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In this update paper, we present the latest developments in the OMA browser knowledgebase, which aims to provide high-quality orthology inferences and facilitate the study of gene families, genomes and their evolution. First, we discuss the addition of new species in the database, particularly an expanded representation of prokaryotic species. The OMA browser now offers Ancestral Genome pages and an Ancestral Gene Order viewer, allowing users to explore the evolutionary history and gene content of ancestral genomes. We also introduce a revamped Local Synteny Viewer to compare genomic neighborhoods across both extant and ancestral genomes. Hierarchical Orthologous Groups (HOGs) are now annotated with Gene Ontology annotations, and users can easily perform extant or ancestral GO enrichments. Finally, we recap new tools in the OMA Ecosystem, including OMAmer for proteome mapping, OMArk for proteome quality assessment, OMAMO for model organism selection and Read2Tree for phylogenetic species tree construction from reads. These new features provide exciting opportunities for orthology analysis and comparative genomics. OMA is accessible at https://omabrowser.org., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

OMA is an established resource to elucidate evolutionary relationships among genes from currently 2326 genomes covering all domains of life. OMA provides pairwise and groupwise orthologs, functional annotations, local and global gene order conservation (synteny) information, among many other functions. This update paper describes the reorganisation of the database into gene-, group- and genome-centric pages. Other new and improved features are detailed, such as reporting of the evolutionarily best conserved isoforms of alternatively spliced genes, the inferred local order of ancestral genes, phylogenetic profiling, better cross-references, fast genome mapping, semantic data sharing via RDF, as well as a special coronavirus OMA with 119 viruses from the Nidovirales order, including SARS-CoV-2, the agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude with improvements to the documentation of the resource through primers, tutorials and short videos. OMA is accessible at https://omabrowser.org., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.)

Translation commencing at closely spaced initiation codons is common in RNA viruses with limited genome space. In the subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) of Pea enation mosaic virus 2, two closely spaced, out-of-frame start codons direct synthesis of movement/stability proteins p26 and p27. Efficient translation from AUG26/AUG27 is dependent on three 3'-proximal cap-independent translation enhancers (3'CITEs), whereas translation of the genomic (gRNA) requires only two. Contrary to strictly scanning-dependent initiation at the gRNA, sequence context of AUG26/AUG27 does not conform with Kozak requirements and insertion of efficient upstream AUGs had pronounced effects for AUG26 but only moderate effects for AUG27. Insertion of a hairpin within an extended 5' UTR did not significantly impact translation from AUG26/AUG27. Furthermore, AUG27 repressed translation from upstream AUG26 and this effect was mitigated when inter-codon spacing was reduced. Addition of a stable hairpin to the very 5' end of the sgRNA severely restricted translation, testifying that this 3'CITE-driven initiation is 5' end-dependent. Similar to gRNA, sgRNA reporter transcripts were nearly exclusively associated with light polysomes and 3'CITE-promoted long-distance interaction connecting the sgRNA ends affected the number of templates translated and not the initiation rate. We propose a non-canonical, 3'CITE-driven mechanism for efficient dicistronic expression from umbravirus sgRNAs.

A universal method to reconstitute sets of genes was developed. Owing to the intrinsic nature of the plasmid establishment mechanism in Bacillus subtilis, the assembly of five antibiotic resistance genes with a defined order and orientation was achieved. These five fragments and the plasmid have three-base protruding sequences at both ends. The protruding sequences are designed so that each fragment is ligated once in a row according to the pairing. Ligation by T4 DNA ligase in the presence of 150 mM NaCl and 10% polyethylene glycol at 37 degrees C yielded high molecular tandem repeat linear form DNA. This multimeric form of DNA was preferentially used for plasmid establishment in B.subtilis. The method, referred to as Ordered Gene Assembly in B.subtilis (OGAB), allows for the design of multiple fragments with very high efficiency and great fidelity.

