to cell cycle and immune response. JF - Carcinogenesis Y1 - 2013 A1 - Sánchez-Tena, Susana A1 - Lizarraga, Daneida A1 - Miranda, Anibal A1 - Vinardell, Maria Pilar A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Torres, Josep Lluís A1 - Saura-Calixto, Fulgencio A1 - Capellà, Gabriel A1 - Cascante, Marta AB - Epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that fiber and phenolic compounds might have a protective effect on the development of colon cancer in humans. Accordingly, we assessed the chemopreventive efficacy and associated mechanisms of action of a lyophilized red grape pomace containing proanthocyanidin-rich dietary fiber (Grape Antioxidant Dietary Fiber, GADF) on spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis in the Apc(Min/+) mouse model. Mice were fed a standard diet (control group) or a 1% (w/w) GADF-supplemented diet (GADF group) for 6 weeks. GADF supplementation greatly reduced intestinal tumorigenesis, significantly decreasing the total number of polyps by 76%. Moreover, size distribution analysis showed a considerable reduction in all polyp size categories [diameter <1 mm (65%), 1-2 mm (67%) and >2 mm (87%)]. In terms of polyp formation in the proximal, middle and distal portions of the small intestine a decrease of 76%, 81% and 73% was observed respectively. Putative molecular mechanisms underlying the inhibition of intestinal tumorigenesis were investigated by comparison of microarray expression profiles of GADF-treated and non-treated mice. We observed that the effects of GADF are mainly associated with the induction of a G1 cell cycle arrest and the downregulation of genes related to the immune response and inflammation. Our findings show for the first time the efficacy and associated mechanisms of action of GADF against intestinal tumorigenesis in Apc(Min/+) mice, suggesting its potential for the prevention of colorectal cancer. UR - http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/04/23/carcin.bgt140.abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Grape antioxidant dietary fiber inhibits intestinal polyposis in ApcMin/+ mice: relation to cell cycle and immune response. JF - Carcinogenesis Y1 - 2013 A1 - Sánchez-Tena, Susana A1 - Lizarraga, Daneida A1 - Miranda, Anibal A1 - Vinardell, Maria P A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Torres, Josep L A1 - Saura-Calixto, Fulgencio A1 - Capellà, Gabriel A1 - Cascante, Marta KW - Animals KW - Antioxidants KW - Body Weight KW - Carcinogenesis KW - Cell Cycle KW - Cell Cycle Checkpoints KW - Colorectal Neoplasms KW - Dietary Fiber KW - Dietary Supplements KW - Down-Regulation KW - G1 Phase KW - Inflammation KW - Intestinal Polyposis KW - Intestinal Polyps KW - Intestine, Small KW - Male KW - Mice KW - Transcriptome KW - Vitis AB -

Epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that fiber and phenolic compounds might have a protective effect on the development of colon cancer in humans. Accordingly, we assessed the chemopreventive efficacy and associated mechanisms of action of a lyophilized red grape pomace containing proanthocyanidin (PA)-rich dietary fiber [grape antioxidant dietary fiber (GADF)] on spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis in the Apc(Min/+) mouse model. Mice were fed a standard diet (control group) or a 1% (w/w) GADF-supplemented diet (GADF group) for 6 weeks. GADF supplementation greatly reduced intestinal tumorigenesis, significantly decreasing the total number of polyps by 76%. Moreover, size distribution analysis showed a considerable reduction in all polyp size categories [diameter <1mm (65%), 1-2mm (67%) and >2mm (87%)]. In terms of polyp formation in the proximal, middle and distal portions of the small intestine, a decrease of 76, 81 and 73% was observed, respectively. Putative molecular mechanisms underlying the inhibition of intestinal tumorigenesis were investigated by comparison of microarray expression profiles of GADF-treated and non-treated mice. We observed that the effects of GADF are mainly associated with the induction of a G1 cell cycle arrest and the downregulation of genes related to the immune response and inflammation. Our findings show for the first time the efficacy and associated mechanisms of action of GADF against intestinal tumorigenesis in Apc(Min/+) mice, suggesting its potential for the prevention of colorectal cancer.

VL - 34 IS - 8 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23615403?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Intrauterine growth restriction is associated with cardiac ultrastructural and gene expression changes related to the energetic metabolism in a rabbit model. JF - Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol Y1 - 2013 A1 - González-Tendero, Anna A1 - Torre, Iratxe A1 - García-Cañadilla, Patricia A1 - Crispi, Fátima A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Bijnens, Bart A1 - Gratacós, Eduard KW - Animals KW - Disease Models, Animal KW - Energy Metabolism KW - Female KW - Fetal Growth Retardation KW - gene expression KW - Mitochondria KW - Myocardium KW - Oxidative Phosphorylation KW - Placenta KW - Pregnancy KW - Rabbits AB -

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) affects 7-10% of pregnancies and is associated with cardiovascular remodeling and dysfunction, which persists into adulthood. The underlying subcellular remodeling and cardiovascular programming events are still poorly documented. Cardiac muscle is central in the fetal adaptive mechanism to IUGR given its high energetic demands. The energetic homeostasis depends on the correct interaction of several molecular pathways and the adequate arrangement of intracellular energetic units (ICEUs), where mitochondria interact with the contractile machinery and the main cardiac ATPases to enable a quick and efficient energy transfer. We studied subcellular cardiac adaptations to IUGR in an experimental rabbit model. We evaluated the ultrastructure of ICEUs with transmission electron microscopy and observed an altered spatial arrangement in IUGR, with significant increases in cytosolic space between mitochondria and myofilaments. A global decrease of mitochondrial density was also observed. In addition, we conducted a global gene expression profile by advanced bioinformatics tools to assess the expression of genes involved in the cardiomyocyte energetic metabolism and identified four gene modules with a coordinated over-representation in IUGR: oxygen homeostasis (GO: 0032364), mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I (GO:0005747), oxidative phosphorylation (GO: 0006119), and NADH dehydrogenase activity (GO:0003954). These findings might contribute to changes in energetic homeostasis in IUGR. The potential persistence and role of these changes in long-term cardiovascular programming deserves further investigation.

VL - 305 IS - 12 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24097427?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mammosphere formation in breast carcinoma cell lines depends upon expression of E-cadherin. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2013 A1 - Manuel Iglesias, Juan A1 - Beloqui, Izaskun A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Leis, Olatz A1 - Vazquez-Martin, Alejandro A1 - Eguiara, Arrate A1 - Cufi, Silvia A1 - Pavon, Andres A1 - Menendez, Javier A A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Martin, Angel G KW - Breast Neoplasms KW - Cadherins KW - Cell Line, Tumor KW - Cell Proliferation KW - Cluster Analysis KW - Female KW - gene expression KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic KW - Gene Knockdown Techniques KW - Humans KW - MCF-7 Cells KW - Neoplastic Stem Cells KW - Spheroids, Cellular KW - Tumor Cells, Cultured AB -

Tumors are heterogeneous at the cellular level where the ability to maintain tumor growth resides in discrete cell populations. Floating sphere-forming assays are broadly used to test stem cell activity in tissues, tumors and cell lines. Spheroids are originated from a small population of cells with stem cell features able to grow in suspension culture and behaving as tumorigenic in mice. We tested the ability of eleven common breast cancer cell lines representing the major breast cancer subtypes to grow as mammospheres, measuring the ability to maintain cell viability upon serial non-adherent passage. Only MCF7, T47D, BT474, MDA-MB-436 and JIMT1 were successfully propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures, measured as the increase in the number of viable cells upon serial non-adherent passages. Other cell lines tested (SKBR3, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-435) formed cell clumps that can be disaggregated mechanically, but cell viability drops dramatically on their second passage. HCC1937 and HCC1569 cells formed typical mammospheres, although they could not be propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures. All the sphere forming lines but MDA-MB-436 express E-cadherin on their surface. Knock down of E-cadherin expression in MCF-7 cells abrogated its ability to grow as mammospheres, while re-expression of E-cadherin in SKBR3 cells allow them to form mammospheres. Therefore, the mammosphere assay is suitable to reveal stem like features in breast cancer cell lines that express E-cadherin.

VL - 8 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24124614?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mammosphere Formation in Breast Carcinoma Cell Lines Depends upon Expression of E-cadherin JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2013 A1 - Manuel Iglesias, Juan A1 - Beloqui, Izaskun A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Leis, Olatz A1 - Vazquez-Martin, Alejandro A1 - Eguiara, Arrate A1 - Cufi, Silvia A1 - Pavon, Andres A1 - Menendez, Javier A. A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Martin, Angel G. AB -

Tumors are heterogeneous at the cellular level where the ability to maintain tumor growth resides in discrete cell populations. Floating sphere-forming assays are broadly used to test stem cell activity in tissues, tumors and cell lines. Spheroids are originated from a small population of cells with stem cell features able to grow in suspension culture and behaving as tumorigenic in mice. We tested the ability of eleven common breast cancer cell lines representing the major breast cancer subtypes to grow as mammospheres, measuring the ability to maintain cell viability upon serial non-adherent passage. Only MCF7, T47D, BT474, MDA-MB-436 and JIMT1 were successfully propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures, measured as the increase in the number of viable cells upon serial non-adherent passages. Other cell lines tested (SKBR3, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-435) formed cell clumps that can be disaggregated mechanically, but cell viability drops dramatically on their second passage. HCC1937 and HCC1569 cells formed typical mammospheres, although they could not be propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures. All the sphere forming lines but MDA-MB-436 express E-cadherin on their surface. Knock down of E-cadherin expression in MCF-7 cells abrogated its ability to grow as mammospheres, while re-expression of E-cadherin in SKBR3 cells allow them to form mammospheres. Therefore, the mammosphere assay is suitable to reveal stem like features in breast cancer cell lines that express E-cadherin.

PB - Public Library of Science VL - 8 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0077281 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Maslinic Acid-Enriched Diet Decreases Intestinal Tumorigenesis in Apc(Min/+) Mice through Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Reprogramming. JF - PloS one Y1 - 2013 A1 - Sánchez-Tena, Susana A1 - Reyes-Zurita, Fernando J A1 - Díaz-Moralli, Santiago A1 - Vinardell, Maria Pilar A1 - Reed, Michelle A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Lupiáñez, José A A1 - Günther, Ulrich A1 - Cascante, Marta AB - Chemoprevention is a pragmatic approach to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in western countries. In this regard, maslinic acid (MA), a pentacyclic triterpene extracted from wax-like coatings of olives, is known to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in colon cancer cell lines without affecting normal intestinal cells. The present study evaluated the chemopreventive efficacy and associated mechanisms of maslinic acid treatment on spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis in Apc(Min/+) mice. Twenty-two mice were randomized into 2 groups: control group and MA group, fed with a maslinic acid-supplemented diet for six weeks. MA treatment reduced total intestinal polyp formation by 45% (P<0.01). Putative molecular mechanisms associated with suppressing intestinal polyposis in Apc(Min/+) mice were investigated by comparing microarray expression profiles of MA-treated and control mice and by analyzing the serum metabolic profile using NMR techniques. The different expression phenotype induced by MA suggested that it exerts its chemopreventive action mainly by inhibiting cell-survival signaling and inflammation. These changes eventually induce G1-phase cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Moreover, the metabolic changes induced by MA treatment were associated with a protective profile against intestinal tumorigenesis. These results show the efficacy and underlying mechanisms of MA against intestinal tumor development in the Apc(Min/+) mice model, suggesting its chemopreventive potential against colorectal cancer. VL - 8 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Multicore and Cloud-based Solutions for Genomic Variant Analysis T2 - Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Parallel Processing Workshops Y1 - 2013 A1 - Gonzalez, Cristina Y. A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Salavert, Francisco A1 - Sánchez, Rubén A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Medina, Ignacio KW - genomic variant analysis KW - multicore KW - mutation KW - OpenMP KW - web service JF - Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Parallel Processing Workshops PB - Springer-Verlag CY - Berlin, Heidelberg SN - 978-3-642-36948-3 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36949-0_30 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Novel genes detected by transcriptional profiling from whole-blood cells in patients with early onset of acute coronary syndrome. JF - Clin Chim Acta Y1 - 2013 A1 - Silbiger, Vivian N A1 - Luchessi, André D A1 - Hirata, Rosário D C A1 - Lima-Neto, Lídio G A1 - Cavichioli, Débora A1 - Carracedo, Ángel A1 - Brión, Maria A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dos Santos, Elizabete S A1 - Ramos, Rui F A1 - Sampaio, Marcelo F A1 - Armaganijan, Dikran A1 - Sousa, Amanda G M R A1 - Hirata, Mario H KW - Acute Coronary Syndrome KW - Acute-Phase Proteins KW - Adult KW - biomarkers KW - Blood Cells KW - Early Diagnosis KW - gene expression KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - RNA, Messenger KW - Transcriptome AB -

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide expression analysis using microarrays has been used as a research strategy to discovery new biomarkers and candidate genes for a number of diseases. We aim to find new biomarkers for the prediction of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with a differentially expressed mRNA profiling approach using whole genomic expression analysis in a peripheral blood cell model from patients with early ACS.

METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was carried out in two phases. On phase 1 a restricted clinical criteria (ACS-Ph1, n=9 and CG-Ph1, n=6) was used in order to select potential mRNA biomarkers candidates. A subsequent phase 2 study was performed using selected phase 1 markers analyzed by RT-qPCR using a larger and independent casuistic (ACS-Ph2, n=74 and CG-Ph2, n=41). A total of 549 genes were found to be differentially expressed in the first 48 h after the ACS-Ph1. Technical and biological validation further confirmed that ALOX15, AREG, BCL2A1, BCL2L1, CA1, COX7B, ECHDC3, IL18R1, IRS2, KCNE1, MMP9, MYL4 and TREML4, are differentially expressed in both phases of this study.

CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptomic analysis by microarray technology demonstrated differential expression during a 48 h time course suggesting a potential use of some of these genes as biomarkers for very early stages of ACS, as well as for monitoring early cardiac ischemic recovery.

VL - 421 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23535507?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Novel genes detected by transcriptional profiling from whole-blood cells in patients with early onset of acute coronary syndrome: Transcriptional profiling of acute coronary syndrome. JF - Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry Y1 - 2013 A1 - Silbiger, Vivian N A1 - Luchessi, André D A1 - Hirata, Rosário D C A1 - Lima-Neto, Lídio G A1 - Cavichioli, Débora A1 - Carracedo, Ángel A1 - Brión, Maria A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dos Santos, Elizabete S A1 - Ramos, Rui F A1 - Sampaio, Marcelo F A1 - Armaganijan, Dikran A1 - Sousa, Amanda G M R A1 - Hirata, Mario H AB - {BACKGROUND: Genome-wide expression analysis using microarrays has been used as a research strategy to discovery new biomarkers and candidate genes for a number of diseases. We aim to find new biomarkers for the prediction of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with a differentially expressed mRNA profiling approach using whole genomic expression analysis in a peripheral blood cell model from patients with early ACS. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was carried out in two phases. On phase 1 a restricted clinical criteria (ACS-Ph1 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pathways systematically associated to Hirschsprung’s disease. JF - Orphanet journal of rare diseases Y1 - 2013 A1 - Fernández, Raquel M A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Arnold, Stacey A1 - Sribudiani, Yunia A1 - Besmond, Claude A1 - Lantieri, Francesca A1 - Doan, Betty A1 - Ceccherini, Isabella A1 - Lyonnet, Stanislas A1 - Hofstra, Robert Mw A1 - Chakravarti, Aravinda A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Borrego, Salud KW - GWAS KW - Hirschprung KW - network analysis KW - Pathway Based Analysis AB - Despite it has been reported that several loci are involved in Hirschsprung’s disease, the molecular basis of the disease remains yet essentially unknown. The study of collective properties of modules of functionally-related genes provides an efficient and sensitive statistical framework that can overcome sample size limitations in the study of rare diseases. Here, we present the extension of a previous study of a Spanish series of HSCR trios to an international cohort of 162 HSCR trios to validate the generality of the underlying functional basis of the Hirschsprung’s disease mechanisms previously found. The Pathway-Based Analysis (PBA) confirms a strong association of gene ontology (GO) modules related to signal transduction and its regulation, enteric nervous system (ENS) formation and other processes related to the disease. In addition, network analysis recovers sub-networks significantly associated to the disease, which contain genes related to the same functionalities, thus providing an independent validation of these findings. The functional profiles of association obtained for patients populations from different countries were compared to each other. While gene associations were different at each series, the main functional associations were identical in all the five populations. These observations would also explain the reported low reproducibility of associations of individual disease genes across populations. VL - 8 UR - http://www.ojrd.com/content/8/1/187/abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pathways systematically associated to Hirschsprung's disease. JF - Orphanet J Rare Dis Y1 - 2013 A1 - Fernández, Raquel M A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Arnold, Stacey A1 - Sribudiani, Yunia A1 - Besmond, Claude A1 - Lantieri, Francesca A1 - Doan, Betty A1 - Ceccherini, Isabella A1 - Lyonnet, Stanislas A1 - Hofstra, Robert Mw A1 - Chakravarti, Aravinda A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Borrego, Salud KW - Female KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease KW - Genotype KW - Hirschsprung Disease KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide AB -

Despite it has been reported that several loci are involved in Hirschsprung's disease, the molecular basis of the disease remains yet essentially unknown. The study of collective properties of modules of functionally-related genes provides an efficient and sensitive statistical framework that can overcome sample size limitations in the study of rare diseases. Here, we present the extension of a previous study of a Spanish series of HSCR trios to an international cohort of 162 HSCR trios to validate the generality of the underlying functional basis of the Hirschsprung's disease mechanisms previously found. The Pathway-Based Analysis (PBA) confirms a strong association of gene ontology (GO) modules related to signal transduction and its regulation, enteric nervous system (ENS) formation and other processes related to the disease. In addition, network analysis recovers sub-networks significantly associated to the disease, which contain genes related to the same functionalities, thus providing an independent validation of these findings. The functional profiles of association obtained for patients populations from different countries were compared to each other. While gene associations were different at each series, the main functional associations were identical in all the five populations. These observations would also explain the reported low reproducibility of associations of individual disease genes across populations.

VL - 8 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24289864?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Role of CPI-17 in restoring skin homoeostasis in cutaneous field of cancerization: effects of topical application of a film-forming medical device containing photolyase and UV filters. JF - Exp Dermatol Y1 - 2013 A1 - Puig-Butille, Joan Anton A1 - Malvehy, Josep A1 - Potrony, Miriam A1 - Trullas, Carles A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Puig, Susana KW - Administration, Topical KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Aged, 80 and over KW - Biopsy KW - Deoxyribodipyrimidine Photo-Lyase KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic KW - Homeostasis KW - Humans KW - Inflammation KW - Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins KW - Liposomes KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Muscle Proteins KW - Phenotype KW - Phosphoprotein Phosphatases KW - Reactive Oxygen Species KW - Skin KW - Skin Neoplasms KW - Ultraviolet Rays AB -

Cutaneous field of cancerization (CFC) is caused in part by the carcinogenic effect of the cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers CPD and 6-4 photoproducts (6-4PPs). Photoreactivation is carried out by photolyases which specifically recognize and repair both photoproducts. The study evaluates the molecular effects of topical application of a film-forming medical device containing photolyase and UV filters on the precancerous field in AK from seven patients. Skin improvement after treatment was confirmed in all patients by histopathological and molecular assessment. A gene set analysis showed that skin recovery was associated with biological processes involved in tissue homoeostasis and cell maintenance. The CFC response was associated with over-expression of the CPI-17 gene, and a dependence on the initial expression level was observed (P = 0.001). Low CPI-17 levels were directly associated with pro-inflammatory genes such as TNF (P = 0.012) and IL-1B (P = 0.07). Our results suggest a role for CPI-17 in restoring skin homoeostasis in CFC lesions.

VL - 22 IS - 7 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23800065?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - CellBase, a comprehensive collection of RESTful web services for retrieving relevant biological information from heterogeneous sources. JF - Nucleic acids research Y1 - 2012 A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - De Maria, Alejandro A1 - Salavert, Francisco A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Celma, Matilde A1 - Martin, Ainoha A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Medina, Ignacio AB - During the past years, the advances in high-throughput technologies have produced an unprecedented growth in the number and size of repositories and databases storing relevant biological data. Today, there is more biological information than ever but, unfortunately, the current status of many of these repositories is far from being optimal. Some of the most common problems are that the information is spread out in many small databases; frequently there are different standards among repositories and some databases are no longer supported or they contain too specific and unconnected information. In addition, data size is increasingly becoming an obstacle when accessing or storing biological data. All these issues make very difficult to extract and integrate information from different sources, to analyze experiments or to access and query this information in a programmatic way. CellBase provides a solution to the growing necessity of integration by easing the access to biological data. CellBase implements a set of RESTful web services that query a centralized database containing the most relevant biological data sources. The database is hosted in our servers and is regularly updated. CellBase documentation can be found at http://docs.bioinfo.cipf.es/projects/cellbase. VL - 40 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/W1/W609.long ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Development, Characterization and Experimental Validation of a Cultivated Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) Gene Expression Oligonucleotide Microarray. JF - PloS one Y1 - 2012 A1 - Fernandez, Paula A1 - Soria, Marcelo A1 - Blesa, David A1 - Dirienzo, Julio A1 - Moschen, Sebastián A1 - Rivarola, Máximo A1 - Clavijo, Bernardo Jose A1 - Gonzalez, Sergio A1 - Peluffo, Lucila A1 - Príncipi, Dario A1 - Dosio, Guillermo A1 - Aguirrezabal, Luis A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Hopp, Esteban A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Heinz, Ruth Amelia A1 - Paniego, Norma AB - Oligonucleotide-based microarrays with accurate gene coverage represent a key strategy for transcriptional studies in orphan species such as sunflower, H. annuus L., which lacks full genome sequences. The goal of this study was the development and functional annotation of a comprehensive sunflower unigene collection and the design and validation of a custom sunflower oligonucleotide-based microarray. A large scale EST (>130,000 ESTs) curation, assembly and sequence annotation was performed using Blast2GO (www.blast2go.de). The EST assembly comprises 41,013 putative transcripts (12,924 contigs and 28,089 singletons). The resulting Sunflower Unigen Resource (SUR version 1.0) was used to design an oligonucleotide-based Agilent microarray for cultivated sunflower. This microarray includes a total of 42,326 features: 1,417 Agilent controls, 74 control probes for sunflower replicated 10 times (740 controls) and 40,169 different non-control probes. Microarray performance was validated using a model experiment examining the induction of senescence by water deficit. Pre-processing and differential expression analysis of Agilent microarrays was performed using the Bioconductor limma package. The analyses based on p-values calculated by eBayes (p<0.01) allowed the detection of 558 differentially expressed genes between water stress and control conditions; from these, ten genes were further validated by qPCR. Over-represented ontologies were identified using FatiScan in the Babelomics suite. This work generated a curated and trustable sunflower unigene collection, and a custom, validated sunflower oligonucleotide-based microarray using Agilent technology. Both the curated unigene collection and the validated oligonucleotide microarray provide key resources for sunflower genome analysis, transcriptional studies, and molecular breeding for crop improvement. VL - 7 UR - http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0045899 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Discovering the hidden sub-network component in a ranked list of genes or proteins derived from genomic experiments. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2012 A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Vidal, Enrique A1 - Amadoz, Alicia A1 - De Maria, Alejandro A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Bipolar Disorder KW - Fanconi Anemia KW - Gene Regulatory Networks KW - Genes, Neoplasm KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Protein Interaction Mapping AB -

Genomic experiments (e.g. differential gene expression, single-nucleotide polymorphism association) typically produce ranked list of genes. We present a simple but powerful approach which uses protein-protein interaction data to detect sub-networks within such ranked lists of genes or proteins. We performed an exhaustive study of network parameters that allowed us concluding that the average number of components and the average number of nodes per component are the parameters that best discriminate between real and random networks. A novel aspect that increases the efficiency of this strategy in finding sub-networks is that, in addition to direct connections, also connections mediated by intermediate nodes are considered to build up the sub-networks. The possibility of using of such intermediate nodes makes this approach more robust to noise. It also overcomes some limitations intrinsic to experimental designs based on differential expression, in which some nodes are invariant across conditions. The proposed approach can also be used for candidate disease-gene prioritization. Here, we demonstrate the usefulness of the approach by means of several case examples that include a differential expression analysis in Fanconi Anemia, a genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder and a genome-scale study of essentiality in cancer genes. An efficient and easy-to-use web interface (available at http://www.babelomics.org) based on HTML5 technologies is also provided to run the algorithm and represent the network.

VL - 40 IS - 20 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22844098?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Expression profiling shows differential molecular pathways and provides potential new diagnostic biomarkers for colorectal serrated adenocarcinoma. JF - International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer Y1 - 2012 A1 - Conesa-Zamora, Pablo A1 - García-Solano, José A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Del Carmen Turpin, María A1 - Trujillo-Santos, Javier A1 - Torres-Moreno, Daniel A1 - Oviedo-Ramírez, Isabel A1 - Carbonell-Muñoz, Rosa A1 - Muñoz-Delgado, Encarnación A1 - Rodriguez-Braun, Edith A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Pérez-Guillermo, Miguel AB - Serrated adenocarcinoma (SAC) is a recently recognized colorectal cancer (CRC) subtype accounting for 7.5-8.7% of CRCs. It has been shown that SAC has a poorer prognosis and has different molecular and immunohistochemical features compared to conventional carcinoma (CC) but, to date, only one previous study has analysed its mRNA expression profile by microarray. Using a different microarray platform, we have studied the molecular signature of 11 SACs and compared it with that of 15 matched CC with the aim of discerning the functions which characterize SAC biology and validating, at the mRNA and protein level, the most differentially expressed genes which were also tested using a validation set of 70 SACs and 70 CCs to assess their diagnostic and prognostic values. Microarray data showed a higher representation of morphogenesis-, hypoxia-, cytoskeleton- and vesicle transport-related functions and also an over-expression of fascin1 (actin-bundling protein associated with invasion) and the antiapoptotic gene hippocalcin in SAC all of which were validated both by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Fascin1 expression was statistically associated with KRAS mutation with 88.6% sensitivity and 85.7% specificity for SAC diagnosis and the positivity of fascin1 or hippocalcin was highly suggestive of SAC diagnosis (sensitivity=100%). Evaluation of these markers in CRCs showing histological and molecular characteristics of high-level microsatellite instability (MSI-H) also helped to distinguish SACs from MSI-H CRCs. Molecular profiling demonstrates that SAC shows activation of distinct signalling pathways and that immunohistochemical fascin1 and hippocalcin expression can be reliably used for its differentiation from other CRC subtypes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Four new loci associations discovered by pathway-based and network analyses of the genome-wide variability profile of Hirschsprung’s disease. JF - Orphanet journal of rare diseases Y1 - 2012 A1 - Fernández, Raquel Ma A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Núñez-Torres, Rocío A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Torroglosa, Ana A1 - Marbà, Martina A1 - Enguix-Riego, Ma Valle A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Borrego, Salud AB - ABSTRACT: Finding gene associations in rare diseases is frequently hampered by the reduced numbers of patients accessible. Conventional gene-based association tests rely on the availability of large cohorts, which constitutes a serious limitation for its application in this scenario. To overcome this problem we have used here a combined strategy in which a pathway-based analysis (PBA) has been initially conducted to prioritize candidate genes in a Spanish cohort of 53 trios of short-segment Hirschsprung’s disease. Candidate genes have been further validated in an independent population of 106 trios. The study revealed a strong association of 11 gene ontology (GO) modules related to signal transduction and its regulation, enteric nervous system (ENS) formation and other HSCR-related processes. Among the preselected candidates, a total of 4 loci, RASGEF1A, IQGAP2, DLC1 and CHRNA7, related to signal transduction and migration processes, were found to be significantly associated to HSCR. Network analysis also confirms their involvement in the network of already known disease genes. This approach, based on the study of functionally-related gene sets, requires of lower sample sizes and opens new opportunities for the study of rare diseases. VL - 7 UR - http://www.ojrd.com/content/7/1/103/abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Four new loci associations discovered by pathway-based and network analyses of the genome-wide variability profile of Hirschsprung's disease. JF - Orphanet J Rare Dis Y1 - 2012 A1 - Fernández, Raquel Ma A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Núñez-Torres, Rocío A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Luzón-Toro, Berta A1 - García-Alonso, Luz A1 - Torroglosa, Ana A1 - Marbà, Martina A1 - Enguix-Riego, Ma Valle A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Antiňolo, Guillermo A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Borrego, Salud KW - Female KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Genotype KW - Hirschsprung Disease KW - Humans KW - Male AB -

Finding gene associations in rare diseases is frequently hampered by the reduced numbers of patients accessible. Conventional gene-based association tests rely on the availability of large cohorts, which constitutes a serious limitation for its application in this scenario. To overcome this problem we have used here a combined strategy in which a pathway-based analysis (PBA) has been initially conducted to prioritize candidate genes in a Spanish cohort of 53 trios of short-segment Hirschsprung's disease. Candidate genes have been further validated in an independent population of 106 trios. The study revealed a strong association of 11 gene ontology (GO) modules related to signal transduction and its regulation, enteric nervous system (ENS) formation and other HSCR-related processes. Among the preselected candidates, a total of 4 loci, RASGEF1A, IQGAP2, DLC1 and CHRNA7, related to signal transduction and migration processes, were found to be significantly associated to HSCR. Network analysis also confirms their involvement in the network of already known disease genes. This approach, based on the study of functionally-related gene sets, requires of lower sample sizes and opens new opportunities for the study of rare diseases.

