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The Dynamic Genome and Transcriptome of the Human Fungal Pathogen Blastomyces and Close Relative Emmonsia.

PLoS genetics | 2015

Three closely related thermally dimorphic pathogens are causal agents of major fungal diseases affecting humans in the Americas: blastomycosis, histoplasmosis and paracoccidioidomycosis. Here we report the genome sequence and analysis of four strains of the etiological agent of blastomycosis, Blastomyces, and two species of the related genus Emmonsia, typically pathogens of small mammals. Compared to related species, Blastomyces genomes are highly expanded, with long, often sharply demarcated tracts of low GC-content sequence. These GC-poor isochore-like regions are enriched for gypsy elements, are variable in total size between isolates, and are least expanded in the avirulent B. dermatitidis strain ER-3 as compared with the virulent B. gilchristii strain SLH14081. The lack of similar regions in related species suggests these isochore-like regions originated recently in the ancestor of the Blastomyces lineage. While gene content is highly conserved between Blastomyces and related fungi, we identified changes in copy number of genes potentially involved in host interaction, including proteases and characterized antigens. In addition, we studied gene expression changes of B. dermatitidis during the interaction of the infectious yeast form with macrophages and in a mouse model. Both experiments highlight a strong antioxidant defense response in Blastomyces, and upregulation of dioxygenases in vivo suggests that dioxide produced by antioxidants may be further utilized for amino acid metabolism. We identify a number of functional categories upregulated exclusively in vivo, such as secreted proteins, zinc acquisition proteins, and cysteine and tryptophan metabolism, which may include critical virulence factors missed before in in vitro studies. Across the dimorphic fungi, loss of certain zinc acquisition genes and differences in amino acid metabolism suggest unique adaptations of Blastomyces to its host environment. These results reveal the dynamics of genome evolution and of factors contributing to virulence in Blastomyces.

Pubmed ID: 26439490 RIS Download

Associated grants

  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R37 AI035681
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: HHSN272200900018C
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: 1R21AI105537
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: AI093553
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: 5K08AI071004
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: K08 AI071004
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: AI040996
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: T32 AI055397
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: U19 AI110818
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 AI040996
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R21 AI105537
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 AI035681
  • Agency: NIAID NIH HHS, United States
    Id: R01 AI093553

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This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


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Software tool that screens DNA sequences for interspersed repeats and low complexity DNA sequences. The output of the program is a detailed annotation of the repeats that are present in the query sequence as well as a modified version of the query sequence in which all the annotated repeats have been masked (default: replaced by Ns). Currently over 56% of human genomic sequence is identified and masked by the program. Sequence comparisons in RepeatMasker are performed by one of several popular search engines including nhmmer, cross_match, ABBlast/WUBlast, RMBlast and Decypher. RepeatMasker makes use of curated libraries of repeats and currently supports Dfam ( profile HMM library ) and RepBase ( consensus sequence library ).

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Integrated database resource consisting of 16 main databases, broadly categorized into systems information, genomic information, and chemical information. In particular, gene catalogs in completely sequenced genomes are linked to higher-level systemic functions of cell, organism, and ecosystem. Analysis tools are also available. KEGG may be used as reference knowledge base for biological interpretation of large-scale datasets generated by sequencing and other high-throughput experimental technologies.

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RRID:SCR_008493

Software analysis package for molecular biology community. Automatically copes with data in variety of formats and allows transparent retrieval of sequence data from web. Libraries are provided with package. Provides toolkit for creating bioinformatics applications or workflows. Provides set of sequence analysis programs. Provided programs cover areas such as sequence alignment, rapid database searching with sequence patterns, protein motif identification, nucleotide sequence pattern analysis, codon usage analysis for small genomes, rapid identification of sequence patterns in large scale sequence sets, and presentation tools for publication.

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Suite of Nucleotide Analysis Programs (tool)

RRID:SCR_009399

THIS RESOURCE IS NO LONGER IN SERVICE, documented May 10, 2017. A pilot effort that has developed a centralized, web-based biospecimen locator that presents biospecimens collected and stored at participating Arizona hospitals and biospecimen banks, which are available for acquisition and use by researchers. Researchers may use this site to browse, search and request biospecimens to use in qualified studies. The development of the ABL was guided by the Arizona Biospecimen Consortium (ABC), a consortium of hospitals and medical centers in the Phoenix area, and is now being piloted by this Consortium under the direction of ABRC. You may browse by type (cells, fluid, molecular, tissue) or disease. Common data elements decided by the ABC Standards Committee, based on data elements on the National Cancer Institute''s (NCI''s) Common Biorepository Model (CBM), are displayed. These describe the minimum set of data elements that the NCI determined were most important for a researcher to see about a biospecimen. The ABL currently does not display information on whether or not clinical data is available to accompany the biospecimens. However, a requester has the ability to solicit clinical data in the request. Once a request is approved, the biospecimen provider will contact the requester to discuss the request (and the requester''s questions) before finalizing the invoice and shipment. The ABL is available to the public to browse. In order to request biospecimens from the ABL, the researcher will be required to submit the requested required information. Upon submission of the information, shipment of the requested biospecimen(s) will be dependent on the scientific and institutional review approval. Account required. Registration is open to everyone., documented September 29, 2016. A workbench tool to make existing population genetic software more accessible and to facilitate the integration of new tools for analyzing patterns of DNA sequence variation, within a phylogenetic context. Collectively, SNAP tools can serve as a bridge between theoretical and applied population genetic analysis. The exploration of DNA sequence variation for making inferences on evolutionary processes in populations requires the coordinated implementation of a Suite of Nucleotide Analysis Programs (SNAP), each bound by specific assumptions and limitations.

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RRID:SCR_011812

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RRID:SCR_011822

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RRID:SCR_014659

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