A gene encoding a new member of the Pur protein family, Purgamma, has been detected upstream of, and contrapodal to, the gene encoding the Werner syndrome helicase, Wrn, at human chromosome band 8p11-12. Both the PURG and WRN genes initiate transcription at multiple sites, the major clusters of which are approximately 90 bp apart. A segment containing this region strongly promotes transcription of a reporter gene in both directions. Both promoters are TATA-less and CAAT-less and both are positively regulated by Sp1 elements. While promoter elements for the two genes are interleaved, in the contrapodal direction, certain elements critical for each gene are distinct. Sequencing of cDNAs for Purgamma mRNA reveals that two alternative coding sequences are generated from a single gene, resulting in different Purgamma C-termini. PURG-A mRNA consists of a single intronless transcript of approximately 3 kb. PURG-B mRNA results from transcription through the PURG-A polyadenylation site and splicing out of an intron of >30 kb. In this unique example of a switch, splicing of a single intron either occurs or does not occur depending upon differential termination/polyadenylation. PURG-B is the primary PURG transcript detected in testis, but it is undetectable in all members of a normal adult tissue cDNA panel. PURG-A levels are low or undetectable in the normal tissue panel, but they are greatly elevated in all members of a tumor tissue panel. PURG-B is detected in several tumor panel members.

BLASTX alignment between 189.5 Mb of rice genomic sequence and translated Arabidopsis thaliana annotated coding sequences (CDS) identified 60 syntenic regions involving 4-22 rice orthologs covering < or =3.2 cM (centiMorgan). Most regions are <3 cM in length. A detailed and updated version of a table representing these regions is available on our web site. Thirty-five rice loci match two distinct A.thaliana loci, as expected from the duplicated nature of the A.thaliana genome. One A.thaliana locus matches two distinct rice regions, suggesting that rice chromosomal sequence duplications exist. A high level of rearrangement characterizing the 60 syntenic regions illustrates the ancient nature of the speciation between A.thaliana and rice. The apparent reduced level of microcollinearity implies the dispersion to new genomic locations, via transposon activity, of single or small clusters of genes in the rice genome, which represents a significant additional effector of plant genome evolution.

We describe a method for the efficient genotyping of SNPs, involving sequencing of ordered and catenated sequence-tagged sites (OCS). In OCS, short genomic segments, each containing an SNP, are amplified by PCR using primers that carry specially designed extra nucleotides at their 5'-ends. Amplification products are then combined and converted to a concatamer in a defined order by a second round of thermal cycling. The concatenation takes place because the 5'-ends of each amplicon are designed to be complementary to the ends of the presumptive neighboring amplicons. The primer sequences for OCS are chosen using newly developed dedicated software, OCS Optimizer. Using sets of SNPs, we show that at least 10 STSs can be concatenated in a predefined order and all SNPs in the STSs are accurately genotyped by one two-way sequencing reaction.

During a systematic analysis of conserved gene context in prokaryotic genomes, a previously undetected, complex, partially conserved neighborhood consisting of more than 20 genes was discovered in most Archaea (with the exception of Thermoplasma acidophilum and Halobacterium NRC-1) and some bacteria, including the hyperthermophiles Thermotoga maritima and Aquifex aeolicus. The gene composition and gene order in this neighborhood vary greatly between species, but all versions have a stable, conserved core that consists of five genes. One of the core genes encodes a predicted DNA helicase, often fused to a predicted HD-superfamily hydrolase, and another encodes a RecB family exonuclease; three core genes remain uncharacterized, but one of these might encode a nuclease of a new family. Two more genes that belong to this neighborhood and are present in most of the genomes in which the neighborhood was detected encode, respectively, a predicted HD-superfamily hydrolase (possibly a nuclease) of a distinct family and a predicted, novel DNA polymerase. Another characteristic feature of this neighborhood is the expansion of a superfamily of paralogous, uncharacterized proteins, which are encoded by at least 20-30% of the genes in the neighborhood. The functional features of the proteins encoded in this neighborhood suggest that they comprise a previously undetected DNA repair system, which, to our knowledge, is the first repair system largely specific for thermophiles to be identified. This hypothetical repair system might be functionally analogous to the bacterial-eukaryotic system of translesion, mutagenic repair whose central components are DNA polymerases of the UmuC-DinB-Rad30-Rev1 superfamily, which typically are missing in thermophiles.