VL - 7 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23270508?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Identification of yeast genes that confer resistance to chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) using chemogenomics. JF - BMC genomics Y1 - 2012 A1 - Jaime, María D L A A1 - Lopez-Llorca, Luis Vicente A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Lee, Anna Y A1 - Proctor, Michael A1 - Heisler, Lawrence E A1 - Gebbia, Marinella A1 - Giaever, Guri A1 - Westwood, J Timothy A1 - Nislow, Corey AB - BACKGROUND: Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), a deacetylated derivative of chitin, is an abundant, and renewable natural polymer. COS has higher antimicrobial properties than chitosan and is presumed to act by disrupting/permeabilizing the cell membranes of bacteria, yeast and fungi. COS is relatively non-toxic to mammals. By identifying the molecular and genetic targets of COS, we hope to gain a better understanding of the antifungal mode of action of COS. RESULTS: Three different chemogenomic fitness assays, haploinsufficiency (HIP), homozygous deletion (HOP), and multicopy suppression (MSP) profiling were combined with a transcriptomic analysis to gain insight in to the mode of action and mechanisms of resistance to chitosan oligosaccharides. The fitness assays identified 39 yeast deletion strains sensitive to COS and 21 suppressors of COS sensitivity. The genes identified are involved in processes such as RNA biology (transcription, translation and regulatory mechanisms), membrane functions (e.g. signalling, transport and targeting), membrane structural components, cell division, and proteasome processes. The transcriptomes of control wild type and 5 suppressor strains overexpressing ARL1, BCK2, ERG24, MSG5, or RBA50, were analyzed in the presence and absence of COS. Some of the up-regulated transcripts in the suppressor overexpressing strains exposed to COS included genes involved in transcription, cell cycle, stress response and the Ras signal transduction pathway. Down-regulated transcripts included those encoding protein folding components and respiratory chain proteins. The COS-induced transcriptional response is distinct from previously described environmental stress responses (i.e. thermal, salt, osmotic and oxidative stress) and pre-treatment with these well characterized environmental stressors provided little or any resistance to COS. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of the ARL1 gene, a member of the Ras superfamily that regulates membrane trafficking, provides protection against COS-induced cell membrane permeability and damage. We found that the ARL1 COS-resistant over-expression strain was as sensitive to Amphotericin B, Fluconazole and Terbinafine as the wild type cells and that when COS and Fluconazole are used in combination they act in a synergistic fashion. The gene targets of COS identified in this study indicate that COS’s mechanism of action is different from other commonly studied fungicides that target membranes, suggesting that COS may be an effective fungicide for drug-resistant fungal pathogens. VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - IL1β induces mesenchymal stem cells migration and leucocyte chemotaxis through NF-κB. JF - Stem Cell Rev Rep Y1 - 2012 A1 - Carrero, Rubén A1 - Cerrada, Inmaculada A1 - Lledó, Elisa A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Rubio, Mari-Paz A1 - Trigueros, César A1 - Dorronsoro, Akaitz A1 - Ruiz-Sauri, Amparo A1 - Montero, José Anastasio A1 - Sepúlveda, Pilar KW - Cell Adhesion KW - Cell Movement KW - Cell Proliferation KW - Chemokines KW - Chemotaxis, Leukocyte KW - Collagen KW - Fibronectins KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Knockdown Techniques KW - HEK293 Cells KW - Humans KW - I-kappa B Kinase KW - Inflammation Mediators KW - Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins KW - Interleukin-1beta KW - Laminin KW - Leukocytes KW - Mesenchymal Stem Cells KW - NF-kappa B KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - RNA Interference KW - Signal Transduction AB -

Mesenchymal stem cells are often transplanted into inflammatory environments where they are able to survive and modulate host immune responses through a poorly understood mechanism. In this paper we analyzed the responses of MSC to IL-1β: a representative inflammatory mediator. Microarray analysis of MSC treated with IL-1β revealed that this cytokine activateds a set of genes related to biological processes such as cell survival, cell migration, cell adhesion, chemokine production, induction of angiogenesis and modulation of the immune response. Further more detailed analysis by real-time PCR and functional assays revealed that IL-1β mainly increaseds the production of chemokines such as CCL5, CCL20, CXCL1, CXCL3, CXCL5, CXCL6, CXCL10, CXCL11 and CX(3)CL1, interleukins IL-6, IL-8, IL23A, IL32, Toll-like receptors TLR2, TLR4, CLDN1, metalloproteins MMP1 and MMP3, growth factors CSF2 and TNF-α, together with adhesion molecules ICAM1 and ICAM4. Functional analysis of MSC proliferation, migration and adhesion to extracellular matrix components revealed that IL-1β did not affect proliferation but also served to induce the secretion of trophic factors and adhesion to ECM components such as collagen and laminin. IL-1β treatment enhanced the ability of MSC to recruit monocytes and granulocytes in vitro. Blockade of NF-κβ transcription factor activation with IκB kinase beta (IKKβ) shRNA impaired MSC migration, adhesion and leucocyte recruitment, induced by IL-1β demonstrating that NF-κB pathway is an important downstream regulator of these responses. These findings are relevant to understanding the biological responses of MSC to inflammatory environments.

VL - 8 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22467443?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The protease MT1-MMP drives a combinatorial proteolytic program in activated endothelial cells. JF - FASEB J Y1 - 2012 A1 - Koziol, Agnieszka A1 - Gonzalo, Pilar A1 - Mota, Alba A1 - Pollán, Angela A1 - Lorenzo, Cristina A1 - Colomé, Nuria A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Arribas, Joaquín A1 - Canals, Francesc A1 - Arroyo, Alicia G KW - Animals KW - Blotting, Western KW - Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques KW - Computational Biology KW - Endothelial Cells KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic KW - Inflammation KW - Matrix Metalloproteinase 14 KW - Mice KW - Protein Array Analysis KW - Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction KW - RNA Interference KW - RNA, Small Interfering KW - Transcriptome KW - Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha AB -

The mechanism by which proteolytic events translate into biological responses is not well understood. To explore the link of pericellular proteolysis to events relevant to capillary sprouting within the inflammatory context, we aimed at the identification of the collection of substrates of the protease MT1-MMP in endothelial tip cells induced by inflammatory stimuli. We applied quantitative proteomics to endothelial cells (ECs) derived from wild-type and MT1-MMP-null mice to identify the substrate repertoire of this protease in TNF-α-activated ECs. Bioinformatics analysis revealed a combinatorial MT1-MMP proteolytic program, in which combined rather than single substrate processing would determine biological decisions by activated ECs, including chemotaxis, cell motility and adhesion, and vasculature development. MT1-MMP-deficient ECs inefficiently processed several of these substrates (TSP1, CYR61, NID1, and SEM3C), validating the model. This novel concept of MT1-MMP-driven combinatorial proteolysis in angiogenesis might be extendable to proteolytic actions in other cellular contexts.

VL - 26 IS - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22859368?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Qualimap: evaluating next-generation sequencing alignment data. JF - Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Y1 - 2012 A1 - García-Alcalde, Fernando A1 - Okonechnikov, Konstantin A1 - Carbonell, José A1 - Cruz, Luis M A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - Sonia Tarazona A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Meyer, Thomas F A1 - Ana Conesa KW - NGS AB - MOTIVATION: The sequence alignment/map (SAM) and the binary alignment/map (BAM) formats have become the standard method of representation of nucleotide sequence alignments for next-generation sequencing data. SAM/BAM files usually contain information from tens to hundreds of millions of reads. Often, the sequencing technology, protocol and/or the selected mapping algorithm introduce some unwanted biases in these data. The systematic detection of such biases is a non-trivial task that is crucial to drive appropriate downstream analyses. RESULTS: We have developed Qualimap, a Java application that supports user-friendly quality control of mapping data, by considering sequence features and their genomic properties. Qualimap takes sequence alignment data and provides graphical and statistical analyses for the evaluation of data. Such quality-control data are vital for highlighting problems in the sequencing and/or mapping processes, which must be addressed prior to further analyses. AVAILABILITY: Qualimap is freely available from http://www.qualimap.org. CONTACT: aconesa@cipf.es SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. VL - 28 UR - http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/28/20/2678.long ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transdifferentiation of MALME-3M and MCF-7 Cells toward Adipocyte-like Cells is Dependent on Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis. JF - SpringerPlus Y1 - 2012 A1 - Carcel-Trullols, Jaime A1 - Aguilar-Gallardo, Cristóbal A1 - García-Alcalde, Fernando A1 - Pardo-Cea, Miguel Angel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Simon, Carlos AB - ABSTRACT: Enforced cell transdifferentiation of human cancer cells is a promising alternative to conventional chemotherapy. We previously identified albumin-associated lipid- and, more specifically, saturated fatty acid-induced transdifferentiation programs in human cancer cells (HCCLs). In this study, we further characterized the adipocyte-like cells, resulting from the transdifferentiation of human cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MALME-3M, and proposed a common mechanistic approach for these transdifferentiating programs. We showed the loss of pigmentation in MALME-3M cells treated with albumin-associated lipids, based on electron microscopic analysis, and the overexpression of perilipin 2 (PLIN2) by western blotting in MALME-3M and MCF-7 cells treated with unsaturated fatty acids. Comparing the gene expression profiles of naive melanoma MALME-3M cells and albumin-associated lipid-treated cells, based on RNA sequencing, we confirmed the transcriptional upregulation of some key adipogenic gene markers and also an alternative splicing of the adipogenic master regulator PPARG, that is probably related to the reported up regulated expression of the protein. Most importantly, these results also showed the upregulation of genes responsible for Clathrin (CLTC) and other adaptor-related proteins. An increase in CLTC expression in the transdifferentiated cells was confirmed by western blotting. Inactivation of CLTC by chlorpromazine (CHP), an inhibitor of CTLC mediated endocytosis (CME), and gene silencing by siRNAs, partially reversed the accumulation of neutral lipids observed in the transdifferentiated cells. These findings give a deeper insight into the phenotypic changes observed in HCCL to adipocyte-like transdifferentiation and point towards CME as a key pathway in distinct transdifferentiation programs. DISCLOSURES: Simon C and Aguilar-Gallardo C are co-inventors of the International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2011/004941 entitled "Methods for tumor treatment and adipogenesis differentiation". VL - 1 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3725915/ ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Using GPUs for the exact alignment of short-read genetic sequences by means of the Burrows-Wheeler transform. JF - IEEE/ACM Trans Comput Biol Bioinform Y1 - 2012 A1 - Salavert Torres, Jose A1 - Blanquer Espert, Ignacio A1 - Domínguez, Andrés Tomás A1 - Hernández García, Vicente A1 - Medina Castelló, Ignacio A1 - Tárraga Giménez, Joaquín A1 - Dopazo Blázquez, Joaquín KW - Algorithms KW - Animals KW - Computational Biology KW - Computer Graphics KW - Data Compression KW - Drosophila melanogaster KW - Genes, Insect KW - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted KW - Models, Genetic KW - Sequence Alignment KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA AB -

General Purpose Graphic Processing Units (GPGPUs) constitute an inexpensive resource for computing-intensive applications that could exploit an intrinsic fine-grain parallelism. This paper presents the design and implementation in GPGPUs of an exact alignment tool for nucleotide sequences based on the Burrows-Wheeler Transform. We compare this algorithm with state-of-the-art implementations of the same algorithm over standard CPUs, and considering the same conditions in terms of I/O. Excluding disk transfers, the implementation of the algorithm in GPUs shows a speedup larger than 12, when compared to CPU execution. This implementation exploits the parallelism by concurrently searching different sequences on the same reference search tree, maximizing memory locality and ensuring a symmetric access to the data. The paper describes the behavior of the algorithm in GPU, showing a good scalability in the performance, only limited by the size of the GPU inner memory.

VL - 9 IS - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22450827?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Using GPUs for the Exact Alignment of Short-Read Genetic Sequences by Means of the Burrows-Wheeler Transform JF - IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Y1 - 2012 A1 - Torres, J. S. A1 - Espert, I. B. A1 - Dominguez, A. T. A1 - Garcia, V. Hernendez A1 - Castello, I. Medina A1 - Gimenez, J. Terraga A1 - Blazquez, J. Dopazo VL - 9 UR - http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6175888/http://xplorestaging.ieee.org/ielx5/8857/6202798/06175888.pdf?arnumber=6175888 IS - 4 JO - IEEE/ACM Trans. Comput. Biol. and Bioinf. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - VARIANT: Command Line, Web service and Web interface for fast and accurate functional characterization of variants found by Next-Generation Sequencing. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2012 A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - De Maria, Alejandro A1 - Bleda, Marta A1 - Salavert, Francisco A1 - Alonso, Roberto A1 - Gonzalez, Cristina Y A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Databases, Nucleic Acid KW - Genetic Variation KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Internet KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation KW - mutation KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Software KW - User-Computer Interface AB -

The massive use of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies is uncovering an unexpected amount of variability. The functional characterization of such variability, particularly in the most common form of variation found, the Single Nucleotide Variants (SNVs), has become a priority that needs to be addressed in a systematic way. VARIANT (VARIant ANalyis Tool) reports information on the variants found that include consequence type and annotations taken from different databases and repositories (SNPs and variants from dbSNP and 1000 genomes, and disease-related variants from the Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) catalog, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), Catalog of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) mutations, etc). VARIANT also produces a rich variety of annotations that include information on the regulatory (transcription factor or miRNA-binding sites, etc.) or structural roles, or on the selective pressures on the sites affected by the variation. This information allows extending the conventional reports beyond the coding regions and expands the knowledge on the contribution of non-coding or synonymous variants to the phenotype studied. Contrarily to other tools, VARIANT uses a remote database and operates through efficient RESTful Web Services that optimize search and transaction operations. In this way, local problems of installation, update or disk size limitations are overcome without the need of sacrifice speed (thousands of variants are processed per minute). VARIANT is available at: http://variant.bioinfo.cipf.es.

VL - 40 IS - Web Server issue U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22693211?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Whole-genome bisulfite DNA sequencing of a DNMT3B mutant patient. JF - Epigenetics Y1 - 2012 A1 - Heyn, Holger A1 - Vidal, Enrique A1 - Sayols, Sergi A1 - Sanchez-Mut, Jose V A1 - Moran, Sebastian A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Sandoval, Juan A1 - Simó-Riudalbas, Laia A1 - Szczesna, Karolina A1 - Huertas, Dori A1 - Gatto, Sole A1 - Matarazzo, Maria R A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Esteller, Manel KW - B-Lymphocytes KW - Cell Line, Transformed KW - Child, Preschool KW - DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferases KW - DNA Methylation KW - Epigenesis, Genetic KW - Face KW - Female KW - Genome, Human KW - High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing KW - Humans KW - Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes KW - mutation KW - Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA KW - Sulfites AB -

The immunodeficiency, centromere instability and facial anomalies (ICF) syndrome is associated to mutations of the DNA methyl-transferase DNMT3B, resulting in a reduction of enzyme activity. Aberrant expression of immune system genes and hypomethylation of pericentromeric regions accompanied by chromosomal instability were determined as alterations driving the disease phenotype. However, so far only technologies capable to analyze single loci were applied to determine epigenetic alterations in ICF patients. In the current study, we performed whole-genome bisulphite sequencing to assess alteration in DNA methylation at base pair resolution. Genome-wide we detected a decrease of methylation level of 42%, with the most profound changes occurring in inactive heterochromatic regions, satellite repeats and transposons. Interestingly, transcriptional active loci and ribosomal RNA repeats escaped global hypomethylation. Despite a genome-wide loss of DNA methylation the epigenetic landscape and crucial regulatory structures were conserved. Remarkably, we revealed a mislocated activity of mutant DNMT3B to H3K4me1 loci resulting in hypermethylation of active promoters. Functionally, we could associate alterations in promoter methylation with the ICF syndrome immunodeficient phenotype by detecting changes in genes related to the B-cell receptor mediated maturation pathway.

VL - 7 IS - 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22595875?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - B2G-FAR, a species centered GO annotation repository. JF - Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Y1 - 2011 A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - Arnold, Roland A1 - Sebastián-Leon, Patricia A1 - Martín-Rodríguez, Samuel A1 - Tischler, Patrick A1 - Jehl, Marc-André A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Rattei, Thomas A1 - Ana Conesa AB -

MOTIVATION: Functional genomics research has expanded enormously in the last decade thanks to the cost-reduction in high-throughput technologies and the development of computational tools that generate, standardize and share information on gene and protein function such as the Gene Ontology (GO). Nevertheless many biologists, especially working with non-model organisms, still suffer from non-existing or low coverage functional annotation, or simply struggle retrieving, summarizing and querying these data. RESULTS: The Blast2GO Functional Annotation Repository (B2G-FAR) is a bioinformatics resource envisaged to provide functional information for otherwise uncharacterized sequence-data and offers data-mining tools to analyze a larger repertoire of species than currently available. This new annotation resource has been created by applying the Blast2GO functional annotation engine in a strongly high-throughput manner to the entire space of public available sequences. The resulting repository contains GO term predictions for over 13.2 million non-redundant protein sequences based on BLAST search alignments from the SIMAP database. We generated GO annotation for approximately 150.000 different taxa making available the 2000 species with the highest coverage through B2G-FAR. A second section within B2G-FAR holds functional annotations for 17 non-model organism Affymetrix GeneChips. Conclusions: B2G-FAR provides easy access to exhaustive functional annotation for 2000 species offering a good balance between quality and quantity, thereby supporting functional genomics research especially in the case of non-model organisms. AVAILABILITY: The annotation resource is available at http://b2gfar.bioinfo.cipf.es. CONTACT: aconesa@cipf.es, sgoetz@cipf.es.

VL - 27 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Differential expression in RNA-seq: a matter of depth. JF - Genome Res Y1 - 2011 A1 - Tarazona, Sonia A1 - García-Alcalde, Fernando A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Ferrer, Alberto A1 - Conesa, Ana KW - Algorithms KW - Expressed Sequence Tags KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Humans KW - Models, Genetic KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis AB -

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are revolutionizing genome research, and in particular, their application to transcriptomics (RNA-seq) is increasingly being used for gene expression profiling as a replacement for microarrays. However, the properties of RNA-seq data have not been yet fully established, and additional research is needed for understanding how these data respond to differential expression analysis. In this work, we set out to gain insights into the characteristics of RNA-seq data analysis by studying an important parameter of this technology: the sequencing depth. We have analyzed how sequencing depth affects the detection of transcripts and their identification as differentially expressed, looking at aspects such as transcript biotype, length, expression level, and fold-change. We have evaluated different algorithms available for the analysis of RNA-seq and proposed a novel approach--NOISeq--that differs from existing methods in that it is data-adaptive and nonparametric. Our results reveal that most existing methodologies suffer from a strong dependency on sequencing depth for their differential expression calls and that this results in a considerable number of false positives that increases as the number of reads grows. In contrast, our proposed method models the noise distribution from the actual data, can therefore better adapt to the size of the data set, and is more effective in controlling the rate of false discoveries. This work discusses the true potential of RNA-seq for studying regulation at low expression ranges, the noise within RNA-seq data, and the issue of replication.

VL - 21 IS - 12 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21903743?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Discovery of an ebolavirus-like filovirus in europe. JF - PLoS pathogens Y1 - 2011 A1 - Negredo, Ana A1 - Palacios, Gustavo A1 - Vázquez-Morón, Sonia A1 - González, Félix A1 - Dopazo, Hernán A1 - Molero, Francisca A1 - Juste, Javier A1 - Quetglas, Juan A1 - Savji, Nazir A1 - de la Cruz Martínez, Maria A1 - Herrera, Jesus Enrique A1 - Pizarro, Manuel A1 - Hutchison, Stephen K A1 - Echevarría, Juan E A1 - Lipkin, W Ian A1 - Tenorio, Antonio AB -

Filoviruses, amongst the most lethal of primate pathogens, have only been reported as natural infections in sub-Saharan Africa and the Philippines. Infections of bats with the ebolaviruses and marburgviruses do not appear to be associated with disease. Here we report identification in dead insectivorous bats of a genetically distinct filovirus, provisionally named Lloviu virus, after the site of detection, Cueva del Lloviu, in Spain.

VL - 7 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Does singlet oxygen activate cell death in Arabidopsis cell suspension cultures? Analysis of the early transcriptional defence responses to high light stress. JF - Plant signaling & behavior Y1 - 2011 A1 - Gutiérrez, Jorge A1 - González-Pérez, Sergio A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Lorenzo, Oscar A1 - Arellano, Juan B AB -

Can Arabidopsis cell suspension cultures (ACSC) provide a useful working model to investigate genetically-controlled defence responses with signalling cascades starting in chloroplasts? In order to provide a convincing answer, we analysed the early transcriptional profile of Arabidopsis cells at high light (HL). The results showed that ACSC respond to HL in a manner that resembles the singlet oxygen ( ( 1) O 2)-mediated defence responses described for the conditional fluorescent (flu) mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana. The flu mutant is characterized by the accumulation of free protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) in plastids when put into darkness and the subsequent production of ( 1) O 2 when the light is on. In ACSC, ( 1) O 2 is produced in chloroplasts at HL when excess excitation energy flows into photosystem II (PSII). Other reactive oxygen species are also produced in ACSC at HL, but to a lesser extent. When the HL stress ceases, ACSC recovers the initial rate of oxygen evolution and cell growth continues. We can conclude that chloroplasts of ACSC are both photosynthetically active and capable of initiating ( 1) O 2-mediated signalling cascades that activate a broad range of genetically-controlled defence responses. The up-regulation of transcripts associated with the biosynthesis and signalling pathways of OPDA (12-oxophytodienoic acid) and ethylene (ET) suggests that the activated defence responses at HL are governed by these two hormones. In contrast to the flu mutant, the ( 1) O 2-mediated defence responses were independent of the up-regulation of EDS1 (enhanced disease susceptibility) required for the accumulation of salicylic acid (SA) and genetically-controlled cell death. 

VL - 6 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Early peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma regulated genes involved in expansion of pancreatic beta cell mass. JF - BMC Med Genomics Y1 - 2011 A1 - Vivas, Yurena A1 - Martinez-Garcia, Cristina A1 - Izquierdo, Adriana A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Callejas, Sergio A1 - Velasco, Ismael A1 - Campbell, Mark A1 - Ros, Manuel A1 - Dopazo, Ana A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Vidal-Puig, Antonio A1 - Medina-Gomez, Gema KW - Animals KW - Cell Proliferation KW - Cell Survival KW - Cholesterol KW - Down-Regulation KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Gene Knockout Techniques KW - Insulin Resistance KW - Insulin-Secreting Cells KW - Mice KW - obesity KW - Oxidation-Reduction KW - Phosphorylation KW - PPAR gamma KW - Signal Transduction KW - Transcription, Genetic KW - Transforming Growth Factor beta AB -

BACKGROUND: The progression towards type 2 diabetes depends on the allostatic response of pancreatic beta cells to synthesise and secrete enough insulin to compensate for insulin resistance. The endocrine pancreas is a plastic tissue able to expand or regress in response to the requirements imposed by physiological and pathophysiological states associated to insulin resistance such as pregnancy, obesity or ageing, but the mechanisms mediating beta cell mass expansion in these scenarios are not well defined. We have recently shown that ob/ob mice with genetic ablation of PPARγ2, a mouse model known as the POKO mouse failed to expand its beta cell mass. This phenotype contrasted with the appropriate expansion of the beta cell mass observed in their obese littermate ob/ob mice. Thus, comparison of these models islets particularly at early ages could provide some new insights on early PPARγ dependent transcriptional responses involved in the process of beta cell mass expansion

RESULTS: Here we have investigated PPARγ dependent transcriptional responses occurring during the early stages of beta cell adaptation to insulin resistance in wild type, ob/ob, PPARγ2 KO and POKO mice. We have identified genes known to regulate both the rate of proliferation and the survival signals of beta cells. Moreover we have also identified new pathways induced in ob/ob islets that remained unchanged in POKO islets, suggesting an important role for PPARγ in maintenance/activation of mechanisms essential for the continued function of the beta cell.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the expansion of beta cell mass observed in ob/ob islets is associated with the activation of an immune response that fails to occur in POKO islets. We have also indentified other PPARγ dependent differentially regulated pathways including cholesterol biosynthesis, apoptosis through TGF-β signaling and decreased oxidative phosphorylation.

VL - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22208362?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Early transcriptional defence responses in Arabidopsis cell suspension culture under high light conditions. JF - Plant physiology Y1 - 2011 A1 - González-Pérez, Sergio A1 - Gutiérrez, Jorge A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Osuna, Daniel A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Lorenzo, Oscar A1 - Revuelta, José L A1 - Arellano, Juan B AB -

The early transcriptional defence responses and ROS production in Arabidopsis cell suspension culture (ACSC), containing functional chloroplasts, were examined at high light (HL). The transcriptional analysis revealed that most of the ROS markers identified among the 449 transcripts with significant differential expression were transcripts specifically up-regulated by singlet oxygen (1O2). On the contrary, minimal correlation was established with transcripts specifically up-regulated by superoxide radical (O2•) or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The transcriptional analysis was supported by fluorescence microscopy experiments. The incubation of ACSC with the 1O2 sensor green reagent and 2’,7’-dichlorofluorescein diacetate showed that the 30-min-HL-treated cultures emitted fluorescence that corresponded with the production of 1O2, but not of H2O2. Furthermore, the in vivo photodamage of the D1 protein of photosystem II (PSII) indicated that the photogeneration of 1O2 took place within the PSII reaction centre. Functional enrichment analyses identified transcripts that are key components of the ROS signalling transduction pathway in plants as well as others encoding transcription factors that regulate both ROS scavenging and water deficit stress. A meta-analysis examining the transcriptional profiles of mutants and hormone treatments in Arabidopsis showed a high correlation between ACSC at HL and the flu mutant family of Arabidopsis, a producer of 1O2 in plastids. Intriguingly, a high correlation was also observed with aba1 and max4, two mutants with defects in the biosynthesis pathways of two key (apo)carotenoid-derived plant hormones (i.e. ABA and strigolactones, respectively). ACSC has proven to be a valuable system for studying early transcriptional responses to HL stress.

