Through a novel approach detailed in Nature, a massive computational analysis of microbiome datasets by the JGI focuses on unveiling protein functional diversity.
A Tool to Find Nomadic Genes that Help Microbes Adapt
Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are genetic entities that seek to replicate themselves and spread from cell to cell. Two of the most common forms of MGEs are viruses and plasmids. They can be found in virtually all of Earth’s ecosystems. A software tool recently described in Nature Biotechnology called geNomad identifies and classifies MGEs based upon their gene content and their genetic sequences. The software was created by researchers under the direction of JGI Microbiome Data Science Group Lead Nikos Kyrpides.
JGI Creates a New Matchmaker for Phages and their Hosts
To do anything, viruses must find a host, and not just any host will do. It must be a specific host the virus has adapted to commandeer. For bacteriophage viruses, these hosts are microbes like bacteria, not humans. With metagenomic sequencing, researchers have found more of these viruses than ever before, in all kinds of ecosystems. However, matching these viral genetic sequences to their hosts is crucial to understanding what these viruses can do. Building on existing virus-host prediction approaches, researchers have created a new program called iPHoP (pronounced “eye-pop”, freely available online).
JGI Helps Develop Computational Pipeline for RNA Virus Sequences
In the journal Cell, scientists from a team led by researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) describe a computational pipeline that can specifically scan for RNA virus sequences.
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