The chicken lysozyme (cLys) locus has been shown to contain all of the cis-elements necessary for position-independent and tissue-specific expression entirely within a 24-kb region defined by general DNase I sensitivity and flanked by matrix attachment regions. As such, it has been viewed as an example of a functional chromatin domain, which is structurally and functionally isolated from neighbouring chromatin. We report here the identification and characterisation of the chicken glioma-amplified sequence (cGas41) locus, which though widely expressed, is contained entirely within the lysozyme chromatin domain. The cGas41 transcript encodes a putative transcription factor, starts 207 bp downstream of the cLys polyadenylation site and is preceded by a CpG island with proposed dual promoter/origin function. The location and differential expression of cGas41 compels re-evaluation of the accumulated literature on the lysozyme domain, and represents an example of two unrelated, differentially expressed vertebrate genes coexisting in the same functional chromatin domain.

Whole-genome clustering of the two available genome sequences of Helicobacter pylori strains 26695 and J99 allows the detection of 110 and 52 strain-specific genes, respectively. This set of strain-specific genes was compared with the sets obtained with other computational approaches of direct genome comparison as well as experimental data from microarray analysis. A considerable number of novel function assignments is possible using database-driven sequence annotation, although the function of the majority of the identified genes remains unknown. Using whole-genome clustering, it is also possible to detect species-specific genes by comparing the two H.pylori strains against the genome sequence of Campylobacter jejuni. It is interesting that the majority of strain-specific genes appear to be species specific. Finally, we introduce a novel approach to gene position analysis by employing measures from directional statistics. We show that although the two strains exhibit differences with respect to strain-specific gene distributions, this is due to the extensive genome rearrangements. If these are taken into account, a common pattern for the genome dynamics of the two Helicobacter strains emerges, suggestive of certain spatial constraints that may act as control mechanisms of gene flux.

In addition to the cap-dependent mechanism, eukaryotic initiation of translation can occur by a cap-independent mechanism which directs ribosomes to defined start codons enabled by internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements. IRES elements from poliovirus and encephalomyocarditis virus are often used to construct bi- or oligocistronic expression vectors to co-express various genes from one mRNA. We found that while cap-dependent translation initiation from bicistronic mRNAs remains comparable to monocistronic expression, internal initiation mediated by these viral IRESs is often very inefficient. Expression of bicistronic expression vectors containing the hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAg) together with various cytokines in the second cistron of bicistronic mRNAs gave rise to very low levels of the tested cytokines. On the other hand, the HBcAg was well expressed when positioned in the second cistron. This suggests that the arrangement of cistrons in a bicistronic setting is crucial for IRES-dependent translation of the second cistron. A systematic examination of expression of reporter cistrons from bicistronic mRNAs with respect to position was carried out. Using the dual luciferase assay system we show that the composition of reading frames on a bicistronic mRNA and the order in which they are arranged define the strength of IRES-dependent translation. Although the cellular environment and the nature of the IRES element influence translation strength the dominant determinant is the nature and the arrangement of cistrons on the mRNA.

The first whole genome sequence of a symbiotic soil bacterium, Sinorhizobium meliloti (formely named Rhizobium meliloti) strain 1021, is due in 2001. As an active participant in the European and North American consortium that has completed this work, our group has sequenced a region on the chromosome containing clusters rpoBC, str, S10, spc and alpha corresponding to 30 protein genes. The structural organization and function of these genes were compared with those of orthologs in another 15 complete eubacterial genomes available in databases. This study, involving the DNA and amino acid sequences as well as the organization of the whole region (gene order, cluster order, etc.), has shown that the phylogenetic tree resulting from a comparison of the amino acid sequence is rather similar to that derived from 16S rRNA sequence data. However, the tree achieved by aligning DNA sequences groups the organisms with a high GC content (>60% GC), while that based on a comparison of gene cluster orientation and organization reveals a greater level of correspondence between the alpha-proteobacteria S.meliloti and the firmicute Bacillus subtilis.