VL - 156 UR - http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/early/2011/04/29/pp.111.177766.short?keytype=ref&ijkey=ph5B6J2khjnqwzN ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Early transcriptional defense responses in Arabidopsis cell suspension culture under high-light conditions. JF - Plant Physiol Y1 - 2011 A1 - González-Pérez, Sergio A1 - Gutiérrez, Jorge A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Osuna, Daniel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Lorenzo, Oscar A1 - Revuelta, José L A1 - Arellano, Juan B KW - Arabidopsis KW - Blotting, Western KW - Cell Culture Techniques KW - Cells, Cultured KW - Chloroplasts KW - Cluster Analysis KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Plant KW - Hydrogen Peroxide KW - Light KW - mutation KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Photosystem II Protein Complex KW - Plant Growth Regulators KW - Reproducibility of Results KW - Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction KW - RNA, Messenger KW - Signal Transduction KW - Stress, Physiological KW - Transcription, Genetic AB -

The early transcriptional defense responses and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) cell suspension culture (ACSC), containing functional chloroplasts, were examined at high light (HL). The transcriptional analysis revealed that most of the ROS markers identified among the 449 transcripts with significant differential expression were transcripts specifically up-regulated by singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)). On the contrary, minimal correlation was established with transcripts specifically up-regulated by superoxide radical or hydrogen peroxide. The transcriptional analysis was supported by fluorescence microscopy experiments. The incubation of ACSC with the (1)O(2) sensor green reagent and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate showed that the 30-min-HL-treated cultures emitted fluorescence that corresponded with the production of (1)O(2) but not of hydrogen peroxide. Furthermore, the in vivo photodamage of the D1 protein of photosystem II indicated that the photogeneration of (1)O(2) took place within the photosystem II reaction center. Functional enrichment analyses identified transcripts that are key components of the ROS signaling transduction pathway in plants as well as others encoding transcription factors that regulate both ROS scavenging and water deficit stress. A meta-analysis examining the transcriptional profiles of mutants and hormone treatments in Arabidopsis showed a high correlation between ACSC at HL and the fluorescent mutant family of Arabidopsis, a producer of (1)O(2) in plastids. Intriguingly, a high correlation was also observed with ABA deficient1 and more axillary growth4, two mutants with defects in the biosynthesis pathways of two key (apo)carotenoid-derived plant hormones (i.e. abscisic acid and strigolactones, respectively). ACSC has proven to be a valuable system for studying early transcriptional responses to HL stress.

VL - 156 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21531897?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evidence for short-time divergence and long-time conservation of tissue-specific expression after gene duplication. JF - Brief Bioinform Y1 - 2011 A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Huynen, Martijn A A1 - Gabaldón, Toni KW - Animals KW - Conserved Sequence KW - Evolution, Molecular KW - Gene Duplication KW - gene expression KW - Genome KW - Humans KW - Mice KW - Organ Specificity AB -

Gene duplication is one of the main mechanisms by which genomes can acquire novel functions. It has been proposed that the retention of gene duplicates can be associated to processes of tissue expression divergence. These models predict that acquisition of divergent expression patterns should be acquired shortly after the duplication, and that larger divergence in tissue expression would be expected for paralogs, as compared to orthologs of a similar age. Many studies have shown that gene duplicates tend to have divergent expression patterns and that gene family expansions are associated with high levels of tissue specificity. However, the timeframe in which these processes occur have rarely been investigated in detail, particularly in vertebrates, and most analyses do not include direct comparisons of orthologs as a baseline for the expected levels of tissue specificity in absence of duplications. To assess the specific contribution of duplications to expression divergence, we combine here phylogenetic analyses and expression data from human and mouse. In particular, we study differences in spatial expression among human-mouse paralogs, specifically duplicated after the radiation of mammals, and compare them to pairs of orthologs in the same species. Our results show that gene duplication leads to increased levels of tissue specificity and that this tends to occur promptly after the duplication event.

VL - 12 IS - 5 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515902?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evolution of the biosynthesis of di-myo-inositol phosphate, a marker of adaptation to hot marine environments. JF - Environmental microbiology Y1 - 2011 A1 - Gonçalves, Luís G A1 - Borges, Nuno A1 - Serra, François A1 - Fernandes, Pedro L A1 - Dopazo, Hernán A1 - Santos, Helena AB -

The synthesis of di-myo-inositol phosphate (DIP), a common compatible solute in hyperthermophiles, involves the consecutive actions of inositol-1-phosphate cytidylyltransferase (IPCT) and di-myo-inositol phosphate phosphate synthase (DIPPS). In most cases, both activities are present in a single gene product, but separate genes are also found in a few organisms. Genes for IPCT and DIPPS were found in the genomes of 33 organisms, all with thermophilic/hyperthermophilic lifestyles. Phylogeny of IPCT/DIPPS revealed an incongruent topology with 16S RNA phylogeny, thus suggesting horizontal gene transfer. The phylogenetic tree of the DIPPS domain was rooted by using phosphatidylinositol phosphate synthase sequences as out-group. The root locates at the separation of genomes with fused and split genes. We propose that the gene encoding DIPPS was recruited from the biosynthesis of phosphatidylinositol. The last DIP-synthesizing ancestor harboured separated genes for IPCT and DIPPS and this architecture was maintained in a crenarchaeal lineage, and transferred by horizontal gene transfer to hyperthermophilic marine Thermotoga species. It is plausible that the driving force for the assembly of those two genes in the early ancestor is related to the acquired advantage of DIP producers to cope with high temperature. This work corroborates the view that Archaea were the first hyperthermophilic organisms.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Fortunella margarita Transcriptional Reprogramming Triggered by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri. JF - BMC plant biology Y1 - 2011 A1 - Khalaf, Abeer A A1 - Gmitter, Frederick G A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Moore, Gloria A AB - ABSTRACT: VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Modeling human endometrial decidualization from the interaction between proteome and secretome. JF - The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism Y1 - 2011 A1 - Garrido-Gomez, Tamara A1 - Dominguez, Francisco A1 - Lopez, Juan Antonio A1 - Camafeita, Emilio A1 - Quiñonero, Alicia A1 - Martinez-Conejero, Jose Antonio A1 - Pellicer, Antonio A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Simon, Carlos AB -

Decidualization of the human endometrium, which involves morphological and biochemical modifications of the endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), is a prerequisite for adequate trophoblast invasion and placenta formation.

VL - 96 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - myKaryoView: a light-weight client for visualization of genomic data. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2011 A1 - Jimenez, Rafael C A1 - Salazar, Gustavo A A1 - Gel, Bernat A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Mulder, Nicola A1 - Corpas, Manuel KW - Computer Graphics KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Genomics KW - Internet KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation KW - User-Computer Interface AB -

The Distributed Annotation System (DAS) is a protocol for easy sharing and integration of biological annotations. In order to visualize feature annotations in a genomic context a client is required. Here we present myKaryoView, a simple light-weight DAS tool for visualization of genomic annotation. myKaryoView has been specifically configured to help analyse data derived from personal genomics, although it can also be used as a generic genome browser visualization. Several well-known data sources are provided to facilitate comparison of known genes and normal variation regions. The navigation experience is enhanced by simultaneous rendering of different levels of detail across chromosomes. A simple interface is provided to allow searches for any SNP, gene or chromosomal region. User-defined DAS data sources may also be added when querying the system. We demonstrate myKaryoView capabilities for adding user-defined sources with a set of genetic profiles of family-related individuals downloaded directly from 23andMe. myKaryoView is a web tool for visualization of genomic data specifically designed for direct-to-consumer genomic data that uses publicly available data distributed throughout the Internet. It does not require data to be held locally and it is capable of rendering any feature as long as it conforms to DAS specifications. Configuration and addition of sources to myKaryoView can be done through the interface. Here we show a proof of principle of myKaryoView's ability to display personal genomics data with 23andMe genome data sources. The tool is available at: http://mykaryoview.com.

VL - 6 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22046276?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Paintomics: a web based tool for the joint visualization of transcriptomics and metabolomics data. JF - Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Y1 - 2011 A1 - García-Alcalde, Fernando A1 - García-López, Federico A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Ana Conesa AB -

The development of the omics technologies such as transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics has made possible the realization of systems biology studies where biological systems are interrogated at different levels of biochemical activity (gene expression, protein activity and/or metabolite concentration). An effective approach to the analysis of these complex datasets is the joined visualization of the disparate biomolecular data on the framework of known biological pathways.

VL - 27 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Phylemon 2.0: a suite of web-tools for molecular evolution, phylogenetics, phylogenomics and hypotheses testing. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2011 A1 - Sánchez, Rubén A1 - Serra, François A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Carbonell, José A1 - Pulido, Luis A1 - De Maria, Alejandro A1 - Capella-Gutíerrez, Salvador A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Gabaldón, Toni A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Dopazo, Hernán KW - Evolution, Molecular KW - Genomics KW - Internet KW - Phylogeny KW - Sequence Alignment KW - Software AB -

Phylemon 2.0 is a new release of the suite of web tools for molecular evolution, phylogenetics, phylogenomics and hypotheses testing. It has been designed as a response to the increasing demand of molecular sequence analyses for experts and non-expert users. Phylemon 2.0 has several unique features that differentiates it from other similar web resources: (i) it offers an integrated environment that enables evolutionary analyses, format conversion, file storage and edition of results; (ii) it suggests further analyses, thereby guiding the users through the web server; and (iii) it allows users to design and save phylogenetic pipelines to be used over multiple genes (phylogenomics). Altogether, Phylemon 2.0 integrates a suite of 30 tools covering sequence alignment reconstruction and trimming; tree reconstruction, visualization and manipulation; and evolutionary hypotheses testing.

VL - 39 IS - Web Server issue U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21646336?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Profiling the venom gland transcriptomes of Costa Rican snakes by 454 pyrosequencing. JF - BMC genomics Y1 - 2011 A1 - Durban, Jordi A1 - Juárez, Paula A1 - Angulo, Yamileth A1 - Lomonte, Bruno A1 - Flores-Diaz, Marietta A1 - Alape-Girón, Alberto A1 - Sasa, Mahmood A1 - Sanz, Libia A1 - Gutiérrez, José M A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Calvete, Juan J AB -

A long term research goal of venomics, of applied importance for improving current antivenom therapy, but also for drug discovery, is to understand the pharmacological potential of venoms. Individually or combined, proteomic and transcriptomic studies have demonstrated their feasibility to explore in depth the molecular diversity of venoms. In the absence of genome sequence, transcriptomes represent also valuable searchable databases for proteomic projects.

VL - 12 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Role of tomato BRANCHED1-like genes in the control of shoot branching. JF - The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology Y1 - 2011 A1 - Martín-Trillo, Mar A1 - Grandío, Eduardo González A1 - Serra, François A1 - Marcel, Fabien A1 - Rodríguez-Buey, María Luisa A1 - Schmitz, Gregor A1 - Theres, Klaus A1 - Bendahmane, Abdelhafid A1 - Dopazo, Hernán A1 - Cubas, Pilar AB -

In angiosperms, shoot branching greatly determines overall plant architecture and affects fundamental aspects of plant life. Branching patterns are determined by genetic pathways conserved widely across angiosperms. In Arabidopsis thaliana (Brassicaceae, Rosidae) BRANCHED1 (BRC1) plays a central role in this process, acting locally to arrest axillary bud growth. In tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, Solanaceae, Asteridae) we have identified two BRC1-like paralogues, SlBRC1a and SlBRC1b. These genes are expressed in arrested axillary buds and both are down-regulated upon bud activation, although SlBRC1a is transcribed at much lower levels than SlBRC1b. Alternative splicing of SlBRC1a renders two transcripts that encode two BRC1-like proteins with different C-t domains due to a 3’-terminal frameshift. The phenotype of loss-of-function lines suggests that SlBRC1b has retained the ancestral role of BRC1 in shoot branch suppression. We have isolated the BRC1a and BRC1b genes of other Solanum species and have studied their evolution rates across the lineages. These studies indicate that, after duplication of an ancestral BRC1-like gene, BRC1b genes continued to evolve under a strong purifying selection that was consistent with the conserved function of SlBRC1b in shoot branching control. In contrast, the coding sequences of Solanum BRC1a genes have evolved at a higher evolution rate. Branch-site tests indicate that this difference does not reflect relaxation but rather positive selective pressure for adaptation.

VL - 67 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sexual selection halts the relaxation of protamine 2 among rodents. JF - PloS one Y1 - 2011 A1 - Lüke, Lena A1 - Vicens, Alberto A1 - Serra, François A1 - Luque-Larena, Juan Jose A1 - Dopazo, Hernán A1 - Roldan, Eduardo R S A1 - Gomendio, Montserrat AB - Sexual selection has been proposed as the driving force promoting the rapid evolutionary changes observed in some reproductive genes including protamines. We test this hypothesis in a group of rodents which show marked differences in the intensity of sexual selection. Levels of sperm competition were not associated with the evolutionary rates of protamine 1 but, contrary to expectations, were negatively related to the evolutionary rate of cleaved- and mature-protamine 2. Since both domains were found to be under relaxation, our findings reveal an unforeseen role of sexual selection: to halt the degree of degeneration that proteins within families may experience due to functional redundancy. The degree of relaxation of protamine 2 in this group of rodents is such that in some species it has become dysfunctional and it is not expressed in mature spermatozoa. In contrast, protamine 1 is functionally conserved but shows directed positive selection on specific sites which are functionally relevant such as DNA-anchoring domains and phosphorylation sites. We conclude that in rodents protamine 2 is under relaxation and that sexual selection removes deleterious mutations among species with high levels of sperm competition to maintain the protein functional and the spermatozoa competitive. VL - 6 UR - http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029247 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SUS1 introns are required for efficient mRNA nuclear export in yeast. JF - Nucleic acids research Y1 - 2011 A1 - Cuenca-Bono, Bernardo A1 - García-Molinero, Varinia A1 - Pascual-García, Pau A1 - Dopazo, Hernán A1 - Llopis, Ana A1 - Vilardell, Josep A1 - Rodríguez-Navarro, Susana AB -

Efficient coupling between mRNA synthesis and export is essential for gene expression. Sus1/ENY2, a component of the SAGA and TREX-2 complexes, is involved in both transcription and mRNA export. While most yeast genes lack introns, we previously reported that yeast SUS1 bears two. Here we show that this feature is evolutionarily conserved and critical for Sus1 function. We determine that while SUS1 splicing is inefficient, it responds to cellular conditions, and intronic mutations either promoting or blocking splicing lead to defects in mRNA export and cell growth. Consistent with this, we find that an intron-less SUS1 only partially rescues sus1Δ phenotypes. Remarkably, splicing of each SUS1 intron is also affected by the presence of the other and by SUS1 exonic sequences. Moreover, by following SUS1 RNA and protein levels we establish that nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway and the splicing factor Mud2 both play a role in SUS1 expression. Our data (and those of the accompanying work by Hossain et al.) provide evidence of the involvement of splicing, translation, and decay in the regulation of early events in mRNP biogenesis; and imply the additional requirement for a balance in splicing isoforms from a single gene.

VL - 39 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Babelomics: an integrative platform for the analysis of transcriptomics, proteomics and genomic data with advanced functional profiling. JF - Nucleic Acids Research Y1 - 2010 A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Carbonell, José A1 - Pulido, Luis A1 - Madeira, Sara C A1 - Goetz, Stefan A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Pascual-Montano, Alberto A1 - Nogales-Cadenas, Ruben A1 - Santoyo, Javier A1 - García, Francisco A1 - Marbà, Martina A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Joaquín Dopazo KW - babelomics KW - gene expression KW - genotyping KW - gepas KW - GSA KW - GWAS AB -

Babelomics is a response to the growing necessity of integrating and analyzing different types of genomic data in an environment that allows an easy functional interpretation of the results. Babelomics includes a complete suite of methods for the analysis of gene expression data that include normalization (covering most commercial platforms), pre-processing, differential gene expression (case-controls, multiclass, survival or continuous values), predictors, clustering; large-scale genotyping assays (case controls and TDTs, and allows population stratification analysis and correction). All these genomic data analysis facilities are integrated and connected to multiple options for the functional interpretation of the experiments. Different methods of functional enrichment or gene set enrichment can be used to understand the functional basis of the experiment analyzed. Many sources of biological information, which include functional (GO, KEGG, Biocarta, Reactome, etc.), regulatory (Transfac, Jaspar, ORegAnno, miRNAs, etc.), text-mining or protein-protein interaction modules can be used for this purpose. Finally a tool for the de novo functional annotation of sequences has been included in the system. This provides support for the functional analysis of non-model species. Mirrors of Babelomics or command line execution of their individual components are now possible. Babelomics is available at http://www.babelomics.org.

VL - 38 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/suppl_2/W210.full ER - TY - JOUR T1 - DNA methylation epigenotypes in breast cancer molecular subtypes. JF - Breast Cancer Res Y1 - 2010 A1 - Bediaga, Naiara G A1 - Acha-Sagredo, Amelia A1 - Guerra, Isabel A1 - Viguri, Amparo A1 - Albaina, Carmen A1 - Ruiz Diaz, Irune A1 - Rezola, Ricardo A1 - Alberdi, Maria Jesus A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Renobales, Mertxe A1 - Fernandez, Agustin F A1 - Field, John K A1 - Fraga, Mario F A1 - Liloglou, Triantafillos A1 - de Pancorbo, Marian M KW - Aged KW - Breast Neoplasms KW - CpG Islands KW - DNA Methylation KW - Epigenesis, Genetic KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Genes, p53 KW - Genotype KW - Humans KW - Ki-67 Antigen KW - Middle Aged KW - mutation KW - Neoplasm Grading KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Receptor, ErbB-2 KW - Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 AB -

INTRODUCTION: Identification of gene expression based breast cancer subtypes is considered as a critical means of prognostication. Genetic mutations along with epigenetic alterations contribute to gene expression changes occurring in breast cancer. So far, these epigenetic contributions to sporadic breast cancer subtypes have not been well characterized, and there is only a limited understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms affected in those particular breast cancer subtypes. The present study was undertaken to dissect the breast cancer methylome and deliver specific epigenotypes associated with particular breast cancer subtypes.

METHODS: Using a microarray approach we analyzed DNA methylation in regulatory regions of 806 cancer related genes in 28 breast cancer paired samples. We subsequently performed substantial technical and biological validation by Pyrosequencing, investigating the top qualifying 19 CpG regions in independent cohorts encompassing 47 basal-like, 44 ERBB2+ overexpressing, 48 luminal A and 48 luminal B paired breast cancer/adjacent tissues. Using all-subset selection method, we identified the most subtype predictive methylation profiles in multivariable logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: The approach efficiently recognized 15 individual CpG loci differentially methylated in breast cancer tumor subtypes. We further identify novel subtype specific epigenotypes which clearly demonstrate the differences in the methylation profiles of basal-like and human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-overexpressing tumors.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence that well defined DNA methylation profiles enables breast cancer subtype prediction and support the utilization of this biomarker for prognostication and therapeutic stratification of patients with breast cancer.

VL - 12 IS - 5 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20920229?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ETE: a python Environment for Tree Exploration. JF - BMC Bioinformatics Y1 - 2010 A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Gabaldón, Toni KW - Computational Biology KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Phylogeny KW - Software AB -

BACKGROUND: Many bioinformatics analyses, ranging from gene clustering to phylogenetics, produce hierarchical trees as their main result. These are used to represent the relationships among different biological entities, thus facilitating their analysis and interpretation. A number of standalone programs are available that focus on tree visualization or that perform specific analyses on them. However, such applications are rarely suitable for large-scale surveys, in which a higher level of automation is required. Currently, many genome-wide analyses rely on tree-like data representation and hence there is a growing need for scalable tools to handle tree structures at large scale.

RESULTS: Here we present the Environment for Tree Exploration (ETE), a python programming toolkit that assists in the automated manipulation, analysis and visualization of hierarchical trees. ETE libraries provide a broad set of tree handling options as well as specific methods to analyze phylogenetic and clustering trees. Among other features, ETE allows for the independent analysis of tree partitions, has support for the extended newick format, provides an integrated node annotation system and permits to link trees to external data such as multiple sequence alignments or numerical arrays. In addition, ETE implements a number of built-in analytical tools, including phylogeny-based orthology prediction and cluster validation techniques. Finally, ETE's programmable tree drawing engine can be used to automate the graphical rendering of trees with customized node-specific visualizations.

CONCLUSIONS: ETE provides a complete set of methods to manipulate tree data structures that extends current functionality in other bioinformatic toolkits of a more general purpose. ETE is free software and can be downloaded from http://ete.cgenomics.org.

VL - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20070885?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exploring the link between germline and somatic genetic alterations in breast carcinogenesis. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2010 A1 - Bonifaci, Núria A1 - Górski, Bohdan A1 - Masojć, Bartlomiej A1 - Wokołorczyk, Dominika A1 - Jakubowska, Anna A1 - Dębniak, Tadeusz A1 - Berenguer, Antoni A1 - Serra Musach, Jordi A1 - Brunet, Joan A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Narod, Steven A A1 - Lubiński, Jan A1 - Lázaro, Conxi A1 - Cybulski, Cezary A1 - Pujana, Miguel Angel KW - Adult KW - Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors, Type I KW - Breast KW - Breast Neoplasms KW - Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases KW - Case-Control Studies KW - Cyclin-Dependent Kinases KW - Disease Progression KW - Estrogen Receptor alpha KW - Female KW - Gene Frequency KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Genotype KW - Germ-Line Mutation KW - Humans KW - Odds Ratio KW - Poland KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases KW - Protein-Tyrosine Kinases KW - Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases KW - Receptor, EphA3 KW - Receptor, EphA7 KW - Receptor, EphB1 KW - Risk Factors AB -

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified candidate genes contributing to cancer risk through low-penetrance mutations. Many of these genes were unexpected and, intriguingly, included well-known players in carcinogenesis at the somatic level. To assess the hypothesis of a germline-somatic link in carcinogenesis, we evaluated the distribution of somatic gene labels within the ordered results of a breast cancer risk GWAS. This analysis suggested frequent influence on risk of genetic variation in loci encoding for "driver kinases" (i.e., kinases encoded by genes that showed higher somatic mutation rates than expected by chance and, therefore, whose deregulation may contribute to cancer development and/or progression). Assessment of these predictions using a population-based case-control study in Poland replicated the association for rs3732568 in EPHB1 (odds ratio (OR) = 0.79; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63-0.98; P(trend) = 0.031). Analyses by early age at diagnosis and by estrogen receptor α (ERα) tumor status indicated potential associations for rs6852678 in CDKL2 (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.10-1.00; P(recessive) = 0.044) and rs10878640 in DYRK2 (OR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.32-4.30; P(dominant) = 0.003), and for rs12765929, rs9836340, rs4707795 in BMPR1A, EPHA3 and EPHA7, respectively (ERα tumor status P(interaction)<0.05). The identification of three novel candidates as EPH receptor genes might indicate a link between perturbed compartmentalization of early neoplastic lesions and breast cancer risk and progression. Together, these data may lay the foundations for replication in additional populations and could potentially increase our knowledge of the underlying molecular mechanisms of breast carcinogenesis.

VL - 5 IS - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21124932?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Fine-scale evolution: genomic, phenotypic and ecological differentiation in two coexisting Salinibacter ruber strains. JF - The ISME journal Y1 - 2010 A1 - Peña, Arantxa A1 - Teeling, Hanno A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Santos, Fernando A1 - Yarza, Pablo A1 - Brito-Echeverría, Jocelyn A1 - Lucio, Marianna A1 - Schmitt-Kopplin, Philippe A1 - Meseguer, Inmaculada A1 - Schenowitz, Chantal A1 - Dossat, Carole A1 - Barbe, Valerie A1 - Joaquín Dopazo A1 - Rosselló-Mora, Ramon A1 - Schüler, Margarete A1 - Glöckner, Frank Oliver A1 - Amann, Rudolf A1 - Gabaldón, Toni A1 - Antón, Josefa AB -

Genomic and metagenomic data indicate a high degree of genomic variation within microbial populations, although the ecological and evolutive meaning of this microdiversity remains unknown. Microevolution analyses, including genomic and experimental approaches, are so far very scarce for non-pathogenic bacteria. In this study, we compare the genomes, metabolomes and selected ecological traits of the strains M8 and M31 of the hyperhalophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber that contain ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and intergenic regions that are identical in sequence and were simultaneously isolated from a Mediterranean solar saltern. Comparative analyses indicate that S. ruber genomes present a mosaic structure with conserved and hypervariable regions (HVRs). The HVRs or genomic islands, are enriched in transposases, genes related to surface properties, strain-specific genes and highly divergent orthologous. However, the many indels outside the HVRs indicate that genome plasticity extends beyond them. Overall, 10% of the genes encoded in the M8 genome are absent from M31 and could stem from recent acquisitions. S. ruber genomes also harbor 34 genes located outside HVRs that are transcribed during standard growth and probably derive from lateral gene transfers with Archaea preceding the M8/M31 divergence. Metabolomic analyses, phage susceptibility and competition experiments indicate that these genomic differences cannot be considered neutral from an ecological perspective. The results point to the avoidance of competition by micro-niche adaptation and response to viral predation as putative major forces that drive microevolution within these Salinibacter strains. In addition, this work highlights the extent of bacterial functional diversity and environmental adaptation, beyond the resolution of the 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacers regions.The ISME Journal advance online publication, 18 February 2010; doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.6.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Functional analysis of multiple genomic signatures demonstrates that classification algorithms choose phenotype-related genes. JF - Pharmacogenomics J Y1 - 2010 A1 - Shi, W A1 - Bessarabova, M A1 - Dosymbekov, D A1 - Dezso, Z A1 - Nikolskaya, T A1 - Dudoladova, M A1 - Serebryiskaya, T A1 - Bugrim, A A1 - Guryanov, A A1 - Brennan, R J A1 - Shah, R A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - Chen, M A1 - Deng, Y A1 - Shi, T A1 - Jurman, G A1 - Furlanello, C A1 - Thomas, R S A1 - Corton, J C A1 - Tong, W A1 - Shi, L A1 - Nikolsky, Y KW - Algorithms KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Endpoint Determination KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Neural Networks, Computer KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Phenotype KW - Predictive Value of Tests KW - Proteins KW - Quality Control AB -

Gene expression signatures of toxicity and clinical response benefit both safety assessment and clinical practice; however, difficulties in connecting signature genes with the predicted end points have limited their application. The Microarray Quality Control Consortium II (MAQCII) project generated 262 signatures for ten clinical and three toxicological end points from six gene expression data sets, an unprecedented collection of diverse signatures that has permitted a wide-ranging analysis on the nature of such predictive models. A comprehensive analysis of the genes of these signatures and their nonredundant unions using ontology enrichment, biological network building and interactome connectivity analyses demonstrated the link between gene signatures and the biological basis of their predictive power. Different signatures for a given end point were more similar at the level of biological properties and transcriptional control than at the gene level. Signatures tended to be enriched in function and pathway in an end point and model-specific manner, and showed a topological bias for incoming interactions. Importantly, the level of biological similarity between different signatures for a given end point correlated positively with the accuracy of the signature predictions. These findings will aid the understanding, and application of predictive genomic signatures, and support their broader application in predictive medicine.

VL - 10 IS - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20676069?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Functional genomics of 5- to 8-cell stage human embryos by blastomere single-cell cDNA analysis. JF - PLoS One Y1 - 2010 A1 - Galan, Amparo A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Póo, M Eugenia A1 - Valbuena, Diana A1 - Ruiz, Veronica A1 - Aguilar, Cristóbal A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Simon, Carlos KW - Blastomeres KW - DNA, Complementary KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Genomics KW - Humans KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis AB -

Blastomere fate and embryonic genome activation (EGA) during human embryonic development are unsolved areas of high scientific and clinical interest. Forty-nine blastomeres from 5- to 8-cell human embryos have been investigated following an efficient single-cell cDNA amplification protocol to provide a template for high-density microarray analysis. The previously described markers, characteristic of Inner Cell Mass (ICM) (n = 120), stemness (n = 190) and Trophectoderm (TE) (n = 45), were analyzed, and a housekeeping pattern of 46 genes was established. All the human blastomeres from the 5- to 8-cell stage embryo displayed a common gene expression pattern corresponding to ICM markers (e.g., DDX3, FOXD3, LEFTY1, MYC, NANOG, POU5F1), stemness (e.g., POU5F1, DNMT3B, GABRB3, SOX2, ZFP42, TERT), and TE markers (e.g., GATA6, EOMES, CDX2, LHCGR). The EGA profile was also investigated between the 5-6- and 8-cell stage embryos, and compared to the blastocyst stage. Known genes (n = 92) such as depleted maternal transcripts (e.g., CCNA1, CCNB1, DPPA2) and embryo-specific activation (e.g., POU5F1, CDH1, DPPA4), as well as novel genes, were confirmed. In summary, the global single-cell cDNA amplification microarray analysis of the 5- to 8-cell stage human embryos reveals that blastomere fate is not committed to ICM or TE. Finally, new EGA features in human embryogenesis are presented.

VL - 5 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21049019?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Functional profiling methods in cancer. T2 - Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) Y1 - 2010 A1 - Joaquín Dopazo ED - Grützmann, Robert ED - Pilarsky, Christian AB -

The introduction of new high-throughput methodologies such as DNA microarrays constitutes a major breakthrough in cancer research. The unprecedented amount of data produced by such technologies has opened new avenues for interrogating living systems although, at the same time, it has demanded of the development of new data analytical methods as well as new strategies for testing hypotheses. A history of early successful applications in cancer boosted the use of microarrays and fostered further applications in other fields. Keeping the pace with these technologies, bioinformatics offers new solutions for data analysis and, what is more important, permits the formulation of a new class of hypotheses inspired in systems biology, more oriented to pathways or, in general, to modules of functionally related genes. Although these analytical methodologies are new, some options are already available and are discussed in this chapter.

JF - Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) VL - 576 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Hypoxia promotes efficient differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to functional endothelium. JF - Stem Cells Y1 - 2010 A1 - Prado-Lopez, Sonia A1 - Conesa, Ana A1 - Armiñán, Ana A1 - Martínez-Losa, Magdalena A1 - Escobedo-Lucea, Carmen A1 - Gandia, Carolina A1 - Tarazona, Sonia A1 - Melguizo, Dario A1 - Blesa, David A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Sanz-González, Silvia A1 - Sepúlveda, Pilar A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - O'Connor, José Enrique A1 - Moreno, Ruben A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Burks, Deborah J A1 - Stojkovic, Miodrag KW - Angiopoietin-1 KW - Animals KW - biomarkers KW - Cell Culture Techniques KW - Cell Differentiation KW - Cell Hypoxia KW - Cell Transplantation KW - Cells, Cultured KW - Down-Regulation KW - Embryonic Stem Cells KW - Endothelial Cells KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Myocardial Infarction KW - Neovascularization, Physiologic KW - Oxygen KW - Pluripotent Stem Cells KW - Rats KW - Rats, Nude KW - Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A AB -

Early development of mammalian embryos occurs in an environment of relative hypoxia. Nevertheless, human embryonic stem cells (hESC), which are derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst, are routinely cultured under the same atmospheric conditions (21% O(2)) as somatic cells. We hypothesized that O(2) levels modulate gene expression and differentiation potential of hESC, and thus, we performed gene profiling of hESC maintained under normoxic or hypoxic (1% or 5% O(2)) conditions. Our analysis revealed that hypoxia downregulates expression of pluripotency markers in hESC but increases significantly the expression of genes associated with angio- and vasculogenesis including vascular endothelial growth factor and angiopoitein-like proteins. Consequently, we were able to efficiently differentiate hESC to functional endothelial cells (EC) by varying O(2) levels; after 24 hours at 5% O(2), more than 50% of cells were CD34+. Transplantation of resulting endothelial-like cells improved both systolic function and fractional shortening in a rodent model of myocardial infarction. Moreover, analysis of the infarcted zone revealed that transplanted EC reduced the area of fibrous scar tissue by 50%. Thus, use of hypoxic conditions to specify the endothelial lineage suggests a novel strategy for cellular therapies aimed at repair of damaged vasculature in pathologies such as cerebral ischemia and myocardial infarction.

VL - 28 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20049902?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC)-II study of common practices for the development and validation of microarray-based predictive models. JF - Nature biotechnology Y1 - 2010 A1 - Shi, Leming A1 - Campbell, Gregory A1 - Jones, Wendell D A1 - Campagne, Fabien A1 - Wen, Zhining A1 - Walker, Stephen J A1 - Su, Zhenqiang A1 - Chu, Tzu-Ming A1 - Goodsaid, Federico M A1 - Pusztai, Lajos A1 - Shaughnessy, John D A1 - Oberthuer, André A1 - Thomas, Russell S A1 - Paules, Richard S A1 - Fielden, Mark A1 - Barlogie, Bart A1 - Chen, Weijie A1 - Du, Pan A1 - Fischer, Matthias A1 - Furlanello, Cesare A1 - Gallas, Brandon D A1 - Ge, Xijin A1 - Megherbi, Dalila B A1 - Symmans, W Fraser A1 - Wang, May D A1 - Zhang, John A1 - Bitter, Hans A1 - Brors, Benedikt A1 - Bushel, Pierre R A1 - Bylesjo, Max A1 - Chen, Minjun A1 - Cheng, Jie A1 - Cheng, Jing A1 - Chou, Jeff A1 - Davison, Timothy S A1 - Delorenzi, Mauro A1 - Deng, Youping A1 - Devanarayan, Viswanath A1 - Dix, David J A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Dorff, Kevin C A1 - Elloumi, Fathi A1 - Fan, Jianqing A1 - Fan, Shicai A1 - Fan, Xiaohui A1 - Fang, Hong A1 - Gonzaludo, Nina A1 - Hess, Kenneth R A1 - Hong, Huixiao A1 - Huan, Jun A1 - Irizarry, Rafael A A1 - Judson, Richard A1 - Juraeva, Dilafruz A1 - Lababidi, Samir A1 - Lambert, Christophe G A1 - Li, Li A1 - Li, Yanen A1 - Li, Zhen A1 - Lin, Simon M A1 - Liu, Guozhen A1 - Lobenhofer, Edward K A1 - Luo, Jun A1 - Luo, Wen A1 - McCall, Matthew N A1 - Nikolsky, Yuri A1 - Pennello, Gene A A1 - Perkins, Roger G A1 - Philip, Reena A1 - Popovici, Vlad A1 - Price, Nathan D A1 - Qian, Feng A1 - Scherer, Andreas A1 - Shi, Tieliu A1 - Shi, Weiwei A1 - Sung, Jaeyun A1 - Thierry-Mieg, Danielle A1 - Thierry-Mieg, Jean A1 - Thodima, Venkata A1 - Trygg, Johan A1 - Vishnuvajjala, Lakshmi A1 - Wang, Sue Jane A1 - Wu, Jianping A1 - Wu, Yichao A1 - Xie, Qian A1 - Yousef, Waleed A A1 - Zhang, Liang A1 - Zhang, Xuegong A1 - Zhong, Sheng A1 - Zhou, Yiming A1 - Zhu, Sheng A1 - Arasappan, Dhivya A1 - Bao, Wenjun A1 - Lucas, Anne Bergstrom A1 - Berthold, Frank A1 - Brennan, Richard J A1 - Buness, Andreas A1 - Catalano, Jennifer G A1 - Chang, Chang A1 - Chen, Rong A1 - Cheng, Yiyu A1 - Cui, Jian A1 - Czika, Wendy A1 - Demichelis, Francesca A1 - Deng, Xutao A1 - Dosymbekov, Damir A1 - Eils, Roland A1 - Feng, Yang A1 - Fostel, Jennifer A1 - Fulmer-Smentek, Stephanie A1 - Fuscoe, James C A1 - Gatto, Laurent A1 - Ge, Weigong A1 - Goldstein, Darlene R A1 - Guo, Li A1 - Halbert, Donald N A1 - Han, Jing A1 - Harris, Stephen C A1 - Hatzis, Christos A1 - Herman, Damir A1 - Huang, Jianping A1 - Jensen, Roderick V A1 - Jiang, Rui A1 - Johnson, Charles D A1 - Jurman, Giuseppe A1 - Kahlert, Yvonne A1 - Khuder, Sadik A A1 - Kohl, Matthias A1 - Li, Jianying A1 - Li, Li A1 - Li, Menglong A1 - Li, Quan-Zhen A1 - Li, Shao A1 - Li, Zhiguang A1 - Liu, Jie A1 - Liu, Ying A1 - Liu, Zhichao A1 - Meng, Lu A1 - Madera, Manuel A1 - Martinez-Murillo, Francisco A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Meehan, Joseph A1 - Miclaus, Kelci A1 - Moffitt, Richard A A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Mukherjee, Piali A1 - Mulligan, George J A1 - Neville, Padraic A1 - Nikolskaya, Tatiana A1 - Ning, Baitang A1 - Page, Grier P A1 - Parker, Joel A1 - Parry, R Mitchell A1 - Peng, Xuejun A1 - Peterson, Ron L A1 - Phan, John H A1 - Quanz, Brian A1 - Ren, Yi A1 - Riccadonna, Samantha A1 - Roter, Alan H A1 - Samuelson, Frank W A1 - Schumacher, Martin M A1 - Shambaugh, Joseph D A1 - Shi, Qiang A1 - Shippy, Richard A1 - Si, Shengzhu A1 - Smalter, Aaron A1 - Sotiriou, Christos A1 - Soukup, Mat A1 - Staedtler, Frank A1 - Steiner, Guido A1 - Stokes, Todd H A1 - Sun, Qinglan A1 - Tan, Pei-Yi A1 - Tang, Rong A1 - Tezak, Zivana A1 - Thorn, Brett A1 - Tsyganova, Marina A1 - Turpaz, Yaron A1 - Vega, Silvia C A1 - Visintainer, Roberto A1 - von Frese, Juergen A1 - Wang, Charles A1 - Wang, Eric A1 - Wang, Junwei A1 - Wang, Wei A1 - Westermann, Frank A1 - Willey, James C A1 - Woods, Matthew A1 - Wu, Shujian A1 - Xiao, Nianqing A1 - Xu, Joshua A1 - Xu, Lei A1 - Yang, Lun A1 - Zeng, Xiao A1 - Zhang, Jialu A1 - Zhang, Li A1 - Zhang, Min A1 - Zhao, Chen A1 - Puri, Raj K A1 - Scherf, Uwe A1 - Tong, Weida A1 - Wolfinger, Russell D AB -

Gene expression data from microarrays are being applied to predict preclinical and clinical endpoints, but the reliability of these predictions has not been established. In the MAQC-II project, 36 independent teams analyzed six microarray data sets to generate predictive models for classifying a sample with respect to one of 13 endpoints indicative of lung or liver toxicity in rodents, or of breast cancer, multiple myeloma or neuroblastoma in humans. In total, >30,000 models were built using many combinations of analytical methods. The teams generated predictive models without knowing the biological meaning of some of the endpoints and, to mimic clinical reality, tested the models on data that had not been used for training. We found that model performance depended largely on the endpoint and team proficiency and that different approaches generated models of similar performance. The conclusions and recommendations from MAQC-II should be useful for regulatory agencies, study committees and independent investigators that evaluate methods for global gene expression analysis.

VL - 28 UR - http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n8/full/nbt.1665.html ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Selection upon Genome Architecture: Conservation of Functional Neighborhoods with Changing Genes JF - PLoS Comput. Biol. Y1 - 2010 A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Marqués-Bonet, Tomás A1 - Gazave, Elodie A1 - Navarro, Arcadi A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin VL - 6 UR - http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000953 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SIMAP–a comprehensive database of pre-calculated protein sequence similarities, domains, annotations and clusters. JF - Nucleic acids research Y1 - 2010 A1 - Rattei, Thomas A1 - Tischler, Patrick A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - Jehl, Marc-André A1 - Hoser, Jonathan A1 - Arnold, Roland A1 - Ana Conesa A1 - Mewes, Hans-Werner AB -

The prediction of protein function as well as the reconstruction of evolutionary genesis employing sequence comparison at large is still the most powerful tool in sequence analysis. Due to the exponential growth of the number of known protein sequences and the subsequent quadratic growth of the similarity matrix, the computation of the Similarity Matrix of Proteins (SIMAP) becomes a computational intensive task. The SIMAP database provides a comprehensive and up-to-date pre-calculation of the protein sequence similarity matrix, sequence-based features and sequence clusters. As of September 2009, SIMAP covers 48 million proteins and more than 23 million non-redundant sequences. Novel features of SIMAP include the expansion of the sequence space by including databases such as ENSEMBL as well as the integration of metagenomes based on their consistent processing and annotation. Furthermore, protein function predictions by Blast2GO are pre-calculated for all sequences in SIMAP and the data access and query functions have been improved. SIMAP assists biologists to query the up-to-date sequence space systematically and facilitates large-scale downstream projects in computational biology. Access to SIMAP is freely provided through the web portal for individuals (http://mips.gsf.de/simap/) and for programmatic access through DAS (http://webclu.bio.wzw.tum.de/das/) and Web-Service (http://mips.gsf.de/webservices/services/SimapService2.0?wsdl).

VL - 38 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Analysis of chronic lymphotic leukemia transcriptomic profile: differences between molecular subgroups JF - Leuk Lymphoma Y1 - 2009 A1 - Jantus Lewintre, E. A1 - Reinoso Martin, C. A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Marin, M. A1 - Jose Terol, M. A1 - Farras, R. A1 - Benet, I. A1 - Calvete, J. J. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Garcia-Conde, J. KW - cancer KW - microarray data analysis AB -

B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a lymphoproliferative disorder with a variable clinical course. Patients with unmutated IgV(H) gene show a shorter progression-free and overall survival than patients with immunoglobulin heavy chain variable regions (IgV(H)) gene mutated. In addition, BCL6 mutations identify a subgroup of patients with high risk of progression. Gene expression was analysed in 36 early-stage patients using high-density microarrays. Around 150 genes differentially expressed were found according to IgV(H) mutations, whereas no difference was found according to BCL6 mutations. Functional profiling methods allowed us to distinguish KEGG and gene ontology terms showing coordinated gene expression changes across subgroups of CLL. We validated a set of differentially expressed genes according to IgV(H) status, scoring them as putative prognostic markers in CLL. Among them, CRY1, LPL, CD82 and DUSP22 are the ones with at least equal or superior performance to ZAP70 which is actually the most used surrogate marker of IgV(H) status.

VL - 50 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=19127482 N1 -

Jantus Lewintre, Eloisa Reinoso Martin, Cristina Montaner, David Marin, Miguel Jose Terol, Maria Farras, Rosa Benet, Isabel Calvete, Juan J Dopazo, Joaquin Garcia-Conde, Javier Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Leukemia & lymphoma Leuk Lymphoma. 2009 Jan;50(1):68-79.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Functional assessment of time course microarray data. JF - BMC Bioinformatics Y1 - 2009 A1 - Nueda, Maria José A1 - Sebastián, Patricia A1 - Tarazona, Sonia A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Ferrer, Alberto A1 - Conesa, Ana KW - Computer Simulation KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Time Factors AB -

MOTIVATION: Time-course microarray experiments study the progress of gene expression along time across one or several experimental conditions. Most developed analysis methods focus on the clustering or the differential expression analysis of genes and do not integrate functional information. The assessment of the functional aspects of time-course transcriptomics data requires the use of approaches that exploit the activation dynamics of the functional categories to where genes are annotated.

METHODS: We present three novel methodologies for the functional assessment of time-course microarray data. i) maSigFun derives from the maSigPro method, a regression-based strategy to model time-dependent expression patterns and identify genes with differences across series. maSigFun fits a regression model for groups of genes labeled by a functional class and selects those categories which have a significant model. ii) PCA-maSigFun fits a PCA model of each functional class-defined expression matrix to extract orthogonal patterns of expression change, which are then assessed for their fit to a time-dependent regression model. iii) ASCA-functional uses the ASCA model to rank genes according to their correlation to principal time expression patterns and assess functional enrichment on a GSA fashion. We used simulated and experimental datasets to study these novel approaches. Results were compared to alternative methodologies.

RESULTS: Synthetic and experimental data showed that the different methods are able to capture different aspects of the relationship between genes, functions and co-expression that are biologically meaningful. The methods should not be considered as competitive but they provide different insights into the molecular and functional dynamic events taking place within the biological system under study.

VL - 10 Suppl 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19534758?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Functional signatures identified in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma profiles. JF - Leuk Lymphoma Y1 - 2009 A1 - Aggarwal, Mohit A1 - Sánchez-Beato, Margarita A1 - Gómez-López, Gonzalo A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima A1 - Martínez, Nerea A1 - Rodríguez, Antonia A1 - Ruiz-Ballesteros, Elena A1 - Camacho, Francisca I A1 - Pérez-Rosado, Alberto A1 - de la Cueva, Paloma A1 - Artiga, María J A1 - Pisano, David G A1 - Kimby, Eva A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Villuendas, Raquel A1 - Piris, Miguel A KW - Adult KW - Cluster Analysis KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic KW - Genetic Heterogeneity KW - Humans KW - Lymphoma, B-Cell KW - Neoplasm Proteins KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - RNA, Messenger KW - RNA, Neoplasm KW - Transcription, Genetic AB -

Gene-expression profiling in B-cell lymphomas has provided crucial data on specific lymphoma types, which can contribute to the identification of essential lymphoma survival genes and pathways. In this study, the gene-expression profiling data of all major B-cell lymphoma types were analyzed by unsupervised clustering. The transcriptome classification so obtained, was explored using gene set enrichment analysis generating a heatmap for B-cell lymphoma that identifies common lymphoma survival mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets, recognizing sets of coregulated genes and functional pathways expressed in different lymphoma types. Some of the most relevant signatures (stroma, cell cycle, B-cell receptor (BCR)) are shared by multiple lymphoma types or subclasses. A specific attention was paid to the analysis of BCR and coregulated pathways, defining molecular heterogeneity within multiple B-cell lymphoma types.

VL - 50 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19863341?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Membrane transporters and carbon metabolism implicated in chloride homeostasis differentiate salt stress responses in tolerant and sensitive Citrus rootstocks JF - Funct Integr Genomics Y1 - 2009 A1 - Brumos, J. A1 - Colmenero-Flores, J. M. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Izquierdo, P. A1 - Sanchez, G. A1 - Iglesias, D. J. A1 - Lopez-Climent, M. F. A1 - Gomez-Cadenas, A. A1 - Talon, M. AB -

Salinity tolerance in Citrus is strongly related to leaf chloride accumulation. Both chloride homeostasis and specific genetic responses to Cl(-) toxicity are issues scarcely investigated in plants. To discriminate the transcriptomic network related to Cl(-) toxicity and salinity tolerance, we have used two Cl(-) salt treatments (NaCl and KCl) to perform a comparative microarray approach on two Citrus genotypes, the salt-sensitive Carrizo citrange, a poor Cl(-) excluder, and the tolerant Cleopatra mandarin, an efficient Cl(-) excluder. The data indicated that Cl(-) toxicity, rather than Na(+) toxicity and/or the concomitant osmotic perturbation, is the primary factor involved in the molecular responses of citrus plant leaves to salinity. A number of uncharacterized membrane transporter genes, like NRT1-2, were differentially regulated in the tolerant and the sensitive genotypes, suggesting its potential implication in Cl(-) homeostasis. Analyses of enriched functional categories showed that the tolerant rootstock induced wider stress responses in gene expression while repressing central metabolic processes such as photosynthesis and carbon utilization. These features were in agreement with phenotypic changes in the patterns of photosynthesis, transpiration, and stomatal conductance and support the concept that regulation of transpiration and its associated metabolic adjustments configure an adaptive response to salinity that reduces Cl(-) accumulation in the tolerant genotype.

UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=19190944 N1 -

Journal article Functional & integrative genomics Funct Integr Genomics. 2009 Feb 4.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Modeling and managing experimental data using FuGE. JF - OMICS Y1 - 2009 A1 - Andrew R Jones A1 - Allyson L Lister A1 - Leandro Hermida A1 - Peter Wilkinson A1 - Martin Eisenacher A1 - Khalid Belhajjame A1 - Frank Gibson A1 - Phil Lord A1 - Matthew Pocock A1 - Heiko Rosenfelder A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Anil Wipat A1 - Norman W Paton VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Pere Alberch: Originator of EvoDevo JF - Biological Theory Y1 - 2009 A1 - Reiss, JO A1 - Burke, A C A1 - Archer, C A1 - De Renzi, M A1 - H. Dopazo A1 - Etxeberria, A A1 - Gale, E A A1 - Hinchliffe, J R A1 - Nuño de la Rosa, L A1 - Rose, C S A1 - Rasskin-Gutman, D A1 - Müller, G VL - 3 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Peripheral blood cells transcriptome to study new biomarkers for myocardial infarction follow up Y1 - 2009 A1 - Silbiger, Vivian A1 - Luchessi, André A1 - Hirata, Rosario A1 - Carracedo, Ángel A1 - Brión, Maria A1 - Lima Neto, Lidio A1 - P. Pastorelli, C A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Garcia, F A1 - P. Sampaio, M A1 - P. Pereira, M A1 - S. Santos, E A1 - Armaganijan, Dikran A1 - Hirata, Mario ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Sexual selection drives weak positive selection in protamine genes and high promoter divergence, enhancing sperm competitiveness JF - Proc Biol Sci Y1 - 2009 A1 - Martin-Coello, J. A1 - H. Dopazo A1 - Arbiza, L. A1 - Ausio, J. A1 - Roldan, E. R. A1 - Gomendio, M. KW - Adaptation KW - positive selection KW - sperm competition AB -

Phenotypic adaptations may be the result of changes in gene structure or gene regulation, but little is known about the evolution of gene expression. In addition, it is unclear whether the same selective forces may operate at both levels simultaneously. Reproductive proteins evolve rapidly, but the underlying selective forces promoting such rapid changes are still a matter of debate. In particular, the role of sexual selection in driving positive selection among reproductive proteins remains controversial, whereas its potential influence on changes in promoter regions has not been explored. Protamines are responsible for maintaining DNA in a compacted form in chromosomes in sperm and the available evidence suggests that they evolve rapidly. Because protamines condense DNA within the sperm nucleus, they influence sperm head shape. Here, we examine the influence of sperm competition upon protamine 1 and protamine 2 genes and their promoters, by comparing closely related species of Mus that differ in relative testes size, a reliable indicator of levels of sperm competition. We find evidence of positive selection in the protamine 2 gene in the species with the highest inferred levels of sperm competition. In addition, sperm competition levels across all species are strongly associated with high divergence in protamine 2 promoters that, in turn, are associated with sperm swimming speed. We suggest that changes in protamine 2 promoters are likely to enhance sperm swimming speed by making sperm heads more hydrodynamic. Such phenotypic changes are adaptive because sperm swimming speed may be a major determinant of fertilization success under sperm competition. Thus, when species have diverged recently, few changes in gene-coding sequences are found, while high divergence in promoters seems to be associated with the intensity of sexual selection.

UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=19364735 N1 -

Journal article Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Apr 8.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SNOW, a web-based tool for the statistical analysis of protein-protein interaction networks. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2009 A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Computer Graphics KW - Data Interpretation, Statistical KW - Databases, Protein KW - Humans KW - Internet KW - Protein Interaction Mapping KW - Software AB -

Understanding the structure and the dynamics of the complex intercellular network of interactions that contributes to the structure and function of a living cell is one of the main challenges of today's biology. SNOW inputs a collection of protein (or gene) identifiers and, by using the interactome as scaffold, draws the connections among them, calculates several relevant network parameters and, as a novelty among the rest of tools of its class, it estimates their statistical significance. The parameters calculated for each node are: connectivity, betweenness and clustering coefficient. It also calculates the number of components, number of bicomponents and articulation points. An interactive network viewer is also available to explore the resulting network. SNOW is available at http://snow.bioinfo.cipf.es.

VL - 37 IS - Web Server issue U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19454602?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SNOW, a web-based tool for the statistical analysis of protein-protein interaction networks JF - Nucl. Acids Res. Y1 - 2009 A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Gotz, S. A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Fatima Al-Shahrour A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - interactome KW - network KW - snow AB -

Understanding the structure and the dynamics of the complex intercellular network of interactions that contributes to the structure and function of a living cell is one of the main challenges of today’s biology. SNOW inputs a collection of protein (or gene) identifiers and, by using the interactome as scaffold, draws the connections among them, calculates several relevant network parameters and, as a novelty among the rest of tools of its class, it estimates their statistical significance. The parameters calculated for each node are: connectivity, betweenness and clustering coefficient. It also calculates the number of components, number of bicomponents and articulation points. An interactive network viewer is also available to explore the resulting network. SNOW is available at http://snow.bioinfo.cipf.es.

VL - 37 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/05/19/nar.gkp402.full ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Statistical methods for analysis of high-throughput RNA interference screens JF - Nature Methods Y1 - 2009 A1 - Birmingham, Amanda A1 - Selfors, Laura M A1 - Forster, Thorsten A1 - Wrobel, David A1 - Kennedy, Caleb J A1 - Shanks, Emma A1 - Santoyo-López, Javier A1 - Dunican, Dara J A1 - Long, Aideen A1 - Kelleher, Dermot A1 - Smith, Queta A1 - Beijersbergen, Roderick L A1 - Ghazal, Peter A1 - Shamu, Caroline E KW - gene silencing KW - regulation KW - siRNA PB - Nature Publishing Group VL - 6 SN - 1548-7091 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1351 N1 -

10.1038/nmeth.1351

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Babelomics: advanced functional profiling of transcriptomics, proteomics and genomics experiments JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Fatima Al-Shahrour A1 - Carbonell, J. A1 - Minguez, P. A1 - Goetz, S. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Tarraga, J. A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Alloza, E. A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Dopazo, J. KW - babelomics KW - funtional profiling AB -

We present a new version of Babelomics, a complete suite of web tools for the functional profiling of genome scale experiments, with new and improved methods as well as more types of functional definitions. Babelomics includes different flavours of conventional functional enrichment methods as well as more advanced gene set analysis methods that makes it a unique tool among the similar resources available. In addition to the well-known functional definitions (GO, KEGG), Babelomics includes new ones such as Biocarta pathways or text mining-derived functional terms. Regulatory modules implemented include transcriptional control (Transfac, CisRed) and other levels of regulation such as miRNA-mediated interference. Moreover, Babelomics allows for sub-selection of terms in order to test more focused hypothesis. Also gene annotation correspondence tables can be imported, which allows testing with user-defined functional modules. Finally, a tool for the ’de novo’ functional annotation of sequences has been included in the system. This allows using yet unannotated organisms in the program. Babelomics has been extensively re-engineered and now it includes the use of web services and Web 2.0 technology features, a new user interface with persistent sessions and a new extended database of gene identifiers. Babelomics is available at http://www.babelomics.org.