A 13.6 kb contig of chromosome 5 of Plasmodium berghei, a rodent malaria parasite, has been sequenced and analysed for its coding potential. Assembly and comparison of this genomic locus with the orthologous locus on chromosome 10 of the human malaria Plasmodium falciparum revealed an unexpectedly high level of conservation of the gene organisation and complexity, only partially predicted by current gene-finder algorithms. Adjacent putative genes, transcribed from complementary strands, overlap in their untranslated regions, introns and exons, resulting in a tight clustering of both regulatory and coding sequences, which is unprecedented for genome organisation of PLASMODIUM: In total, six putative genes were identified, three of which are transcribed in gametocytes, the precursor cells of gametes. At least in the case of two multiple exon genes, alternative splicing and alternative transcription initiation sites contribute to a flexible use of the dense information content of this locus. The data of the small sample presented here indicate the value of a comparative approach for Plasmodium to elucidate structure, organisation and gene content of complex genomic loci and emphasise the need to integrate biological data of all Plasmodium species into the P.falciparum genome database and associated projects such as PlasmodB to further improve their annotation.

African trypanosomes evade the immune response of their mammalian hosts by sequentially expressing genes for different variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs) from telomere-linked VSG expression sites. In the Trypanosoma brucei clone whose genome is being sequenced (GUTat 10.1), we show that the expressed VSG (VSG 10.1) is duplicated from a silent donor VSG located at another telomere-linked site. We have determined two 130 kb sequences representing the VSG 10.1 donor and expression sites. The telomere-linked donor VSG 10.1 resembles metacyclic VSG expression sites, and is preceded by a cluster of 35 or more tandem housekeeping genes, all of which are transcribed away from the telomere. The 45 kb telomere-linked VSG 10.1 expression site contains a promoter followed by seven expression site-associated genes (ESAGs), three pseudo ESAGs, two pseudo VSGs and VSG 10.1. The 80 kb preceding the expression site has few, if any, functional ORFs, but contains 50 bp repeats, INGI retrotransposon-like elements, and novel 4-12 kb repeats found near other telomeres. This analysis provides the first look over a 130 kb range of a telomere-linked donor VSG and its corresponding telomere-linked VSG expression site and forms the basis for studies on antigenic variation in the context of a completely sequenced genome.

We previously reported two graph algorithms for analysis of genomic information: a graph comparison algorithm to detect locally similar regions called correlated clusters and an algorithm to find a graph feature called P-quasi complete linkage. Based on these algorithms we have developed an automatic procedure to detect conserved gene clusters and align orthologous gene orders in multiple genomes. In the first step, the graph comparison is applied to pairwise genome comparisons, where the genome is considered as a one-dimensionally connected graph with genes as its nodes, and correlated clusters of genes that share sequence similarities are identified. In the next step, the P-quasi complete linkage analysis is applied to grouping of related clusters and conserved gene clusters in multiple genomes are identified. In the last step, orthologous relations of genes are established among each conserved cluster. We analyzed 17 completely sequenced microbial genomes and obtained 2313 clusters when the completeness parameter P: was 40%. About one quarter contained at least two genes that appeared in the metabolic and regulatory pathways in the KEGG database. This collection of conserved gene clusters is used to refine and augment ortholog group tables in KEGG and also to define ortholog identifiers as an extension of EC numbers.

Investigation of the regulatory region of mTEAD-2, a gene expressed at the beginning of mouse pre-implantation development, led to the surprising discovery of another gene only 3.8 kb upstream of mTEAD-2. Here we show that this new gene is a single copy, testis-specific gene called SOGGY: (mSgy) that produces a single, dominant mRNA approximately 1.3 kb in length. It is transcribed in the direction opposite to mTEAD-2, thus placing the regulatory elements of these two genes in close proximity. mSgy contains three methionine codons that could potentially act as translation start sites, but most mSGY protein synthesis in vitro was initiated from the first Met codon to produce a full-length protein, suggesting that mSGY normally consists of 230 amino acids (26.7 kDa). Transcription began at a cluster of nucleotides approximately 150 bp upstream of the first Met codon using a TATA-less promoter contained within the first 0.9 kb upstream. The activity of this promoter was repressed by upstream sequences between -0.9 and -2.5 kb in cells that did not express mSgy, but this repression was relieved in cells that did express mSgy. mSgy mRNA was detected in embryos only after day 15 and in adult tissues only in the developing spermatocytes of seminiferous tubules, suggesting that mSgy is a spermatocyte-specific gene. Since mTEAD-2 and mSgy were not expressed in the same cells, the mSgy/mTEAD-2 locus provides a unique paradigm for differential regulation of gene expression during mammalian development.