VL - 36 UR - http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/suppl_2/W341.long N1 -

Al-Shahrour, Fatima Carbonell, Jose Minguez, Pablo Goetz, Stefan Conesa, Ana Tarraga, Joaquin Medina, Ignacio Alloza, Eva Montaner, David Dopazo, Joaquin Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2008 Jul 1;36(Web Server issue):W341-6. Epub 2008 May 31.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Blast2GO: A Comprehensive Suite for Functional Analysis in Plant Genomics JF - Int J Plant Genomics Y1 - 2008 A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Gotz, S. AB -

Functional annotation of novel sequence data is a primary requirement for the utilization of functional genomics approaches in plant research. In this paper, we describe the Blast2GO suite as a comprehensive bioinformatics tool for functional annotation of sequences and data mining on the resulting annotations, primarily based on the gene ontology (GO) vocabulary. Blast2GO optimizes function transfer from homologous sequences through an elaborate algorithm that considers similarity, the extension of the homology, the database of choice, the GO hierarchy, and the quality of the original annotations. The tool includes numerous functions for the visualization, management, and statistical analysis of annotation results, including gene set enrichment analysis. The application supports InterPro, enzyme codes, KEGG pathways, GO direct acyclic graphs (DAGs), and GOSlim. Blast2GO is a suitable tool for plant genomics research because of its versatility, easy installation, and friendly use.

VL - 2008 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18483572 N1 -

Conesa, Ana Gotz, Stefan Egypt International journal of plant genomics Int J Plant Genomics. 2008;2008:619832.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - CLEAR-test: combining inference for differential expression and variability in microarray data analysis JF - J Biomed Inform Y1 - 2008 A1 - Valls, J. A1 - Grau, M. A1 - Sole, X. A1 - Hernandez, P. A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Peinado, M. A. A1 - Capella, G. A1 - Moreno, V. A1 - Pujana, M. A. KW - *Algorithms Artificial Intelligence *Data Interpretation KW - Statistical Gene Expression Profiling/*methods Gene Expression Regulation/*physiology Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/*methods Proteome/*metabolism Signal Transduction/*physiology AB -

A common goal of microarray experiments is to detect genes that are differentially expressed under distinct experimental conditions. Several statistical tests have been proposed to determine whether the observed changes in gene expression are significant. The t-test assigns a score to each gene on the basis of changes in its expression relative to its estimated variability, in such a way that genes with a higher score (in absolute values) are more likely to be significant. Most variants of the t-test use the complete set of genes to influence the variance estimate for each single gene. However, no inference is made in terms of the variability itself. Here, we highlight the problem of low observed variances in the t-test, when genes with relatively small changes are declared differentially expressed. Alternatively, the z-test could be used although, unlike the t-test, it can declare differentially expressed genes with high observed variances. To overcome this, we propose to combine the z-test, which focuses on large changes, with a chi(2) test to evaluate variability. We call this procedure CLEAR-test and we provide a combined p-value that offers a compromise between both aspects. Analysis of three publicly available microarray datasets reveals the greater performance of the CLEAR-test relative to the t-test and alternative methods. Finally, empirical and simulated data analyses demonstrate the greater reproducibility and statistical power of the CLEAR-test and z-test with respect to current alternative methods. In addition, the CLEAR-test improves the z-test by capturing reproducible genes with high variability.

VL - 41 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17597009 N1 -

Valls, Joan Grau, Monica Sole, Xavier Hernandez, Pilar Montaner, David Dopazo, Joaquin Peinado, Miguel A Capella, Gabriel Moreno, Victor Pujana, Miguel Angel Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Journal of biomedical informatics J Biomed Inform. 2008 Feb;41(1):33-45. Epub 2007 May 17.

ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Comparative genomics-based prediction of protein function T2 - Methods in Molecular Biology Y1 - 2008 A1 - Gabaldón, T. JF - Methods in Molecular Biology PB - M. Starkey and R. Elaswarapu, Humana press VL - 439 UR - http://www.springerprotocols.com/Abstract/doi/10.1007/978-1-59745-188-8_26 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Controlled ovarian stimulation induces a functional genomic delay of the endometrium with potential clinical implications JF - J Clin Endocrinol Metab Y1 - 2008 A1 - Horcajadas, J. A. A1 - Minguez, P. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Esteban, F. J. A1 - Dominguez, F. A1 - Giudice, L. C. A1 - Pellicer, A. A1 - Simon, C. KW - Algorithms Chorionic Gonadotropin/genetics Endometrium/cytology/pathology/*physiology/physiopathology Female Gene Expression Regulation Genome KW - Human Glutathione Peroxidase/genetics Humans Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins/genetics Luteal Phase/physiology Luteinizing Hormone/genetics Menstrual Cycle Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Ovulation Induction/*methods RNA/genetics/isola AB -

CONTEXT: Controlled ovarian stimulation induces morphological, biochemical, and functional genomic modifications of the human endometrium during the window of implantation. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to compare the gene expression profile of the human endometrium in natural vs. controlled ovarian stimulation cycles throughout the early-mid secretory transition using microarray technology. METHOD: Microarray data from 49 endometrial biopsies obtained from LH+1 to LH+9 (n=25) in natural cycles and from human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) +1 to hCG+9 in controlled ovarian stimulation cycles (n=24) were analyzed using different methods, such as clustering, profiling of biological processes, and selection of differentially expressed genes, as implemented in Gene Expression Pattern Analysis Suite and Babelomics programs. RESULTS: Endometria from natural cycles followed different genomic patterns compared with controlled ovarian stimulation cycles in the transition from the pre-receptive (days LH/hCG+1 until LH/hCG+5) to the receptive phase (day LH+7/hCG+7). Specifically, we have demonstrated the existence of a 2-d delay in the activation/repression of two clusters composed by 218 and 133 genes, respectively, on day hCG+7 vs. LH+7. Many of these delayed genes belong to the class window of implantation genes affecting basic biological processes in the receptive endometrium. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that gene expression profiling of the endometrium is different between natural and controlled ovarian stimulation cycles in the receptive phase. Identification of these differentially regulated genes can be used to understand the different developmental profiles of receptive endometrium during controlled ovarian stimulation and to search for the best controlled ovarian stimulation treatment in terms of minimal endometrial impact.

VL - 93 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18697870 N1 -

Horcajadas, Jose A Minguez, Pablo Dopazo, Joaquin Esteban, Francisco J Dominguez, Francisco Giudice, Linda C Pellicer, Antonio Simon, Carlos Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Nov;93(11):4500-10. Epub 2008 Aug 12.

ER - TY - CHAP T1 - The core of a minimal gene set: insights from natural reduced genomes T2 - Protocells: Bridging nonliving and living matter Y1 - 2008 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - Gil, R. A1 - Peretó, J. A1 - Latorre, A. A1 - Moya, A. JF - Protocells: Bridging nonliving and living matter PB - The MIT Press CY - USA ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Direct functional assessment of the composite phenotype through multivariate projection strategies. JF - Genomics Y1 - 2008 A1 - Conesa, Ana A1 - Bro, Rasmus A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Prats, José Manuel A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - Kjeldahl, Karin A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Breast Neoplasms KW - Computational Biology KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Humans KW - Mathematical Computing KW - Multivariate Analysis KW - Phenotype AB -

We present a novel approach for the analysis of transcriptomics data that integrates functional annotation of gene sets with expression values in a multivariate fashion, and directly assesses the relation of functional features to a multivariate space of response phenotypical variables. Multivariate projection methods are used to obtain new correlated variables for a set of genes that share a given function. These new functional variables are then related to the response variables of interest. The analysis of the principal directions of the multivariate regression allows for the identification of gene function features correlated with the phenotype. Two different transcriptomics studies are used to illustrate the statistical and interpretative aspects of the methodology. We demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over equivalent approaches.

VL - 92 IS - 6 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18652888?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Direct functional assessment of the composite phenotype through multivariate projection strategies JF - Genomics Y1 - 2008 A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Bro, R. A1 - Garcia-Garcia, F. A1 - Prats, J. M. A1 - Gotz, S. A1 - Kjeldahl, K. A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Dopazo, J. KW - Breast Neoplasms/genetics Computational Biology/*methods Databases KW - Genetic Female Gene Expression Profiling/*statistics & numerical data Humans Mathematical Computing Multivariate Analysis Phenotype AB -

We present a novel approach for the analysis of transcriptomics data that integrates functional annotation of gene sets with expression values in a multivariate fashion, and directly assesses the relation of functional features to a multivariate space of response phenotypical variables. Multivariate projection methods are used to obtain new correlated variables for a set of genes that share a given function. These new functional variables are then related to the response variables of interest. The analysis of the principal directions of the multivariate regression allows for the identification of gene function features correlated with the phenotype. Two different transcriptomics studies are used to illustrate the statistical and interpretative aspects of the methodology. We demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over equivalent approaches.

VL - 92 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18652888 N1 -

Conesa, Ana Bro, Rasmus Garcia-Garcia, Francisco Prats, Jose Manuel Gotz, Stefan Kjeldahl, Karin Montaner, David Dopazo, Joaquin Evaluation Studies Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Genomics Genomics. 2008 Dec;92(6):373-83. Epub 2008 Sep 13.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - GEPAS, a web-based tool for microarray data analysis and interpretation JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Tarraga, J. A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Carbonell, J. A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - Minguez, P. A1 - Alloza, E. A1 - Fatima Al-Shahrour A1 - Vegas-Azcarate, S. A1 - Goetz, S. A1 - Escobar, P. A1 - Garcia-Garcia, F. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Dopazo, J. KW - gepas KW - microarray data analysis AB -

Gene Expression Profile Analysis Suite (GEPAS) is one of the most complete and extensively used web-based packages for microarray data analysis. During its more than 5 years of activity it has continuously been updated to keep pace with the state-of-the-art in the changing microarray data analysis arena. GEPAS offers diverse analysis options that include well established as well as novel algorithms for normalization, gene selection, class prediction, clustering and functional profiling of the experiment. New options for time-course (or dose-response) experiments, microarray-based class prediction, new clustering methods and new tests for differential expression have been included. The new pipeliner module allows automating the execution of sequential analysis steps by means of a simple but powerful graphic interface. An extensive re-engineering of GEPAS has been carried out which includes the use of web services and Web 2.0 technology features, a new user interface with persistent sessions and a new extended database of gene identifiers. GEPAS is nowadays the most quoted web tool in its field and it is extensively used by researchers of many countries and its records indicate an average usage rate of 500 experiments per day. GEPAS, is available at http://www.gepas.org.

VL - 36 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18508806 N1 -

Tarraga, Joaquin Medina, Ignacio Carbonell, Jose Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Minguez, Pablo Alloza, Eva Al-Shahrour, Fatima Vegas-Azcarate, Susana Goetz, Stefan Escobar, Pablo Garcia-Garcia, Francisco Conesa, Ana Montaner, David Dopazo, Joaquin Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2008 Jul 1;36(Web Server issue):W308-14. Epub 2008 May 28.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - GEPAS, a web-based tool for microarray data analysis and interpretation. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Carbonell, José A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Minguez, Pablo A1 - Alloza, Eva A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima A1 - Vegas-Azcárate, Susana A1 - Goetz, Stefan A1 - Escobar, Pablo A1 - Garcia-Garcia, Francisco A1 - Conesa, Ana A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin KW - Computer Graphics KW - Dose-Response Relationship, Drug KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Internet KW - Kinetics KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Software AB -

Gene Expression Profile Analysis Suite (GEPAS) is one of the most complete and extensively used web-based packages for microarray data analysis. During its more than 5 years of activity it has continuously been updated to keep pace with the state-of-the-art in the changing microarray data analysis arena. GEPAS offers diverse analysis options that include well established as well as novel algorithms for normalization, gene selection, class prediction, clustering and functional profiling of the experiment. New options for time-course (or dose-response) experiments, microarray-based class prediction, new clustering methods and new tests for differential expression have been included. The new pipeliner module allows automating the execution of sequential analysis steps by means of a simple but powerful graphic interface. An extensive re-engineering of GEPAS has been carried out which includes the use of web services and Web 2.0 technology features, a new user interface with persistent sessions and a new extended database of gene identifiers. GEPAS is nowadays the most quoted web tool in its field and it is extensively used by researchers of many countries and its records indicate an average usage rate of 500 experiments per day. GEPAS, is available at http://www.gepas.org.

VL - 36 IS - Web Server issue U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18508806?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - High-throughput functional annotation and data mining with the Blast2GO suite. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Götz, Stefan A1 - García-Gómez, Juan Miguel A1 - Terol, Javier A1 - Williams, Tim D A1 - Nagaraj, Shivashankar H A1 - Nueda, Maria José A1 - Robles, Montserrat A1 - Talon, Manuel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Conesa, Ana KW - Animals KW - Computational Biology KW - Computer Graphics KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Expressed Sequence Tags KW - Genes KW - Genomics KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA KW - Sequence Analysis, Protein KW - Software KW - Vocabulary, Controlled AB -

Functional genomics technologies have been widely adopted in the biological research of both model and non-model species. An efficient functional annotation of DNA or protein sequences is a major requirement for the successful application of these approaches as functional information on gene products is often the key to the interpretation of experimental results. Therefore, there is an increasing need for bioinformatics resources which are able to cope with large amount of sequence data, produce valuable annotation results and are easily accessible to laboratories where functional genomics projects are being undertaken. We present the Blast2GO suite as an integrated and biologist-oriented solution for the high-throughput and automatic functional annotation of DNA or protein sequences based on the Gene Ontology vocabulary. The most outstanding Blast2GO features are: (i) the combination of various annotation strategies and tools controlling type and intensity of annotation, (ii) the numerous graphical features such as the interactive GO-graph visualization for gene-set function profiling or descriptive charts, (iii) the general sequence management features and (iv) high-throughput capabilities. We used the Blast2GO framework to carry out a detailed analysis of annotation behaviour through homology transfer and its impact in functional genomics research. Our aim is to offer biologists useful information to take into account when addressing the task of functionally characterizing their sequence data.

VL - 36 IS - 10 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18445632?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Interoperability with Moby 1.0--it's better than sharing your toothbrush! JF - Brief Bioinform Y1 - 2008 A1 - Wilkinson, Mark D A1 - Senger, Martin A1 - Kawas, Edward A1 - Bruskiewich, Richard A1 - Gouzy, Jerome A1 - Noirot, Celine A1 - Bardou, Philippe A1 - Ng, Ambrose A1 - Haase, Dirk A1 - Saiz, Enrique de Andres A1 - Wang, Dennis A1 - Gibbons, Frank A1 - Gordon, Paul M K A1 - Sensen, Christoph W A1 - Carrasco, Jose Manuel Rodriguez A1 - Fernández, José M A1 - Shen, Lixin A1 - Links, Matthew A1 - Ng, Michael A1 - Opushneva, Nina A1 - Neerincx, Pieter B T A1 - Leunissen, Jack A M A1 - Ernst, Rebecca A1 - Twigger, Simon A1 - Usadel, Bjorn A1 - Good, Benjamin A1 - Wong, Yan A1 - Stein, Lincoln A1 - Crosby, William A1 - Karlsson, Johan A1 - Royo, Romina A1 - Párraga, Iván A1 - Ramírez, Sergio A1 - Gelpi, Josep Lluis A1 - Trelles, Oswaldo A1 - Pisano, David G A1 - Jimenez, Natalia A1 - Kerhornou, Arnaud A1 - Rosset, Roman A1 - Zamacola, Leire A1 - Tárraga, Joaquín A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Carazo, Jose María A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Guigó, Roderic A1 - Navarro, Arcadi A1 - Orozco, Modesto A1 - Valencia, Alfonso A1 - Claros, M Gonzalo A1 - Pérez, Antonio J A1 - Aldana, Jose A1 - Rojano, M Mar A1 - Fernandez-Santa Cruz, Raul A1 - Navas, Ismael A1 - Schiltz, Gary A1 - Farmer, Andrew A1 - Gessler, Damian A1 - Schoof, Heiko A1 - Groscurth, Andreas KW - Computational Biology KW - Database Management Systems KW - Databases, Factual KW - Information Storage and Retrieval KW - Internet KW - Programming Languages KW - Systems Integration AB -

The BioMoby project was initiated in 2001 from within the model organism database community. It aimed to standardize methodologies to facilitate information exchange and access to analytical resources, using a consensus driven approach. Six years later, the BioMoby development community is pleased to announce the release of the 1.0 version of the interoperability framework, registry Application Programming Interface and supporting Perl and Java code-bases. Together, these provide interoperable access to over 1400 bioinformatics resources worldwide through the BioMoby platform, and this number continues to grow. Here we highlight and discuss the features of BioMoby that make it distinct from other Semantic Web Service and interoperability initiatives, and that have been instrumental to its deployment and use by a wide community of bioinformatics service providers. The standard, client software, and supporting code libraries are all freely available at http://www.biomoby.org/.

VL - 9 IS - 3 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18238804?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Interoperability with Moby 1.0–it’s better than sharing your toothbrush! JF - Brief Bioinform Y1 - 2008 A1 - Wilkinson, M. D. A1 - Senger, M. A1 - Kawas, E. A1 - Bruskiewich, R. A1 - Gouzy, J. A1 - Noirot, C. A1 - Bardou, P. A1 - Ng, A. A1 - Haase, D. A1 - Saiz Ede, A. A1 - Wang, D. A1 - Gibbons, F. A1 - Gordon, P. M. A1 - Sensen, C. W. A1 - Carrasco, J. M. A1 - Fernandez, J. M. A1 - Shen, L. A1 - Links, M. A1 - Ng, M. A1 - Opushneva, N. A1 - Neerincx, P. B. A1 - Leunissen, J. A. A1 - Ernst, R. A1 - Twigger, S. A1 - Usadel, B. A1 - Good, B. A1 - Wong, Y. A1 - Stein, L. A1 - Crosby, W. A1 - Karlsson, J. A1 - Royo, R. A1 - Parraga, I. A1 - Ramirez, S. A1 - Gelpi, J. L. A1 - Trelles, O. A1 - Pisano, D. G. A1 - Jimenez, N. A1 - Kerhornou, A. A1 - Rosset, R. A1 - Zamacola, L. A1 - Tarraga, J. A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - Carazo, J. M. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - R. Guigo A1 - Navarro, A. A1 - Orozco, M. A1 - Valencia, A. A1 - Claros, M. G. A1 - Perez, A. J. A1 - Aldana, J. A1 - Rojano, M. M. A1 - Fernandez-Santa Cruz, R. A1 - Navas, I. A1 - Schiltz, G. A1 - Farmer, A. A1 - Gessler, D. A1 - Schoof, H. A1 - Groscurth, A. KW - Computational Biology/*methods *Database Management Systems *Databases KW - Factual Information Storage and Retrieval/*methods *Internet *Programming Languages Systems Integration AB -

The BioMoby project was initiated in 2001 from within the model organism database community. It aimed to standardize methodologies to facilitate information exchange and access to analytical resources, using a consensus driven approach. Six years later, the BioMoby development community is pleased to announce the release of the 1.0 version of the interoperability framework, registry Application Programming Interface and supporting Perl and Java code-bases. Together, these provide interoperable access to over 1400 bioinformatics resources worldwide through the BioMoby platform, and this number continues to grow. Here we highlight and discuss the features of BioMoby that make it distinct from other Semantic Web Service and interoperability initiatives, and that have been instrumental to its deployment and use by a wide community of bioinformatics service providers. The standard, client software, and supporting code libraries are all freely available at http://www.biomoby.org/.

VL - 9 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18238804 N1 -

BioMoby Consortium Wilkinson, Mark D Senger, Martin Kawas, Edward Bruskiewich, Richard Gouzy, Jerome Noirot, Celine Bardou, Philippe Ng, Ambrose Haase, Dirk Saiz, Enrique de Andres Wang, Dennis Gibbons, Frank Gordon, Paul M K Sensen, Christoph W Carrasco, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Fernandez, Jose M Shen, Lixin Links, Matthew Ng, Michael Opushneva, Nina Neerincx, Pieter B T Leunissen, Jack A M Ernst, Rebecca Twigger, Simon Usadel, Bjorn Good, Benjamin Wong, Yan Stein, Lincoln Crosby, William Karlsson, Johan Royo, Romina Parraga, Ivan Ramirez, Sergio Gelpi, Josep Lluis Trelles, Oswaldo Pisano, David G Jimenez, Natalia Kerhornou, Arnaud Rosset, Roman Zamacola, Leire Tarraga, Joaquin Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Carazo, Jose Maria Dopazo, Joaquin Guigo, Roderic Navarro, Arcadi Orozco, Modesto Valencia, Alfonso Claros, M Gonzalo Perez, Antonio J Aldana, Jose Rojano, M Mar Fernandez-Santa Cruz, Raul Navas, Ismael Schiltz, Gary Farmer, Andrew Gessler, Damian Schoof, Heiko Groscurth, Andreas Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Review England Briefings in bioinformatics Brief Bioinform. 2008 May;9(3):220-31. Epub 2008 Jan 31.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Large-scale Gene Ontology analysis of plant transcriptome-derived sequences retrieved by AFLP technology JF - BMC Genomics Y1 - 2008 A1 - Botton, A. A1 - Galla, G. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Bachem, C. A1 - Ramina, A. A1 - Barcaccia, G. AB -

BACKGROUND: After 10-year-use of AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) technology for DNA fingerprinting and mRNA profiling, large repertories of genome- and transcriptome-derived sequences are available in public databases for model, crop and tree species. AFLP marker systems have been and are being extensively exploited for genome scanning and gene mapping, as well as cDNA-AFLP for transcriptome profiling and differentially expressed gene cloning. The evaluation, annotation and classification of genomic markers and expressed transcripts would be of great utility for both functional genomics and systems biology research in plants. This may be achieved by means of the Gene Ontology (GO), consisting in three structured vocabularies (i.e. ontologies) describing genes, transcripts and proteins of any organism in terms of their associated cellular component, biological process and molecular function in a species-independent manner. In this paper, the functional annotation of about 8,000 AFLP-derived ESTs retrieved in the NCBI databases was carried out by using GO terminology. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics on the type, size and nature of gene sequences obtained by means of AFLP technology were calculated. The gene products associated with mRNA transcripts were then classified according to the three main GO vocabularies. A comparison of the functional content of cDNA-AFLP records was also performed by splitting the sequence dataset into monocots and dicots and by comparing them to all annotated ESTs of Arabidopsis and rice, respectively. On the whole, the statistical parameters adopted for the in silico AFLP-derived transcriptome-anchored sequence analysis proved to be critical for obtaining reliable GO results. Such an exhaustive annotation may offer a suitable platform for functional genomics, particularly useful in non-model species. CONCLUSION: Reliable GO annotations of AFLP-derived sequences can be gathered through the optimization of the experimental steps and the statistical parameters adopted. The Blast2GO software was shown to represent a comprehensive bioinformatics solution for an annotation-based functional analysis. According to the whole set of GO annotations, the AFLP technology generates thorough information for angiosperm gene products and shares common features across angiosperm species and families. The utility of this technology for structural and functional genomics in plants can be implemented by serial annotation analyses of genome-anchored fragments and organ/tissue-specific repertories of transcriptome-derived fragments.

VL - 9 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18652646 N1 -

Botton, Alessandro Galla, Giulio Conesa, Ana Bachem, Christian Ramina, Angelo Barcaccia, Gianni England BMC genomics BMC Genomics. 2008 Jul 24;9:347.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Molecular profiling related to poor prognosis in thyroid carcinoma. Combining gene expression data and biological information. JF - Oncogene Y1 - 2008 A1 - Montero-Conde, C A1 - Martín-Campos, J M A1 - Lerma, E A1 - Gimenez, G A1 - Martínez-Guitarte, J L A1 - Combalía, N A1 - Montaner, D A1 - Matías-Guiu, X A1 - Dopazo, J A1 - de Leiva, A A1 - Robledo, M A1 - Mauricio, D KW - Adenoma KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Biomarkers, Tumor KW - Carcinoma KW - Carcinoma, Papillary KW - Cell Differentiation KW - Female KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Middle Aged KW - Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis KW - Prognosis KW - Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction KW - RNA, Neoplasm KW - Signal Transduction KW - Thyroid Neoplasms AB -

Undifferentiated and poorly differentiated thyroid tumors are responsible for more than half of thyroid cancer patient deaths in spite of their low incidence. Conventional treatments do not obtain substantial benefits, and the lack of alternative approaches limits patient survival. Additionally, the absence of prognostic markers for well-differentiated tumors complicates patient-specific treatments and favors the progression of recurrent forms. In order to recognize the molecular basis involved in tumor dedifferentiation and identify potential markers for thyroid cancer prognosis prediction, we analysed the expression profile of 44 thyroid primary tumors with different degrees of dedifferentiation and aggressiveness using cDNA microarrays. Transcriptome comparison of dedifferentiated and well-differentiated thyroid tumors identified 1031 genes with >2-fold difference in absolute values and false discovery rate of <0.15. According to known molecular interaction and reaction networks, the products of these genes were mainly clustered in the MAPkinase signaling pathway, the TGF-beta signaling pathway, focal adhesion and cell motility, activation of actin polymerization and cell cycle. An exhaustive search in several databases allowed us to identify various members of the matrix metalloproteinase, melanoma antigen A and collagen gene families within the upregulated gene set. We also identified a prognosis classifier comprising just 30 transcripts with an overall accuracy of 95%. These findings may clarify the molecular mechanisms involved in thyroid tumor dedifferentiation and provide a potential prognosis predictor as well as targets for new therapies.

VL - 27 IS - 11 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17873908?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Molecular profiling related to poor prognosis in thyroid carcinoma. Combining gene expression data and biological information JF - Oncogene Y1 - 2008 A1 - Montero-Conde, C. A1 - Martin-Campos, J. M. A1 - Lerma, E. A1 - Gimenez, G. A1 - Martinez-Guitarte, J. L. A1 - Combalia, N. A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Matias-Guiu, X. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - de Leiva, A. A1 - M. Robledo A1 - Mauricio, D. KW - Adenoma/genetics/metabolism/pathology Adolescent Adult Aged Carcinoma/genetics/metabolism/pathology Carcinoma KW - Biological/*genetics/metabolism KW - Neoplasm/genetics/metabolism Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Signal Transduction Thyroid Neoplasms/classification/*genetics/metabolism Tumor Markers KW - Neoplastic Humans Male Middle Aged *Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Prognosis RNA KW - Papillary/genetics/metabolism/pathology Cell Differentiation Female *Gene Expression Profiling *Gene Expression Regulation AB -

Undifferentiated and poorly differentiated thyroid tumors are responsible for more than half of thyroid cancer patient deaths in spite of their low incidence. Conventional treatments do not obtain substantial benefits, and the lack of alternative approaches limits patient survival. Additionally, the absence of prognostic markers for well-differentiated tumors complicates patient-specific treatments and favors the progression of recurrent forms. In order to recognize the molecular basis involved in tumor dedifferentiation and identify potential markers for thyroid cancer prognosis prediction, we analysed the expression profile of 44 thyroid primary tumors with different degrees of dedifferentiation and aggressiveness using cDNA microarrays. Transcriptome comparison of dedifferentiated and well-differentiated thyroid tumors identified 1031 genes with >2-fold difference in absolute values and false discovery rate of <0.15. According to known molecular interaction and reaction networks, the products of these genes were mainly clustered in the MAPkinase signaling pathway, the TGF-beta signaling pathway, focal adhesion and cell motility, activation of actin polymerization and cell cycle. An exhaustive search in several databases allowed us to identify various members of the matrix metalloproteinase, melanoma antigen A and collagen gene families within the upregulated gene set. We also identified a prognosis classifier comprising just 30 transcripts with an overall accuracy of 95%. These findings may clarify the molecular mechanisms involved in thyroid tumor dedifferentiation and provide a potential prognosis predictor as well as targets for new therapies.

VL - 27 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17873908 N1 -

Montero-Conde, C Martin-Campos, J M Lerma, E Gimenez, G Martinez-Guitarte, J L Combalia, N Montaner, D Matias-Guiu, X Dopazo, J de Leiva, A Robledo, M Mauricio, D Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Oncogene Oncogene. 2008 Mar 6;27(11):1554-61. Epub 2007 Sep 17.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - PhylomeDB: a database for genome-wide collections of gene phylogenies JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - Bueno, A. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Gabaldón, T. KW - Ancient Humans *Phylogeny Proteins/classification/genetics Saccharomyces cerevisiae/classification/genetics Sequence Alignment KW - Base Sequence Escherichia coli/classification/genetics Genes *Genomics History AB - The complete collection of evolutionary histories of all genes in a genome, also known as phylome, constitutes a valuable source of information. The reconstruction of phylomes has been previously prevented by large demands of time and computer power, but is now feasible thanks to recent developments in computers and algorithms. To provide a publicly available repository of complete phylomes that allows researchers to access and store large-scale phylogenomic analyses, we have developed PhylomeDB. PhylomeDB is a database of complete phylomes derived for different genomes within a specific taxonomic range. All phylomes in the database are built using a high-quality phylogenetic pipeline that includes evolutionary model testing and alignment trimming phases. For each genome, PhylomeDB provides the alignments, phylogentic trees and tree-based orthology predictions for every single encoded protein. The current version of PhylomeDB includes the phylomes of Human, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the bacterium Escherichia coli, comprising a total of 32 289 seed sequences with their corresponding alignments and 172 324 phylogenetic trees. PhylomeDB can be publicly accessed at http://phylomedb.bioinfo.cipf.es. VL - 36 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17962297 N1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Bueno, Anibal Dopazo, Joaquin Gabaldon, Toni Historical Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2008 Jan;36(Database issue):D491-6. Epub 2007 Oct 25. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - PhylomeDB: a database for genome-wide collections of gene phylogenies. JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2008 A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Bueno, Anibal A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Gabaldón, Toni KW - Base Sequence KW - Escherichia coli KW - Genes KW - Genomics KW - History, Ancient KW - Humans KW - Phylogeny KW - Proteins KW - Saccharomyces cerevisiae KW - Sequence Alignment AB -

The complete collection of evolutionary histories of all genes in a genome, also known as phylome, constitutes a valuable source of information. The reconstruction of phylomes has been previously prevented by large demands of time and computer power, but is now feasible thanks to recent developments in computers and algorithms. To provide a publicly available repository of complete phylomes that allows researchers to access and store large-scale phylogenomic analyses, we have developed PhylomeDB. PhylomeDB is a database of complete phylomes derived for different genomes within a specific taxonomic range. All phylomes in the database are built using a high-quality phylogenetic pipeline that includes evolutionary model testing and alignment trimming phases. For each genome, PhylomeDB provides the alignments, phylogentic trees and tree-based orthology predictions for every single encoded protein. The current version of PhylomeDB includes the phylomes of Human, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the bacterium Escherichia coli, comprising a total of 32 289 seed sequences with their corresponding alignments and 172 324 phylogenetic trees. PhylomeDB can be publicly accessed at http://phylomedb.bioinfo.cipf.es.

VL - 36 IS - Database issue U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17962297?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SNP and haplotype mapping for genetic analysis in the rat. JF - Nat Genet Y1 - 2008 A1 - Saar, Kathrin A1 - Beck, Alfred A1 - Bihoreau, Marie-Thérèse A1 - Birney, Ewan A1 - Brocklebank, Denise A1 - Chen, Yuan A1 - Cuppen, Edwin A1 - Demonchy, Stephanie A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Flicek, Paul A1 - Foglio, Mario A1 - Fujiyama, Asao A1 - Gut, Ivo G A1 - Gauguier, Dominique A1 - Guigó, Roderic A1 - Guryev, Victor A1 - Heinig, Matthias A1 - Hummel, Oliver A1 - Jahn, Niels A1 - Klages, Sven A1 - Kren, Vladimir A1 - Kube, Michael A1 - Kuhl, Heiner A1 - Kuramoto, Takashi A1 - Kuroki, Yoko A1 - Lechner, Doris A1 - Lee, Young-Ae A1 - Lopez-Bigas, Nuria A1 - Lathrop, G Mark A1 - Mashimo, Tomoji A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Mott, Richard A1 - Patone, Giannino A1 - Perrier-Cornet, Jeanne-Antide A1 - Platzer, Matthias A1 - Pravenec, Michal A1 - Reinhardt, Richard A1 - Sakaki, Yoshiyuki A1 - Schilhabel, Markus A1 - Schulz, Herbert A1 - Serikawa, Tadao A1 - Shikhagaie, Medya A1 - Tatsumoto, Shouji A1 - Taudien, Stefan A1 - Toyoda, Atsushi A1 - Voigt, Birger A1 - Zelenika, Diana A1 - Zimdahl, Heike A1 - Hubner, Norbert KW - Animals KW - Chromosome Mapping KW - Databases, Genetic KW - Genome KW - Haplotypes KW - Linkage Disequilibrium KW - Phylogeny KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Quantitative Trait Loci KW - Rats KW - Rats, Inbred Strains KW - Recombination, Genetic AB -

The laboratory rat is one of the most extensively studied model organisms. Inbred laboratory rat strains originated from limited Rattus norvegicus founder populations, and the inherited genetic variation provides an excellent resource for the correlation of genotype to phenotype. Here, we report a survey of genetic variation based on almost 3 million newly identified SNPs. We obtained accurate and complete genotypes for a subset of 20,238 SNPs across 167 distinct inbred rat strains, two rat recombinant inbred panels and an F2 intercross. Using 81% of these SNPs, we constructed high-density genetic maps, creating a large dataset of fully characterized SNPs for disease gene mapping. Our data characterize the population structure and illustrate the degree of linkage disequilibrium. We provide a detailed SNP map and demonstrate its utility for mapping of quantitative trait loci. This community resource is openly available and augments the genetic tools for this workhorse of physiological studies.

VL - 40 IS - 5 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443594?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - SNP and haplotype mapping for genetic analysis in the rat JF - Nat Genet Y1 - 2008 A1 - K. Saar A1 - A. Beck A1 - M. T. Bihoreau A1 - E. Birney A1 - D. Brocklebank A1 - Y. Chen A1 - E. Cuppen A1 - S. Demonchy A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - P. Flicek A1 - M. Foglio A1 - A. Fujiyama A1 - I. G. Gut A1 - D. Gauguier A1 - R. Guigo A1 - V. Guryev A1 - M. Heinig A1 - O. Hummel A1 - N. Jahn A1 - S. Klages A1 - V. Kren A1 - M. Kube A1 - H. Kuhl A1 - Kuramoto, T. A1 - Kuroki, Y. A1 - Lechner, D. A1 - Lee, Y. A. A1 - Lopez-Bigas, N. A1 - Lathrop, G. M. A1 - Mashimo, T. A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Mott, R. A1 - Patone, G. A1 - Perrier-Cornet, J. A. A1 - Platzer, M. A1 - Pravenec, M. A1 - Reinhardt, R. A1 - Sakaki, Y. A1 - Schilhabel, M. A1 - Schulz, H. A1 - Serikawa, T. A1 - Shikhagaie, M. A1 - Tatsumoto, S. A1 - Taudien, S. A1 - Toyoda, A. A1 - Voigt, B. A1 - Zelenika, D. A1 - Zimdahl, H. A1 - Hubner, N. KW - Animals Chromosome Mapping *Databases KW - Genetic KW - Genetic Genome *Haplotypes Linkage Disequilibrium Phylogeny *Polymorphism KW - Inbred Strains/*genetics Recombination KW - Single Nucleotide *Quantitative Trait Loci Rats/*genetics Rats AB -

The laboratory rat is one of the most extensively studied model organisms. Inbred laboratory rat strains originated from limited Rattus norvegicus founder populations, and the inherited genetic variation provides an excellent resource for the correlation of genotype to phenotype. Here, we report a survey of genetic variation based on almost 3 million newly identified SNPs. We obtained accurate and complete genotypes for a subset of 20,238 SNPs across 167 distinct inbred rat strains, two rat recombinant inbred panels and an F2 intercross. Using 81% of these SNPs, we constructed high-density genetic maps, creating a large dataset of fully characterized SNPs for disease gene mapping. Our data characterize the population structure and illustrate the degree of linkage disequilibrium. We provide a detailed SNP map and demonstrate its utility for mapping of quantitative trait loci. This community resource is openly available and augments the genetic tools for this workhorse of physiological studies.

VL - 40 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18443594 N1 -

STAR Consortium Saar, Kathrin Beck, Alfred Bihoreau, Marie-Therese Birney, Ewan Brocklebank, Denise Chen, Yuan Cuppen, Edwin Demonchy, Stephanie Dopazo, Joaquin Flicek, Paul Foglio, Mario Fujiyama, Asao Gut, Ivo G Gauguier, Dominique Guigo, Roderic Guryev, Victor Heinig, Matthias Hummel, Oliver Jahn, Niels Klages, Sven Kren, Vladimir Kube, Michael Kuhl, Heiner Kuramoto, Takashi Kuroki, Yoko Lechner, Doris Lee, Young-Ae Lopez-Bigas, Nuria Lathrop, G Mark Mashimo, Tomoji Medina, Ignacio Mott, Richard Patone, Giannino Perrier-Cornet, Jeanne-Antide Platzer, Matthias Pravenec, Michal Reinhardt, Richard Sakaki, Yoshiyuki Schilhabel, Markus Schulz, Herbert Serikawa, Tadao Shikhagaie, Medya Tatsumoto, Shouji Taudien, Stefan Toyoda, Atsushi Voigt, Birger Zelenika, Diana Zimdahl, Heike Hubner, Norbert 057733/Z/99/A/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom 066780/Z/01/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Technical Report United States Nature genetics Nat Genet. 2008 May;40(5):560-6.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transcriptome analysis provides new insights into liver changes induced in the rat upon dietary administration of the food additives butylated hydroxytoluene, curcumin, propyl gallate and thiabendazole JF - Food Chem Toxicol Y1 - 2008 A1 - Stierum, R. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Heijne, W. A1 - Ommen, B. A1 - Junker, K. A1 - Scott, M. P. A1 - Price, R. J. A1 - Meredith, C. A1 - Lake, B. G. A1 - Groten, J. KW - Animals Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases/metabolism Body Weight/drug effects Butylated Hydroxytoluene/toxicity Curcumin/toxicity Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2/metabolism Cytochrome P-450 CYP2B1/metabolism DNA KW - Complementary/biosynthesis/genetics Data Interpretation KW - Sprague-Dawley Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Steroid Hydroxylases/metabolism Thiabendazole/toxicity KW - Statistical *Diet Food Additives/*toxicity Gene Expression/drug effects *Gene Expression Profiling Glutathione Transferase/metabolism Liver/*drug effects Male Organ Size/drug effects Oxidation-Reduction Palmitoyl Coenzyme A/metabolism Propyl Gallate/toxi AB - Transcriptomics was performed to gain insight into mechanisms of food additives butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), curcumin (CC), propyl gallate (PG), and thiabendazole (TB), additives for which interactions in the liver can not be excluded. Additives were administered in diets for 28 days to Sprague-Dawley rats and cDNA microarray experiments were performed on hepatic RNA. BHT induced changes in the expression of 10 genes, including phase I (CYP2B1/2; CYP3A9; CYP2C6) and phase II metabolism (GST mu2). The CYP2B1/2 and GST expression findings were confirmed by real time RT-PCR, western blotting, and increased GST activity towards DCNB. CC altered the expression of 12 genes. Three out of these were related to peroxisomes (phytanoyl-CoA dioxygenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase; CYP4A3). Increased cyanide insensitive palmitoyl-CoA oxidation was observed, suggesting that CC is a weak peroxisome proliferator. TB changed the expression of 12 genes, including CYP1A2. In line, CYP1A2 protein expression was increased. The expression level of five genes, associated with p53 was found to change upon TB treatment, including p53 itself, GADD45alpha, DN-7, protein kinase C beta and serum albumin. These array experiments led to the novel finding that TB is capable of inducing p53 at the protein level, at least at the highest dose levels employed above the current NOAEL. The expression of eight genes changed upon PG administration. This study shows the value of gene expression profiling in food toxicology in terms of generating novel hypotheses on the mechanisms of action of food additives in relation to pathology. VL - 46 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=18539377 N1 - Stierum, Rob Conesa, Ana Heijne, Wilbert Ommen, Ben van Junker, Karin Scott, Mary P Price, Roger J Meredith, Clive Lake, Brian G Groten, John Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association Food Chem Toxicol. 2008 Aug;46(8):2616-28. Epub 2008 Apr 25. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Analysis of 13000 unique Citrus clusters associated with fruit quality, production and salinity tolerance JF - BMC Genomics Y1 - 2007 A1 - Terol, J. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Colmenero, J. M. A1 - Cercos, M. A1 - Tadeo, F. A1 - Agusti, J. A1 - Alos, E. A1 - Andres, F. A1 - Soler, G. A1 - Brumos, J. A1 - Iglesias, D. J. A1 - Gotz, S. A1 - Legaz, F. A1 - Argout, X. A1 - Courtois, B. A1 - Ollitrault, P. A1 - Dossat, C. A1 - Wincker, P. A1 - Morillon, R. A1 - Talon, M. KW - Acclimatization/*genetics Amino Acid Motifs Citrus/*genetics Cluster Analysis Expressed Sequence Tags Fruit/genetics Gene Duplication *Gene Expression Regulation KW - Plant Gene Library Genes KW - Plant Genomics Molecular Sequence Data Multigene Family Phylogeny *Salts/adverse effects AB - BACKGROUND: Improvement of Citrus, the most economically important fruit crop in the world, is extremely slow and inherently costly because of the long-term nature of tree breeding and an unusual combination of reproductive characteristics. Aside from disease resistance, major commercial traits in Citrus are improved fruit quality, higher yield and tolerance to environmental stresses, especially salinity. RESULTS: A normalized full length and 9 standard cDNA libraries were generated, representing particular treatments and tissues from selected varieties (Citrus clementina and C. sinensis) and rootstocks (C. reshni, and C. sinenis x Poncirus trifoliata) differing in fruit quality, resistance to abscission, and tolerance to salinity. The goal of this work was to provide a large expressed sequence tag (EST) collection enriched with transcripts related to these well appreciated agronomical traits. Towards this end, more than 54000 ESTs derived from these libraries were analyzed and annotated. Assembly of 52626 useful sequences generated 15664 putative transcription units distributed in 7120 contigs, and 8544 singletons. BLAST annotation produced significant hits for more than 80% of the hypothetical transcription units and suggested that 647 of these might be Citrus specific unigenes. The unigene set, composed of 13000 putative different transcripts, including more than 5000 novel Citrus genes, was assigned with putative functions based on similarity, GO annotations and protein domains CONCLUSION: Comparative genomics with Arabidopsis revealed the presence of putative conserved orthologs and single copy genes in Citrus and also the occurrence of both gene duplication events and increased number of genes for specific pathways. In addition, phylogenetic analysis performed on the ammonium transporter family and glycosyl transferase family 20 suggested the existence of Citrus paralogs. Analysis of the Citrus gene space showed that the most important metabolic pathways known to affect fruit quality were represented in the unigene set. Overall, the similarity analyses indicated that the sequences of the genes belonging to these varieties and rootstocks were essentially identical, suggesting that the differential behaviour of these species cannot be attributed to major sequence divergences. This Citrus EST assembly contributes both crucial information to discover genes of agronomical interest and tools for genetic and genomic analyses, such as the development of new markers and microarrays. VL - 8 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17254327 N1 - Terol, Javier Conesa, Ana Colmenero, Jose M Cercos, Manuel Tadeo, Francisco Agusti, Javier Alos, Enriqueta Andres, Fernando Soler, Guillermo Brumos, Javier Iglesias, Domingo J Gotz, Stefan Legaz, Francisco Argout, Xavier Courtois, Brigitte Ollitrault, Patrick Dossat, Carole Wincker, Patrick Morillon, Raphael Talon, Manuel Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England BMC genomics BMC Genomics. 2007 Jan 25;8:31. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Association study of 69 genes in the ret pathway identifies low-penetrance loci in sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma JF - Cancer Res Y1 - 2007 A1 - Ruiz-Llorente, S. A1 - Montero-Conde, C. A1 - Milne, R. L. A1 - Moya, C. M. A1 - Cebrian, A. A1 - Leton, R. A1 - Cascon, A. A1 - Mercadillo, F. A1 - Landa, I. A1 - Borrego, S. A1 - Perez de Nanclares, G. A1 - Alvarez-Escola, C. A1 - Diaz-Perez, J. A. A1 - Carracedo, A. A1 - Urioste, M. A1 - Gonzalez-Neira, A. A1 - Benitez, J. A1 - Santisteban, P. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Ponder, B. A. A1 - M. Robledo KW - 80 and over Carcinoma KW - Adolescent Adult Aged Aged KW - Genetic KW - Genetic Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret/*genetics/metabolism Signal Transduction Thyroid Neoplasms/*genetics/metabolism Transcription KW - Medullary/*genetics/metabolism Case-Control Studies Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p15/biosynthesis/genetics Female Genetic Predisposition to Disease Germ-Line Mutation Haplotypes Humans Male Middle Aged Penetrance Polymorphism KW - Single Nucleotide Promoter Regions AB - To date, few association studies have been done to better understand the genetic basis for the development of sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (sMTC). To identify additional low-penetrance genes, we have done a two-stage case-control study in two European populations using high-throughput genotyping. We selected 417 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) belonging to 69 genes either related to RET signaling pathway/functions or involved in key processes for cancer development. TagSNPs and functional variants were included where possible. These SNPs were initially studied in the largest known series of sMTC cases (n = 266) and controls (n = 422), all of Spanish origin. In stage II, an independent British series of 155 sMTC patients and 531 controls was included to validate the previous results. Associations were assessed by an exhaustive analysis of individual SNPs but also considering gene- and linkage disequilibrium-based haplotypes. This strategy allowed us to identify seven low-penetrance genes, six of them (STAT1, AURKA, BCL2, CDKN2B, CDK6, and COMT) consistently associated with sMTC risk in the two case-control series and a seventh (HRAS) with individual SNPs and haplotypes associated with sMTC in the Spanish data set. The potential role of CDKN2B was confirmed by a functional assay showing a role of a SNP (rs7044859) in the promoter region in altering the binding of the transcription factor HNF1. These results highlight the utility of association studies using homogeneous series of cases for better understanding complex diseases. VL - 67 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17909067 N1 - Ruiz-Llorente, Sergio Montero-Conde, Cristina Milne, Roger L Moya, Christian M Cebrian, Arancha Leton, Rocio Cascon, Alberto Mercadillo, Fatima Landa, Inigo Borrego, Salud Perez de Nanclares, Guiomar Alvarez-Escola, Cristina Diaz-Perez, Jose Angel Carracedo, Angel Urioste, Miguel Gonzalez-Neira, Anna Benitez, Javier Santisteban, Pilar Dopazo, Joaquin Ponder, Bruce A Robledo, Mercedes Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Clinical Group Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Cancer research Cancer Res. 2007 Oct 1;67(19):9561-7. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evidence for systems-level molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis. JF - BMC Genomics Y1 - 2007 A1 - Hernández, Pilar A1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime A1 - Montaner, David A1 - Al-Shahrour, Fátima A1 - Valls, Joan A1 - Gómez, Laia A1 - Capellà, Gabriel A1 - Dopazo, Joaquin A1 - Pujana, Miguel Angel KW - Cell Transformation, Neoplastic KW - Gene Expression Profiling KW - Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Models, Biological KW - Models, Genetic KW - Models, Statistical KW - Neoplasm Proteins KW - Neoplasms KW - Prostatic Neoplasms KW - Protein Interaction Mapping KW - RNA, Messenger KW - Signal Transduction KW - Systems biology AB -

BACKGROUND: Cancer arises from the consecutive acquisition of genetic alterations. Increasing evidence suggests that as a consequence of these alterations, molecular interactions are reprogrammed in the context of highly connected and regulated cellular networks. Coordinated reprogramming would allow the cell to acquire the capabilities for malignant growth.

RESULTS: Here, we determine the coordinated function of cancer gene products (i.e., proteins encoded by differentially expressed genes in tumors relative to healthy tissue counterparts, hereafter referred to as "CGPs") defined as their topological properties and organization in the interactome network. We show that CGPs are central to information exchange and propagation and that they are specifically organized to promote tumorigenesis. Centrality is identified by both local (degree) and global (betweenness and closeness) measures, and systematically appears in down-regulated CGPs. Up-regulated CGPs do not consistently exhibit centrality, but both types of cancer products determine the overall integrity of the network structure. In addition to centrality, down-regulated CGPs show topological association that correlates with common biological processes and pathways involved in tumorigenesis.

CONCLUSION: Given the current limited coverage of the human interactome, this study proposes that tumorigenesis takes place in a specific and organized way at the molecular systems-level and suggests a model that comprises the precise down-regulation of groups of topologically-associated proteins involved in particular functions, orchestrated with the up-regulation of specific proteins.

VL - 8 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17584915?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evidence for systems-level molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis JF - BMC Genomics Y1 - 2007 A1 - Hernandez, P. A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - Montaner, D. A1 - Fatima Al-Shahrour A1 - Valls, J. A1 - Gomez, L. A1 - Capella, G. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Pujana, M. A. KW - *Cell Transformation KW - Biological Models KW - Genetic Models KW - Messenger/metabolism Signal Transduction Systems Biology KW - Neoplastic *Gene Expression Profiling *Gene Expression Regulation KW - Neoplastic Humans Male Models KW - Statistical Neoplasm Proteins/*physiology Neoplasms/etiology/*genetics Prostatic Neoplasms/genetics Protein Interaction Mapping RNA AB - BACKGROUND: Cancer arises from the consecutive acquisition of genetic alterations. Increasing evidence suggests that as a consequence of these alterations, molecular interactions are reprogrammed in the context of highly connected and regulated cellular networks. Coordinated reprogramming would allow the cell to acquire the capabilities for malignant growth. RESULTS: Here, we determine the coordinated function of cancer gene products (i.e., proteins encoded by differentially expressed genes in tumors relative to healthy tissue counterparts, hereafter referred to as "CGPs") defined as their topological properties and organization in the interactome network. We show that CGPs are central to information exchange and propagation and that they are specifically organized to promote tumorigenesis. Centrality is identified by both local (degree) and global (betweenness and closeness) measures, and systematically appears in down-regulated CGPs. Up-regulated CGPs do not consistently exhibit centrality, but both types of cancer products determine the overall integrity of the network structure. In addition to centrality, down-regulated CGPs show topological association that correlates with common biological processes and pathways involved in tumorigenesis. CONCLUSION: Given the current limited coverage of the human interactome, this study proposes that tumorigenesis takes place in a specific and organized way at the molecular systems-level and suggests a model that comprises the precise down-regulation of groups of topologically-associated proteins involved in particular functions, orchestrated with the up-regulation of specific proteins. VL - 8 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17584915 N1 - Hernandez, Pilar Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Montaner, David Al-Shahrour, Fatima Valls, Joan Gomez, Laia Capella, Gabriel Dopazo, Joaquin Pujana, Miguel Angel Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England BMC genomics BMC Genomics. 2007 Jun 20;8:185. ER - TY - CHAP T1 - f single nucleotide polymorphism arrays: Design, tools and applications T2 - Microarray Technology Through Applications Y1 - 2007 A1 - M. Robledo A1 - González-Neira, A A1 - Dopazo, J. JF - Microarray Technology Through Applications PB - Taylor & Francis, F. Falciani CY - New York, USA ER - TY - JOUR T1 - From endosymbiont to host-controlled organelle: the hijacking of mitochondrial protein synthesis and metabolism JF - PLoS Comput Biol Y1 - 2007 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - M. A. Huynen KW - Computer Simulation DNA Mutational Analysis/methods Evolution *Evolution KW - Genetic Organelles/physiology Protein Biosynthesis/*genetics Symbiosis/*genetics KW - Molecular Fungal Proteins/*physiology Genetic Variation/genetics Humans Mitochondria/*physiology Mitochondrial Proteins/*physiology *Models AB - Mitochondria are eukaryotic organelles that originated from the endosymbiosis of an alpha-proteobacterium. To gain insight into the evolution of the mitochondrial proteome as it proceeded through the transition from a free-living cell to a specialized organelle, we compared a reconstructed ancestral proteome of the mitochondrion with the proteomes of alpha-proteobacteria as well as with the mitochondrial proteomes in yeast and man. Overall, there has been a large turnover of the mitochondrial proteome during the evolution of mitochondria. Early in the evolution of the mitochondrion, proteins involved in cell envelope synthesis have virtually disappeared, whereas proteins involved in replication, transcription, cell division, transport, regulation, and signal transduction have been replaced by eukaryotic proteins. More than half of what remains from the mitochondrial ancestor in modern mitochondria corresponds to translation, including post-translational modifications, and to metabolic pathways that are directly, or indirectly, involved in energy conversion. Altogether, the results indicate that the eukaryotic host has hijacked the proto-mitochondrion, taking control of its protein synthesis and metabolism. VL - 3 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17983265 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Huynen, Martijn A Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States PLoS computational biology PLoS Comput Biol. 2007 Nov;3(11):e219. Epub 2007 Sep 26. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The human phylome JF - Genome Biol Y1 - 2007 A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - H. Dopazo A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Gabaldón, T. KW - Animals *Evolution Evolution KW - DNA KW - Molecular Gene Duplication *Genome Humans *Phylogeny Proteins/genetics Sequence Analysis AB - BACKGROUND: Phylogenomics analyses serve to establish evolutionary relationships among organisms and their genes. A phylome, the complete collection of all gene phylogenies in a genome, constitutes a valuable source of information, but its use in large genomes still constitutes a technical challenge. The use of phylomes also requires the development of new methods that help us to interpret them. RESULTS: We reconstruct here the human phylome, which includes the evolutionary relationships of all human proteins and their homologs among 39 fully sequenced eukaryotes. Phylogenetic techniques used include alignment trimming, branch length optimization, evolutionary model testing and maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. Although differences with alternative topologies are minor, most of the trees support the Coelomata and Unikont hypotheses as well as the grouping of primates with laurasatheria to the exclusion of rodents. We assess the extent of gene duplication events and their relationship with the functional roles of the protein families involved. We find support for at least one, and probably two, rounds of whole genome duplications before vertebrate radiation. Using a novel algorithm that is independent from a species phylogeny, we derive orthology and paralogy relationships of human proteins among eukaryotic genomes. CONCLUSION: Topological variations among phylogenies for different genes are to be expected, highlighting the danger of gene-sampling effects in phylogenomic analyses. Several links can be established between the functions of gene families duplicated at certain phylogenetic splits and major evolutionary transitions in those lineages. The pipeline implemented here can be easily adapted for use in other organisms. VL - 8 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17567924 N1 - Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Dopazo, Hernan Dopazo, Joaquin Gabaldon, Toni Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Genome biology Genome Biol. 2007;8(6):R109. ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Microarray Technology in Agricultural Research T2 - Microarray Technology Through Applications Y1 - 2007 A1 - A. Conesa A1 - J. Forment A1 - J. Gadea A1 - van Dijk, J. KW - babelomics JF - Microarray Technology Through Applications PB - F. Falciani. Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group ER - TY - JOUR T1 - PeroxisomeDB: a database for the peroxisomal proteome, functional genomics and disease JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2007 A1 - Schluter, A. A1 - Fourcade, S. A1 - Domenech-Estevez, E. A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - Berthommier, G. A1 - Ripp, R. A1 - Wanders, R. J. A1 - Poch, O. A1 - Pujol, A. KW - Animals *Databases KW - Protein Genomics Humans Internet Mice Peroxisomal Disorders/*genetics Peroxisomes/*metabolism Protein Sorting Signals Proteome/chemistry/*genetics/*physiology Rats Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/genetics/physiology Software User-Computer Interface AB - Peroxisomes are essential organelles of eukaryotic origin, ubiquitously distributed in cells and organisms, playing key roles in lipid and antioxidant metabolism. Loss or malfunction of peroxisomes causes more than 20 fatal inherited conditions. We have created a peroxisomal database (http://www.peroxisomeDB.org) that includes the complete peroxisomal proteome of Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, by gathering, updating and integrating the available genetic and functional information on peroxisomal genes. PeroxisomeDB is structured in interrelated sections ’Genes’, ’Functions’, ’Metabolic pathways’ and ’Diseases’, that include hyperlinks to selected features of NCBI, ENSEMBL and UCSC databases. We have designed graphical depictions of the main peroxisomal metabolic routes and have included updated flow charts for diagnosis. Precomputed BLAST, PSI-BLAST, multiple sequence alignment (MUSCLE) and phylogenetic trees are provided to assist in direct multispecies comparison to study evolutionary conserved functions and pathways. Highlights of the PeroxisomeDB include new tools developed for facilitating (i) identification of novel peroxisomal proteins, by means of identifying proteins carrying peroxisome targeting signal (PTS) motifs, (ii) detection of peroxisomes in silico, particularly useful for screening the deluge of newly sequenced genomes. PeroxisomeDB should contribute to the systematic characterization of the peroxisomal proteome and facilitate system biology approaches on the organelle. VL - 35 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17135190 N1 - Schluter, Agatha Fourcade, Stephane Domenech-Estevez, Enric Gabaldon, Toni Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Berthommier, Guillaume Ripp, Raymond Wanders, Ronald J A Poch, Olivier Pujol, Aurora Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2007 Jan;35(Database issue):D815-22. Epub 2006 Nov 28. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Phylemon: a suite of web tools for molecular evolution, phylogenetics and phylogenomics JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2007 A1 - Tarraga, J. A1 - Medina, Ignacio A1 - Arbiza, L. A1 - Huerta-Cepas, J. A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - H. Dopazo KW - Animals Computational Biology/*methods Databases KW - DNA Sequence Analysis KW - Genetic Evolution KW - Molecular Genetic Techniques Humans *Internet Models KW - Protein Software User-Computer Interface KW - Statistical *Phylogeny Programming Languages Sequence Alignment Sequence Analysis AB - Phylemon is an online platform for phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses of molecular sequence data. It has been developed as a web server that integrates a suite of different tools selected among the most popular stand-alone programs in phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis. It has been conceived as a natural response to the increasing demand of data analysis of many experimental scientists wishing to add a molecular evolution and phylogenetics insight into their research. Tools included in Phylemon cover a wide yet selected range of programs: from the most basic for multiple sequence alignment to elaborate statistical methods of phylogenetic reconstruction including methods for evolutionary rates analyses and molecular adaptation. Phylemon has several features that differentiates it from other resources: (i) It offers an integrated environment that enables the direct concatenation of evolutionary analyses, the storage of results and handles required data format conversions, (ii) Once an outfile is produced, Phylemon suggests the next possible analyses, thus guiding the user and facilitating the integration of multi-step analyses, and (iii) users can define and save complete pipelines for specific phylogenetic analysis to be automatically used on many genes in subsequent sessions or multiple genes in a single session (phylogenomics). The Phylemon web server is available at http://phylemon.bioinfo.cipf.es. VL - 35 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17452346 N1 - Tarraga, Joaquin Medina, Ignacio Arbiza, Leonardo Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Gabaldon, Toni Dopazo, Joaquin Dopazo, Hernan Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2007 Jul;35(Web Server issue):W38-42. Epub 2007 Apr 22. ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Reconstruction of ancestral proteomes T2 - Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction Y1 - 2007 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - M. A. Huynen JF - Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction PB - D. Liberles CY - Oxford UR - http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LifeSciences/EvolutionaryBiology/?view=usa&ci=9780199299188 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Structural analyses of a hypothetical minimal metabolism JF - Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci Y1 - 2007 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - Peretó, J. A1 - Montero, F. A1 - Gil, R. A1 - Latorre, A. A1 - Moya, A. KW - *Cell Physiological Phenomena Cells/*metabolism Cluster Analysis *Computer Simulation *Metabolic Networks and Pathways *Models KW - Biological Models KW - Statistical AB - By integrating data from comparative genomics and large-scale deletion studies, we previously proposed a minimal gene set comprising 206 protein-coding genes. To evaluate the consistency of the metabolism encoded by such a minimal genome, we have carried out a series of computational analyses. Firstly, the topology of the minimal metabolism was compared with that of the reconstructed networks from natural bacterial genomes. Secondly, the robustness of the metabolic network was evaluated by simulated mutagenesis and, finally, the stoichiometric consistency was assessed by automatically deriving the steady-state solutions from the reaction set. The results indicated that the proposed minimal metabolism presents stoichiometric consistency and that it is organized as a complex power-law network with topological parameters falling within the expected range for a natural metabolism of its size. The robustness analyses revealed that most random mutations do not alter the topology of the network significantly, but do cause significant damage by preventing the synthesis of several compounds or compromising the stoichiometric consistency of the metabolism. The implications that these results have on the origins of metabolic complexity and the theoretical design of an artificial minimal cell are discussed. VL - 362 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17510022 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Pereto, Juli Montero, Francisco Gil, Rosario Latorre, Amparo Moya, Andres Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 Oct 29;362(1486):1751-62. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Transcriptional response of Citrus aurantifolia to infection by Citrus tristeza virus JF - Virology Y1 - 2007 A1 - Gandia, M. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Ancillo, G. A1 - J. Gadea A1 - J. Forment A1 - Pallas, V. A1 - Flores, R. A1 - Duran-Vila, N. A1 - Moreno, P. A1 - Guerri, J. KW - Citrus/*genetics/physiology/virology Closterovirus/genetics/*physiology Genes KW - Genetic KW - Plant Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction *Transcription AB - Changes in gene expression of Mexican lime plants in response to infection with a severe (T305) or a mild (T385) isolate of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) were analyzed using a cDNA microarray containing 12,672 probes to 6875 different citrus genes. Statistically significant (P<0.01) expression changes of 334 genes were detected in response to infection with isolate T305, whereas infection with T385 induced no significant change. Induced genes included 145 without significant similarity with known sequences and 189 that were classified in seven functional categories. Genes related with response to stress and defense were the main category and included 28% of the genes induced. Selected transcription changes detected by microarray analysis were confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Changes detected in the transcriptome upon infecting lime with T305 may be associated either with symptom expression, with a strain-specific defense mechanism, or with a general response to stress. VL - 367 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17617431 N1 - Gandia, Monica Conesa, Ana Ancillo, Gema Gadea, Jose Forment, Javier Pallas, Vicente Flores, Ricardo Duran-Vila, Nuria Moreno, Pedro Guerri, Jose Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Virology Virology. 2007 Oct 25;367(2):298-306. Epub 2007 Jul 9. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Blast2GO goes grid: developing a grid-enabled prototype for functional genomics analysis JF - Stud Health Technol Inform Y1 - 2006 A1 - Aparicio, G. A1 - Gotz, S. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Segrelles, D. A1 - Blanquer, I. A1 - Garcia, J. M. A1 - Hernandez, V. A1 - Robles, M. A1 - Talon, M. KW - babelomics AB -

The vast amount in complexity of data generated in Genomic Research implies that new dedicated and powerful computational tools need to be developed to meet their analysis requirements. Blast2GO (B2G) is a bioinformatics tool for Gene Ontology-based DNA or protein sequence annotation and function-based data mining. The application has been developed with the aim of affering an easy-to-use tool for functional genomics research. Typical B2G users are middle size genomics labs carrying out sequencing, ETS and microarray projects, handling datasets up to several thousand sequences. In the current version of B2G. The power and analytical potential of both annotation and function data-mining is somehow restricted to the computational power behind each particular installation. In order to be able to offer the possibility of an enhanced computational capacity within this bioinformatics application, a Grid component is being developed. A prototype has been conceived for the particular problem of speeding up the Blast searches to obtain fast results for large datasets. Many efforts have been done in the literature concerning the speeding up of Blast searches, but few of them deal with the use of large heterogeneous production Grid Infrastructures. These are the infrastructures that could reach the largest number of resources and the best load balancing for data access. The Grid Service under development will analyse requests based on the number of sequences, splitting them accordingly to the available resources. Lower-level computation will be performed through MPIBLAST. The software architecture is based on the WSRF standard.

VL - 120 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16823138 N1 -

Aparicio, G Gotz, S Conesa, A Segrelles, D Blanquer, I Garcia, J M Hernandez, V Robles, M Talon, M Netherlands Studies in health technology and informatics Stud Health Technol Inform. 2006;120:194-204.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Computational approaches for the prediction of protein function in the mitochondrion JF - Am J Physiol Cell Physiol Y1 - 2006 A1 - Gabaldón, T. KW - *Computational Biology *Computer Simulation Humans Mitochondria/*metabolism Mitochondrial Proteins/genetics/*metabolism Mutation AB - Understanding a complex biological system, such as the mitochondrion, requires the identification of the complete repertoire of proteins targeted to the organelle, the characterization of these, and finally, the elucidation of the functional and physical interactions that occur within the mitochondrion. In the last decade, significant developments have contributed to increase our understanding of the mitochondrion, and among these, computational research has played a significant role. Not only general bioinformatics tools have been applied in the context of the mitochondrion, but also some computational techniques have been specifically developed to address problems that arose from within the mitochondrial research field. In this review the contribution of bioinformatics to mitochondrial biology is addressed through a survey of current computational methods that can be applied to predict which proteins will be localized to the mitochondrion and to unravel their functional interactions. VL - 291 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16870830 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Review United States American journal of physiology. Cell physiology Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2006 Dec;291(6):C1121-8. Epub 2006 Jul 26. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Development of the GENIPOL European flounder (Platichthys flesus) microarray and determination of temporal transcriptional responses to cadmium at low dose JF - Environ Sci Technol Y1 - 2006 A1 - Williams, T. D. A1 - Diab, A. M. A1 - George, S. G. A1 - Godfrey, R. E. A1 - Sabine, V. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Minchin, S. D. A1 - Watts, P. C. A1 - Chipman, J. K. KW - Animals Cadmium Chloride/administration & dosage/*pharmacology Dose-Response Relationship KW - Developmental/drug effects Liver/drug effects/growth & development/metabolism Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/*methods Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Transcription KW - Drug Environmental Monitoring/methods Flounder/*genetics/growth & development Gene Expression Profiling Gene Expression Regulation KW - Genetic/*drug effects AB - We have constructed a high density, 13 270-clone cDNA array for the sentinel fish species European flounder (Platichthys flesus), combining clones from suppressive subtractive hybridization and a liver cDNA library; DNA sequences of 5211 clones were determined. Fish were treated by single intraperitoneal injection with 50 micrograms cadmium chloride per kilogram body weight, a dose relevant to environmental exposures, and hepatic gene expression changes were determined at 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 days postinjection in comparison to saline-treated controls. Gene expression responses were confirmed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Blast2GO gene ontology analysis highlighted a general induction of the unfolded protein response, response to oxidative stress, protein synthesis, transport, and degradation pathways, while apoptosis, cell cycle, cytoskeleton, and cytokine genes were also affected. Transcript levels of cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) were repressed and vitellogenin altered, real-time PCR showed induction of metallothionein. We thus describe the establishment of a useful resource for ecotoxicogenomics and the determination of the temporal molecular responses to cadmium, a prototypical heavy metal pollutant. VL - 40 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17120584 N1 - Williams, Tim D Diab, Amer M George, Stephen G Godfrey, Rita E Sabine, Victoria Conesa, Ana Minchin, Steven D Watts, Phil C Chipman, James K Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Environmental science & technology Environ Sci Technol. 2006 Oct 15;40(20):6479-88. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ERCC4 associated with breast cancer risk: a two-stage case-control study using high-throughput genotyping JF - Cancer Res Y1 - 2006 A1 - Milne, R. L. A1 - Ribas, G. A1 - Gonzalez-Neira, A. A1 - Fagerholm, R. A1 - Salas, A. A1 - Gonzalez, E. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Nevanlinna, H. A1 - M. Robledo A1 - Benitez, J. KW - 80 and over Breast Neoplasms/epidemiology/*genetics/pathology Case-Control Studies DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics/*physiology Female Finland/epidemiology Genes KW - Adult Aged Aged KW - Recessive Genetic Predisposition to Disease Genotype Humans Introns/genetics Linkage Disequilibrium Middle Aged Neoplasm Proteins/genetics/*physiology Neoplasm Staging *Polymorphism KW - Single Nucleotide Risk Spain/epidemiology AB - The failure of linkage studies to identify further high-penetrance susceptibility genes for breast cancer points to a polygenic model, with more common variants having modest effects on risk, as the most likely candidate. We have carried out a two-stage case-control study in two European populations to identify low-penetrance genes for breast cancer using high-throughput genotyping. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected across preselected cancer-related genes, choosing tagSNPs and functional variants where possible. In stage 1, genotype frequencies for 640 SNPs in 111 genes were compared between 864 breast cancer cases and 845 controls from the Spanish population. In stage 2, candidate SNPs identified in stage 1 (nominal P < 0.01) were tested in a Finnish series of 884 cases and 1,104 controls. Of the 10 candidate SNPs in seven genes identified in stage 1, one (rs744154) on intron 1 of ERCC4, a gene belonging to the nucleotide excision repair pathway, was associated with recessive protection from breast cancer after adjustment for multiple testing in stage 2 (odds ratio, 0.57; Bonferroni-adjusted P = 0.04). After considering potential functional SNPs in the region of high linkage disequilibrium that extends across the entire gene and upstream into the promoter region, we concluded that rs744154 itself could be causal. Although intronic, it is located on the first intron, in a region that is highly conserved across species, and could therefore be functionally important. This study suggests that common intronic variation in ERCC4 is associated with protection from breast cancer. VL - 66 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17018596 N1 - Milne, Roger Laughlin Ribas, Gloria Gonzalez-Neira, Anna Fagerholm, Rainer Salas, Antonio Gonzalez, Emilio Dopazo, Joaquin Nevanlinna, Heli Robledo, Mercedes Benitez, Javier Comparative Study Multicenter Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Cancer research Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 1;66(19):9420-7. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Exploring the reasons for the large density of triplex-forming oligonucleotide target sequences in the human regulatory regions JF - BMC Genomics Y1 - 2006 A1 - Goni, J. R. A1 - Vaquerizas, J. M. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Orozco, M. KW - Animals Base Sequence Computational Biology DNA/chemistry/*genetics/*metabolism Genome KW - Genetic/genetics Regulatory Sequences KW - Human/genetics Humans Mice Nucleic Acid Conformation Nucleotides/genetics Oligonucleotides/chemistry/*genetics/*metabolism Promoter Regions KW - Nucleic Acid/*genetics Transcription Factors/metabolism AB - BACKGROUND: DNA duplex sequences that can be targets for triplex formation are highly over-represented in the human genome, especially in regulatory regions. RESULTS: Here we studied using bioinformatics tools several properties of triplex target sequences in an attempt to determine those that make these sequences so special in the genome. CONCLUSION: Our results strongly suggest that the unique physical properties of these sequences make them particularly suitable as "separators" between protein-recognition sites in the promoter region. VL - 7 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16566817 N1 - Goni, Josep Ramon Vaquerizas, Juan Manuel Dopazo, Joaquin Orozco, Modesto Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England BMC genomics BMC Genomics. 2006 Mar 27;7:63. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Identification of overexpressed genes in frequently gained/amplified chromosome regions in multiple myeloma JF - Haematologica Y1 - 2006 A1 - Largo, C. A1 - Alvarez, S. A1 - Saez, B. A1 - Blesa, D. A1 - Martin-Subero, J. I. A1 - Gonzalez-Garcia, I. A1 - Brieva, J. A. A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Siebert, R. A1 - Calasanz, M. J. A1 - Cigudosa, J. C. KW - B-Cell KW - Caspases Cell Line KW - Human *Gene Amplification Gene Dosage Gene Expression Profiling *Gene Expression Regulation KW - Marginal Zone/genetics Multiple Myeloma/*genetics Neoplasm Proteins/genetics Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/genetics KW - Neoplasm Humans Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains/genetics Lymphoma KW - Neoplastic Gene Rearrangement *Genes KW - Tumor *Chromosomes AB - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignancy characterized by clonal expansion of plasma cells. In 50% of the cases, the neoplastic transformation begins with a chromosomal translocation that juxtaposes the IGH gene locus to an oncogene. Gene copy number changes are also frequent in MM but less characterized than in other neoplasias. We aimed to characterize genes that are amplified and overexpressed in human myeloma cell lines (HMCL) to provide putative molecular targets for MM therapy. DESIGN AND METHODS: Nine HMCL were characterized by fluorescent in situ hybridization, comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and cDNA microarrays for gene expression profiling and copy number changes. RESULTS: After defining the IGH-translocations present in the cell lines, we conducted expression-profiling analysis. Supervised analysis identified 166 genes with significantly different expression among the cell lines harboring MMSET/FGFR3 (4p16), MAF (16q) and CCND1 (11q13) rearrangements. Array-CGH was then performed. Five chromosomes recurrently affected by gains/amplifications in primary samples and cell lines were analyzed in detail. Sixty amplified and overexpressed genes were found and 25 (42%) of them were only overexpressed when amplified; moreover, six showed a significant association between overexpression and gain/amplification. We also found co-amplification and overexpression for genes located within the same amplicons, such as MALT1 and BCL2. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Parallel analysis of gene copy numbers and expression levels by cDNA microarray in MM allowed efficient identification of genes whose expression levels are elevated because of increased copy number. This is the first time that MALT1 and BCL2 have been shown to be overexpressed and amplified in MM. VL - 91 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16461302 N1 - Largo, Cristina Alvarez, Sara Saez, Borja Blesa, David Martin-Subero, Jose I Gonzalez-Garcia, Ines Brieva, Jose A Dopazo, Joaquin Siebert, Reiner Calasanz, Maria J Cigudosa, Juan C Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Italy Haematologica Haematologica. 2006 Feb;91(2):184-91. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Origin and evolution of the peroxisomal proteome JF - Biol Direct Y1 - 2006 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - B. Snel A1 - van Zimmeren, F. A1 - Hemrika, W. A1 - Tabak, H. A1 - M. A. Huynen AB - BACKGROUND: Peroxisomes are ubiquitous eukaryotic organelles involved in various oxidative reactions. Their enzymatic content varies between species, but the presence of common protein import and organelle biogenesis systems support a single evolutionary origin. The precise scenario for this origin remains however to be established. The ability of peroxisomes to divide and import proteins post-translationally, just like mitochondria and chloroplasts, supports an endosymbiotic origin. However, this view has been challenged by recent discoveries that mutant, peroxisome-less cells restore peroxisomes upon introduction of the wild-type gene, and that peroxisomes are formed from the Endoplasmic Reticulum. The lack of a peroxisomal genome precludes the use of classical analyses, as those performed with mitochondria or chloroplasts, to settle the debate. We therefore conducted large-scale phylogenetic analyses of the yeast and rat peroxisomal proteomes. RESULTS : Our results show that most peroxisomal proteins (39-58%) are of eukaryotic origin, comprising all proteins involved in organelle biogenesis or maintenance. A significant fraction (13-18%), consisting mainly of enzymes, has an alpha-proteobacterial origin and appears to be the result of the recruitment of proteins originally targeted to mitochondria. Consistent with the findings that peroxisomes are formed in the Endoplasmic Reticulum, we find that the most universally conserved Peroxisome biogenesis and maintenance proteins are homologous to proteins from the Endoplasmic Reticulum Assisted Decay pathway. CONCLUSION: Altogether our results indicate that the peroxisome does not have an endosymbiotic origin and that its proteins were recruited from pools existing within the primitive eukaryote. Moreover the reconstruction of primitive peroxisomal proteomes suggests that ontogenetically as well as phylogenetically, peroxisomes stem from the Endoplasmic Reticulum. REVIEWERS: This article was reviewed by Arcady Mushegian, Gaspar Jekely and John Logsdon. OPEN PEER REVIEW: Reviewed by Arcady Mushegian, Gaspar Jekely and John Logsdon. For the full reviews, please go to the Reviewers’ comments section. VL - 1 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16556314 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Snel, Berend van Zimmeren, Frank Hemrika, Wieger Tabak, Henk Huynen, Martijn A England Biology direct Biol Direct. 2006 Mar 23;1:8. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - An anaerobic mitochondrion that produces hydrogen JF - Nature Y1 - 2005 A1 - Boxma, B. A1 - de Graaf, R. M. A1 - van der Staay, G. W. A1 - van Alen, T. A. A1 - Ricard, G. A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - van Hoek, A. H. A1 - Moon-van der Staay, S. Y. A1 - Koopman, W. J. A1 - van Hellemond, J. J. A1 - Tielens, A. G. A1 - Friedrich, T. A1 - Veenhuis, M. A1 - M. A. Huynen A1 - Hackstein, J. H. KW - *Anaerobiosis Animals Ciliophora/*cytology/genetics/*metabolism/ultrastructure Cockroaches/parasitology DNA KW - Mitochondrial/genetics Electron Transport Electron Transport Complex I/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism Genome Glucose/metabolism Hydrogen/*metabolism Mitochondria/enzymology/genetics/*metabolism/ultrastructure Molecular Sequence Data Open Reading Fra AB - Hydrogenosomes are organelles that produce ATP and hydrogen, and are found in various unrelated eukaryotes, such as anaerobic flagellates, chytridiomycete fungi and ciliates. Although all of these organelles generate hydrogen, the hydrogenosomes from these organisms are structurally and metabolically quite different, just like mitochondria where large differences also exist. These differences have led to a continuing debate about the evolutionary origin of hydrogenosomes. Here we show that the hydrogenosomes of the anaerobic ciliate Nyctotherus ovalis, which thrives in the hindgut of cockroaches, have retained a rudimentary genome encoding components of a mitochondrial electron transport chain. Phylogenetic analyses reveal that those proteins cluster with their homologues from aerobic ciliates. In addition, several nucleus-encoded components of the mitochondrial proteome, such as pyruvate dehydrogenase and complex II, were identified. The N. ovalis hydrogenosome is sensitive to inhibitors of mitochondrial complex I and produces succinate as a major metabolic end product–biochemical traits typical of anaerobic mitochondria. The production of hydrogen, together with the presence of a genome encoding respiratory chain components, and biochemical features characteristic of anaerobic mitochondria, identify the N. ovalis organelle as a missing link between mitochondria and hydrogenosomes. VL - 434 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15744302 N1 - Boxma, Brigitte de Graaf, Rob M van der Staay, Georg W M van Alen, Theo A Ricard, Guenola Gabaldon, Toni van Hoek, Angela H A M Moon-van der Staay, Seung Yeo Koopman, Werner J H van Hellemond, Jaap J Tielens, Aloysius G M Friedrich, Thorsten Veenhuis, Marten Huynen, Martijn A Hackstein, Johannes H P Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Nature Nature. 2005 Mar 3;434(7029):74-9. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Blast2GO: a universal tool for annotation, visualization and analysis in functional genomics research JF - Bioinformatics Y1 - 2005 A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Gotz, S. A1 - Garcia-Gomez, J. M. A1 - Terol, J. A1 - Talon, M. A1 - Robles, M. KW - babelomics AB -

SUMMARY: We present here Blast2GO (B2G), a research tool designed with the main purpose of enabling Gene Ontology (GO) based data mining on sequence data for which no GO annotation is yet available. B2G joints in one application GO annotation based on similarity searches with statistical analysis and highlighted visualization on directed acyclic graphs. This tool offers a suitable platform for functional genomics research in non-model species. B2G is an intuitive and interactive desktop application that allows monitoring and comprehension of the whole annotation and analysis process. AVAILABILITY: Blast2GO is freely available via Java Web Start at http://www.blast2go.de. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: http://www.blast2go.de -> Evaluation.

VL - 21 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16081474 N1 -

Conesa, Ana Gotz, Stefan Garcia-Gomez, Juan Miguel Terol, Javier Talon, Manuel Robles, Montserrat Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Bioinformatics. 2005 Sep 15;21(18):3674-6. Epub 2005 Aug 4.

ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Combining data from genomes, Y2H and 3D structure indicates that BolA is a reductase interacting with a glutaredoxin JF - FEBS Lett Y1 - 2005 A1 - M. A. Huynen A1 - Spronk, C. A. A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - B. Snel KW - *Genome Glutaredoxins Models KW - Molecular Oxidoreductases/chemistry/*metabolism Phylogeny Protein Conformation AB - Genomes, functional genomics data and 3D structure reflect different aspects of protein function. Here, we combine these data to predict that BolA, a widely distributed protein family with unknown function, is a reductase that interacts with a glutaredoxin. Comparisons at the 3D structure level as well as at the sequence profile level indicate homology between BolA and OsmC, an enzyme that reduces organic peroxides. Complementary to this, comparative analyses of genomes and genomics data provide strong evidence of an interaction between BolA and the mono-thiol glutaredoxin family. The interaction between BolA and a mono-thiol glutaredoxin is of particular interest because BolA does not, in contrast to its homolog OsmC, have evolutionarily conserved cysteines to provide it with reducing equivalents. We propose that BolA uses the mono-thiol glutaredoxin as the source for these. VL - 579 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15670813 N1 - Huynen, Martijn A Spronk, Chris A E M Gabaldon, Toni Snel, Berend Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Netherlands FEBS letters FEBS Lett. 2005 Jan 31;579(3):591-6. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The C-type lectin fold as an evolutionary solution for massive sequence variation JF - Nat Struct Mol Biol Y1 - 2005 A1 - McMahon, S. A. A1 - Miller, J. L. A1 - Lawton, J. A. A1 - Kerkow, D. E. A1 - Hodes, A. A1 - M. A. Marti-Renom A1 - Doulatov, S. A1 - Narayanan, E. A1 - Sali, A. A1 - Miller, J. F. A1 - Ghosh, P. KW - Amino Acid Sequence Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins/*chemistry Bacteriophages/*metabolism Bordetella/*virology Evolution KW - Bordetella/*chemistry KW - C-Type/*chemistry Molecular Sequence Data Protein Conformation Protein Folding Viral Proteins/*chemistry/*genetics Virulence Factors KW - Molecular Genetic Variation Genome KW - Viral Lectins AB - Only few instances are known of protein folds that tolerate massive sequence variation for the sake of binding diversity. The most extensively characterized is the immunoglobulin fold. We now add to this the C-type lectin (CLec) fold, as found in the major tropism determinant (Mtd), a retroelement-encoded receptor-binding protein of Bordetella bacteriophage. Variation in Mtd, with its approximately 10(13) possible sequences, enables phage adaptation to Bordetella spp. Mtd is an intertwined, pyramid-shaped trimer, with variable residues organized by its CLec fold into discrete receptor-binding sites. The CLec fold provides a highly static scaffold for combinatorial display of variable residues, probably reflecting a different evolutionary solution for balancing diversity against stability from that in the immunoglobulin fold. Mtd variants are biased toward the receptor pertactin, and there is evidence that the CLec fold is used broadly for sequence variation by related retroelements. VL - 12 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16170324 N1 - McMahon, Stephen A Miller, Jason L Lawton, Jeffrey A Kerkow, Donald E Hodes, Asher Marti-Renom, Marc A Doulatov, Sergei Narayanan, Eswar Sali, Andrej Miller, Jeff F Ghosh, Partho F31AI061840/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States F32AI49695/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States T32GM008326/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S. United States Nature structural & molecular biology Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2005 Oct;12(10):886-92. Epub 2005 Sep 18. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Development of a citrus genome-wide EST collection and cDNA microarray as resources for genomic studies JF - Plant Mol Biol Y1 - 2005 A1 - J. Forment A1 - J. Gadea A1 - Huerta, L. A1 - Abizanda, L. A1 - Agusti, J. A1 - Alamar, S. A1 - Alos, E. A1 - Andres, F. A1 - Arribas, R. A1 - Beltran, J. P. A1 - Berbel, A. A1 - Blazquez, M. A. A1 - Brumos, J. A1 - Canas, L. A. A1 - Cercos, M. A1 - Colmenero-Flores, J. M. A1 - A. Conesa A1 - Estables, B. A1 - Gandia, M. A1 - Garcia-Martinez, J. L. A1 - Gimeno, J. A1 - Gisbert, A. A1 - Gomez, G. A1 - Gonzalez-Candelas, L. A1 - Granell, A. A1 - Guerri, J. A1 - Lafuente, M. T. A1 - Madueno, F. A1 - Marcos, J. F. A1 - Marques, M. C. A1 - Martinez, F. A1 - Martinez-Godoy, M. A. A1 - Miralles, S. A1 - Moreno, P. A1 - Navarro, L. A1 - Pallas, V. A1 - Perez-Amador, M. A. A1 - Perez-Valle, J. A1 - Pons, C. A1 - Rodrigo, I. A1 - Rodriguez, P. L. A1 - Royo, C. A1 - Serrano, R. A1 - Soler, G. A1 - Tadeo, F. A1 - Talon, M. A1 - Terol, J. A1 - Trenor, M. A1 - Vaello, L. A1 - Vicente, O. A1 - Vidal, Ch A1 - Zacarias, L. A1 - Conejero, V. KW - Citrus/*genetics DNA KW - Complementary/chemistry/genetics *Expressed Sequence Tags Gene Expression Profiling Gene Library *Genome KW - DNA KW - Plant Genomics/*methods Molecular Sequence Data Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/*methods RNA KW - Plant/genetics/metabolism Reproducibility of Results Sequence Analysis AB - A functional genomics project has been initiated to approach the molecular characterization of the main biological and agronomical traits of citrus. As a key part of this project, a citrus EST collection has been generated from 25 cDNA libraries covering different tissues, developmental stages and stress conditions. The collection includes a total of 22,635 high-quality ESTs, grouped in 11,836 putative unigenes, which represent at least one third of the estimated number of genes in the citrus genome. Functional annotation of unigenes which have Arabidopsis orthologues (68% of all unigenes) revealed gene representation in every major functional category, suggesting that a genome-wide EST collection was obtained. A Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan. cv. Clemenules genomic library, that will contribute to further characterization of relevant genes, has also been constructed. To initiate the analysis of citrus transcriptome, we have developed a cDNA microarray containing 12,672 probes corresponding to 6875 putative unigenes of the collection. Technical characterization of the microarray showed high intra- and inter-array reproducibility, as well as a good range of sensitivity. We have also validated gene expression data achieved with this microarray through an independent technique such as RNA gel blot analysis. VL - 57 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15830128 N1 - Forment, J Gadea, J Huerta, L Abizanda, L Agusti, J Alamar, S Alos, E Andres, F Arribas, R Beltran, J P Berbel, A Blazquez, M A Brumos, J Canas, L A Cercos, M Colmenero-Flores, J M Conesa, A Estables, B Gandia, M Garcia-Martinez, J L Gimeno, J Gisbert, A Gomez, G Gonzalez-Candelas, L Granell, A Guerri, J Lafuente, M T Madueno, F Marcos, J F Marques, M C Martinez, F Martinez-Godoy, M A Miralles, S Moreno, P Navarro, L Pallas, V Perez-Amador, M A Perez-Valle, J Pons, C Rodrigo, I Rodriguez, P L Royo, C Serrano, R Soler, G Tadeo, F Talon, M Terol, J Trenor, M Vaello, L Vicente, O Vidal, Ch Zacarias, L Conejero, V Comparative Study Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, Non-P.H.S. Netherlands Plant molecular biology Plant Mol Biol. 2005 Feb;57(3):375-91. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Evolution of proteins and proteomes: a phylogenetics approach JF - Evol Bioinform Online Y1 - 2005 A1 - Gabaldón, T. AB - The study of evolutionary relationships among protein sequences was one of the first applications of bioinformatics. Since then, and accompanying the wealth of biological data produced by genome sequencing and other high-throughput techniques, the use of bioinformatics in general and phylogenetics in particular has been gaining ground in the study of protein and proteome evolution. Nowadays, the use of phylogenetics is instrumental not only to infer the evolutionary relationships among species and their genome sequences, but also to reconstruct ancestral states of proteins and proteomes and hence trace the paths followed by evolution. Here I survey recent progress in the elucidation of mechanisms of protein and proteome evolution in which phylogenetics has played a determinant role. VL - 1 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=19325853 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni New Zealand Evolutionary bioinformatics online Evol Bioinform Online. 2005;1:51-61. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lineage-specific gene loss following mitochondrial endosymbiosis and its potential for function prediction in eukaryotes JF - Bioinformatics Y1 - 2005 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - M. A. Huynen KW - Animals Chromosome Mapping/*methods DNA KW - Mitochondrial/*genetics *Evolution KW - Molecular *Gene Deletion Genetic Variation/genetics Humans Linkage Disequilibrium/*genetics Mitochondrial Proteins/*genetics Sequence Homology KW - Nucleic Acid Species Specificity Symbiosis/*genetics AB - MOTIVATION: The endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria has resulted in a massive horizontal transfer of genetic material from an alpha-proteobacterium to the early eukaryotes. Using large-scale phylogenetic analysis we have previously identified 630 orthologous groups of proteins derived from this event. Here we show that this proto-mitochondrial protein set has undergone extensive lineage-specific gene loss in the eukaryotes, with an average of three losses per orthologous group in a phylogeny of nine species. This gene loss has resulted in a high variability of the alphaproteobacterial-derived gene content of present-day eukaryotic genomes that might reflect functional adaptation to different environments. Proteins functioning in the same biochemical pathway tend to have a similar history of gene loss events, and we use this property to predict functional interactions among proteins in our set. VL - 21 Suppl 2 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=16204094 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Huynen, Martijn A Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Bioinformatics. 2005 Sep 1;21 Suppl 2:ii144-50. ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Salinibacter ruber: genomics and biogeography T2 - Adaptation to life in high salt concentrations in Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya Y1 - 2005 A1 - Antón, J A1 - Peña, A A1 - Valens, M A1 - Santos, F A1 - Glöckner, F.O A1 - Bauer, M A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Herrero, J. A1 - Rosselló-Mora, R A1 - Amann, R JF - Adaptation to life in high salt concentrations in Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya PB - Nina Gunde-Cimerman, Ana Plemenitas, and Aharon Oren. Kluwer Academic Publishers CY - Dordrecht, Netherlands VL - 9 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Tracing the evolution of a large protein complex in the eukaryotes, NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I) JF - J Mol Biol Y1 - 2005 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - Rainey, D. A1 - M. A. Huynen KW - Amino Acid Sequence Animals Computational Biology Electron Transport Complex I/*chemistry/*genetics/metabolism Eukaryotic Cells/*enzymology *Evolution KW - Molecular Humans Molecular Sequence Data Photosynthesis Phylogeny Plastids/enzymology Protein Binding Protein Subunits/chemistry/genetics/metabolism Sequence Alignment Structural Homology KW - Protein AB - The increasing availability of sequenced genomes enables the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of large protein complexes. Here, we trace the evolution of NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (Complex I), which has increased in size, by so-called supernumary subunits, from 14 subunits in the bacteria to 30 in the plants and algae, 37 in the fungi and 46 in the mammals. Using a combination of pair-wise and profile-based sequence comparisons at the levels of proteins and the DNA of the sequenced eukaryotic genomes, combined with phylogenetic analyses to establish orthology relationships, we were able to (1) trace the origin of six of the supernumerary subunits to the alpha-proteobacterial ancestor of the mitochondria, (2) detect previously unidentified homology relations between subunits from fungi and mammals, (3) detect previously unidentified subunits in the genomes of several species and (4) document several cases of gene duplications among supernumerary subunits in the eukaryotes. One of these, a duplication of N7BM (B17.2), is particularly interesting as it has been lost from genomes that have also lost Complex I proteins, making it a candidate for a Complex I interacting protein. A parsimonious reconstruction of eukaryotic Complex I evolution shows an initial increase in size that predates the separation of plants, fungi and metazoa, followed by a gradual adding and incidental losses of subunits in the various evolutionary lineages. This evolutionary scenario is in contrast to that for Complex I in the prokaryotes, for which the combination of several separate, and previously independently functioning modules into a single complex has been proposed. VL - 348 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15843018 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Rainey, Daphne Huynen, Martijn A Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t England Journal of molecular biology J Mol Biol. 2005 May 13;348(4):857-70. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Variation and evolution of biomolecular systems: searching for functional relevance JF - FEBS Lett Y1 - 2005 A1 - M. A. Huynen A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - B. Snel KW - *Evolution KW - Molecular Genetic Variation Multiprotein Complexes/*genetics Phylogeny Protein Binding/genetics AB - The availability of genome sequences and functional genomics data from multiple species enables us to compare the composition of biomolecular systems like biochemical pathways and protein complexes between species. Here, we review small- and large-scale, "genomics-based" approaches to biomolecular systems variation. In general, caution is required when comparing the results of bioinformatics analyses of genomes or of functional genomics data between species. Limitations to the sensitivity of sequence analysis tools and the noisy nature of genomics data tend to lead to systematic overestimates of the amount of variation. Nevertheless, the results from detailed manual analyses, and of large-scale analyses that filter out systematic biases, point to a large amount of variation in the composition of biomolecular systems. Such observations challenge our understanding of the function of the systems and their individual components and can potentially facilitate the identification and functional characterization of sub-systems within a system. Mapping the inter-species variation of complex biomolecular systems on a phylogenetic species tree allows one to reconstruct their evolution. VL - 579 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15763561 N1 - Huynen, Martijn A Gabaldon, Toni Snel, Berend Review Netherlands FEBS letters FEBS Lett. 2005 Mar 21;579(8):1839-45. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - MODBASE, a database of annotated comparative protein structure models, and associated resources JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2004 A1 - Pieper, U. A1 - Eswar, N. A1 - Braberg, H. A1 - Madhusudhan, M. S. A1 - Davis, F. P. A1 - Stuart, A. C. A1 - Mirkovic, N. A1 - Rossi, A. A1 - M. A. Marti-Renom A1 - Fiser, A. A1 - Webb, B. A1 - Greenblatt, D. A1 - Huang, C. C. A1 - Ferrin, T. E. A1 - Sali, A. KW - Amino Acid Sequence Animals Binding Sites *Computational Biology *Databases KW - Molecular Molecular Sequence Data Polymorphism KW - Protein Genomics Humans Internet Ligands Models KW - Single Nucleotide Protein Binding Protein Conformation Proteins/*chemistry/genetics Sequence Alignment Software User-Computer Interface AB - MODBASE (http://salilab.org/modbase) is a relational database of annotated comparative protein structure models for all available protein sequences matched to at least one known protein structure. The models are calculated by MODPIPE, an automated modeling pipeline that relies on the MODELLER package for fold assignment, sequence-structure alignment, model building and model assessment (http:/salilab.org/modeller). MODBASE uses the MySQL relational database management system for flexible querying and CHIMERA for viewing the sequences and structures (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/). MODBASE is updated regularly to reflect the growth in protein sequence and structure databases, as well as improvements in the software for calculating the models. For ease of access, MODBASE is organized into different data sets. The largest data set contains 1,26,629 models for domains in 659,495 out of 1,182,126 unique protein sequences in the complete Swiss-Prot/TrEMBL database (August 25, 2003); only models based on alignments with significant similarity scores and models assessed to have the correct fold despite insignificant alignments are included. Another model data set supports target selection and structure-based annotation by the New York Structural Genomics Research Consortium; e.g. the 53 new structures produced by the consortium allowed us to characterize structurally 24,113 sequences. MODBASE also contains binding site predictions for small ligands and a set of predicted interactions between pairs of modeled sequences from the same genome. Our other resources associated with MODBASE include a comprehensive database of multiple protein structure alignments (DBALI, http://salilab.org/dbali) as well as web servers for automated comparative modeling with MODPIPE (MODWEB, http://salilab. org/modweb), modeling of loops in protein structures (MODLOOP, http://salilab.org/modloop) and predicting functional consequences of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPWEB, http://salilab. org/snpweb). VL - 32 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=14681398 N1 - Pieper, Ursula Eswar, Narayanan Braberg, Hannes Madhusudhan, M S Davis, Fred P Stuart, Ashley C Mirkovic, Nebojsa Rossi, Andrea Marti-Renom, Marc A Fiser, Andras Webb, Ben Greenblatt, Daniel Huang, Conrad C Ferrin, Thomas E Sali, Andrej P41 RR01081/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States P50 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM 54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R33 CA84699/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S. England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 Jan 1;32(Database issue):D217-22. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Perceptions about postdocs JF - EMBO Rep Y1 - 2004 A1 - Vella, F. A1 - Mietchen, D. A1 - Gabaldón, T. KW - Europe *Fellowships and Scholarships *Research Personnel VL - 5 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15577920 N1 - Vella, Francis Mietchen, Daniel Gabaldon, Toni Eurodoc Council Comment Letter England EMBO reports EMBO Rep. 2004 Dec;5(12):1104. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Prediction of protein function and pathways in the genome era JF - Cell Mol Life Sci Y1 - 2004 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - M. A. Huynen KW - ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters/genetics/metabolism Amino Acid Sequence Animals Artificial Gene Fusion Base Sequence Chaperonins/genetics/metabolism Chromosomes/genetics/metabolism Evolution KW - Molecular *Genome Genomics Humans Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny *Proteins/classification/genetics/metabolism RNA KW - Ribosomal/metabolism Sequence Alignment AB - The growing number of completely sequenced genomes adds new dimensions to the use of sequence analysis to predict protein function. Compared with the classical knowledge transfer from one protein to a similar sequence (homology-based function prediction), knowledge about the corresponding genes in other genomes (orthology-based function prediction) provides more specific information about the protein’s function, while the analysis of the sequence in its genomic context (context-based function prediction) provides information about its functional context. Whereas homology-based methods predict the molecular function of a protein, genomic context methods predict the biological process in which it plays a role. These complementary approaches can be combined to elucidate complete functional networks and biochemical pathways from the genome sequence of an organism. Here we review recent advances in the field of genomic-context based methods of protein function prediction. Techniques are highlighted with examples, including an analysis that combines information from genomic-context with homology to predict a role of the RNase L inhibitor in the maturation of ribosomal RNA. VL - 61 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15095013 N1 - Gabaldon, T Huynen, M A Review Switzerland Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS Cell Mol Life Sci. 2004 Apr;61(7-8):930-44. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Shaping the mitochondrial proteome JF - Biochim Biophys Acta Y1 - 2004 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - M. A. Huynen KW - Animals Biological Transport Energy Metabolism Eukaryotic Cells/physiology *Evolution Humans Mitochondria/*physiology Phylogeny Proteome/*physiology AB - Mitochondria are eukaryotic organelles that originated from a single bacterial endosymbiosis some 2 billion years ago. The transition from the ancestral endosymbiont to the modern mitochondrion has been accompanied by major changes in its protein content, the so-called proteome. These changes included complete loss of some bacterial pathways, amelioration of others and gain of completely new complexes of eukaryotic origin such as the ATP/ADP translocase and most of the mitochondrial protein import machinery. This renewal of proteins has been so extensive that only 14-16% of modern mitochondrial proteome has an origin that can be traced back to the bacterial endosymbiont. The rest consists of proteins of diverse origin that were eventually recruited to function in the organelle. This shaping of the proteome content reflects the transformation of mitochondria into a highly specialized organelle that, besides ATP production, comprises a variety of functions within the eukaryotic metabolism. Here we review recent advances in the fields of comparative genomics and proteomics that are throwing light on the origin and evolution of the mitochondrial proteome. VL - 1659 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=15576054 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Huynen, Martijn A Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Review Netherlands Biochimica et biophysica acta Biochim Biophys Acta. 2004 Dec 6;1659(2-3):212-20. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - EVA: Evaluation of protein structure prediction servers JF - Nucleic Acids Res Y1 - 2003 A1 - Koh, I. Y. A1 - Eyrich, V. A. A1 - M. A. Marti-Renom A1 - Przybylski, D. A1 - Madhusudhan, M. S. A1 - Eswar, N. A1 - Grana, O. A1 - Pazos, F. A1 - Valencia, A. A1 - Sali, A. A1 - Rost, B. KW - Automation Databases KW - Protein KW - Protein Internet *Protein Conformation Protein Folding Protein Structure KW - Protein Structural Homology KW - Secondary Proteins/chemistry Reproducibility of Results *Sequence Analysis AB - EVA (http://cubic.bioc.columbia.edu/eva/) is a web server for evaluation of the accuracy of automated protein structure prediction methods. The evaluation is updated automatically each week, to cope with the large number of existing prediction servers and the constant changes in the prediction methods. EVA currently assesses servers for secondary structure prediction, contact prediction, comparative protein structure modelling and threading/fold recognition. Every day, sequences of newly available protein structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) are sent to the servers and their predictions are collected. The predictions are then compared to the experimental structures once a week; the results are published on the EVA web pages. Over time, EVA has accumulated prediction results for a large number of proteins, ranging from hundreds to thousands, depending on the prediction method. This large sample assures that methods are compared reliably. As a result, EVA provides useful information to developers as well as users of prediction methods. VL - 31 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12824315 N1 - Koh, Ingrid Y Y Eyrich, Volker A Marti-Renom, Marc A Przybylski, Dariusz Madhusudhan, Mallur S Eswar, Narayanan Grana, Osvaldo Pazos, Florencio Valencia, Alfonso Sali, Andrej Rost, Burkhard 1-P50-GM62413-01/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States 5-P20-LM7276/LM/NLM NIH HHS/United States P50 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01-GM63029-01/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S. England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2003 Jul 1;31(13):3311-5. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A model for the emergence of adaptive subsystems JF - Bull Math Biol Y1 - 2003 A1 - H. Dopazo A1 - Gordon, M. B. A1 - Perazzo, R. A1 - Risau-Gusman, S. KW - *Adaptation KW - Biological Algorithms Alleles Animals Evolution Genotype Humans *Learning *Models KW - Genetic Models KW - Statistical Neural Networks (Computer) Phenotype Synapses/genetics AB - We investigate the interaction of learning and evolution in a changing environment. A stable learning capability is regarded as an emergent adaptive system evolved by natural selection of genetic variants. We consider the evolution of an asexual population. Each genotype can have ’fixed’ and ’flexible’ alleles. The former express themselves as synaptic connections that remain unchanged during ontogeny and the latter as synapses that can be adjusted through a learning algorithm. Evolution is modelled using genetic algorithms and the changing environment is represented by two optimal synaptic patterns that alternate a fixed number of times during the ’life’ of the individuals. The amplitude of the change is related to the Hamming distance between the two optimal patterns and the rate of change to the frequency with which both exchange roles. This model is an extension of that of Hinton and Nowlan in which the fitness is given by a probabilistic measure of the Hamming distance to the optimum. We find that two types of evolutionary pathways are possible depending upon how difficult (costly) it is to cope with the changes of the environment. In one case the population loses the learning ability, and the individuals inherit fixed synapses that are optimal in only one of the environmental states. In the other case a flexible subsystem emerges that allows the individuals to adapt to the changes of the environment. The model helps us to understand how an adaptive subsystem can emerge as the result of the tradeoff between the exploitation of a congenital structure and the exploration of the adaptive capabilities practised by learning. VL - 65 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12597115 N1 - Dopazo, H Gordon, M B Perazzo, R Risau-Gusman, S Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Bulletin of mathematical biology Bull Math Biol. 2003 Jan;65(1):27-56. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reconstruction of the proto-mitochondrial metabolism JF - Science Y1 - 2003 A1 - Gabaldón, T. A1 - M. A. Huynen KW - Aerobiosis Algorithms Alphaproteobacteria/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism Amino Acids/metabolism Animals Bacterial Proteins/chemistry/*metabolism Genome Genome KW - Bacterial Glycerol/metabolism Humans Lipid Metabolism Mitochondria/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism Phylogeny *Proteome Symbiosis Yeasts/metabolism VL - 301 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12893934 N1 - Gabaldon, Toni Huynen, Martijn A Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Science (New York, N.Y.) Science. 2003 Aug 1;301(5633):609. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Systematic learning of gene functional classes from DNA array expression data by using multilayer perceptrons JF - Genome Res Y1 - 2002 A1 - A. Mateos A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Jansen, R. A1 - Tu, Y. A1 - Gerstein, M. A1 - Stolovitzky, G. KW - Algorithms Artificial Intelligence Citric Acid Cycle/genetics Cluster Analysis Computational Biology/methods Gene Expression Profiling/*methods/statistics & numerical data Genes/*physiology Genetic Heterogeneity Neural Networks (Computer) Oligonucleotide AB - Recent advances in microarray technology have opened new ways for functional annotation of previously uncharacterised genes on a genomic scale. This has been demonstrated by unsupervised clustering of co-expressed genes and, more importantly, by supervised learning algorithms. Using prior knowledge, these algorithms can assign functional annotations based on more complex expression signatures found in existing functional classes. Previously, support vector machines (SVMs) and other machine-learning methods have been applied to a limited number of functional classes for this purpose. Here we present, for the first time, the comprehensive application of supervised neural networks (SNNs) for functional annotation. Our study is novel in that we report systematic results for 100 classes in the Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS) functional catalog. We found that only 10% of these are learnable (based on the rate of false negatives). A closer analysis reveals that false positives (and negatives) in a machine-learning context are not necessarily "false" in a biological sense. We show that the high degree of interconnections among functional classes confounds the signatures that ought to be learned for a unique class. We term this the "Borges effect" and introduce two new numerical indices for its quantification. Our analysis indicates that classification systems with a lower Borges effect are better suitable for machine learning. Furthermore, we introduce a learning procedure for combining false positives with the original class. We show that in a few iterations this process converges to a gene set that is learnable with considerably low rates of false positives and negatives and contains genes that are biologically related to the original class, allowing for a coarse reconstruction of the interactions between associated biological pathways. We exemplify this methodology using the well-studied tricarboxylic acid cycle. VL - 12 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=12421757 N1 - Mateos, Alvaro Dopazo, Joaquin Jansen, Ronald Tu, Yuhai Gerstein, Mark Stolovitzky, Gustavo Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Validation Studies United States Genome research Genome Res. 2002 Nov;12(11):1703-15. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Annotated draft genomic sequence from a Streptococcus pneumoniae type 19F clinical isolate JF - Microb Drug Resist Y1 - 2001 A1 - Dopazo, J. A1 - Mendoza, A. A1 - Herrero, J. A1 - Caldara, F. A1 - Humbert, Y. A1 - Friedli, L. A1 - Guerrier, M. A1 - Grand-Schenk, E. A1 - Gandin, C. A1 - de Francesco, M. A1 - Polissi, A. A1 - Buell, G. A1 - Feger, G. A1 - Garcia, E. A1 - Peitsch, M. A1 - Garcia-Bustos, J. F. KW - Bacterial Molecular Sequence Data Pneumococcal Infections/*microbiology Prokaryotic Cells RNA KW - Bacterial/chemistry/genetics Genes KW - Bacterial/genetics *Genome KW - DNA KW - Transfer/metabolism Streptococcus pneumoniae/*genetics AB - The public availability of numerous microbial genomes is enabling the analysis of bacterial biology in great detail and with an unprecedented, organism-wide and taxon-wide, broad scope. Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most important bacterial pathogens throughout the world. We present here sequences and functional annotations for 2.1-Mbp of pneumococcal DNA, covering more than 90% of the total estimated size of the genome. The sequenced strain is a clinical isolate resistant to macrolides and tetracycline. It carries a type 19F capsular locus, but multilocus sequence typing for several conserved genetic loci suggests that the strain sequenced belongs to a pneumococcal lineage that most often expresses a serotype 15 capsular polysaccharide. A total of 2,046 putative open reading frames (ORFs) longer than 100 amino acids were identified (average of 1,009 bp per ORF), including all described two-component systems and aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. Comparisons to other complete, or nearly complete, bacterial genomes were made and are presented in a graphical form for all the predicted proteins. VL - 7 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=11442348 N1 - Dopazo, J Mendoza, A Herrero, J Caldara, F Humbert, Y Friedli, L Guerrier, M Grand-Schenk, E Gandin, C de Francesco, M Polissi, A Buell, G Feger, G Garcia, E Peitsch, M Garcia-Bustos, J F United States Microbial drug resistance (Larchmont, N.Y.) Microb Drug Resist. 2001 Summer;7(2):99-125. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A model for the interaction of learning and evolution JF - Bull Math Biol Y1 - 2001 A1 - H. Dopazo A1 - Gordon, M. B. A1 - Perazzo, R. A1 - Risau-Gusman, S. KW - Algorithms Alleles Animals *Evolution Genotype Humans *Learning *Neural Networks (Computer) Numerical Analysis KW - Computer-Assisted Phenotype Synapses/genetics AB - We present a simple model in order to discuss the interaction of the genetic and behavioral systems throughout evolution. This considers a set of adaptive perceptrons in which some of their synapses can be updated through a learning process. This framework provides an extension of the well-known Hinton and Nowlan model by blending together some learning capability and other (rigid) genetic effects that contribute to the fitness. We find a halting effect in the evolutionary dynamics, in which the transcription of environmental data into genetic information is hindered by learning, instead of stimulated as is usually understood by the so-called Baldwin effect. The present results are discussed and compared with those reported in the literature. An interpretation is provided of the halting effect. VL - 63 UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=11146879 N1 - Dopazo, H Gordon, M B Perazzo, R Risau-Gusman, S Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t United States Bulletin of mathematical biology Bull Math Biol. 2001 Jan;63(1):117-34. ER -