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An analysis of chromosome based whole genome sequence comparison of the three species namely human, mouse and rat is highlighted. The comparison of the three species indicates that genome rearrangements follow a path that accommodates a delicate balance between maintaining a basic structure underlying all mammalian species and permitting variations that are necessary for speciation.

Two bacterial artificial chromosome(BAC) libraries are constructed to support the rat genome project. These two II-fold BAC libraries provide the rat researchers with a rich resource of BAC clones that can be screened in silico for genes of interest.

Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) technology has a potential for disease-gene discovery in cancer and developmental disorders as well as numerous other applications. Utilization of aCGH is limited by lack of well-characterized, high-resolution clone sets.

Research has been conducted on genomic sequence from primate species. The authors have compared these sequences to those of human genome, and the results demonstrate that the nonhuman genomic sequencies diverge from human at three different time points.

ABSTRACTNucleosomes are the basic unit of chromatin. Nucleosome positioning (NP) plays a key role in transcriptional regulation and other biological processes. To better understand NP we used MNase-seq to investigate changes that occur as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) transition to nascent mesoderm and then to smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Compared to differentiated cell derivatives, nucleosome occupancy at promoters and other notable genic sites, such as exon/intron junctions and adjacent regions, in hESCs shows a stronger correlation with transcript abundance and is less influenced by sequence content. Upon hESC differentiation, genes being silenced, but not genes being activated, display a substantial change in nucleosome occupancy at their promoters. Genome-wide, we detected a shift of NP to regions of higher G+C content as hESCs differentiate to SMCs. Notably, genomic regions with higher nucleosome occupancy harbor twice as many G↔C changes but fewer than half A↔T changes, compared to regions with lower nucleosome occupancy. Finally, our analysis indicates that the hESC genome is not rearranged and has a sequence mutation rate resembling normal human genomes. Our study reveals another unique feature of hESC chromatin, and sheds light on the relationship between nucleosome occupancy and sequence G+C content.

Liriodendron tulipiferaL., a member of the Magnoliaceae, occupies an important phylogenetic position as a basal angiosperm that has retained numerous putatively ancestral morphological characters, and thus has often been used in studies of the evolution of flowering plants and of specific gene families. However, genomic resources for these early branching angiosperm lineages are very limited. In this study, we describe the construction of a large-insert bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library from L. tulipifera. Flow cytometry estimates that this nuclear genome is approximately 1,802 Mbp per haploid genome (±16 SD). The BAC library contains 73,728 clones, a 4.8-fold genome coverage, with an average insert size of 117 kb, a chloroplast DNA content of 0.2%, and little to no bacterial sequences nor empty vector content clones. As a test of the utility of this BAC library, we screened the library with six single/low-copy genic probes. We obtained at least two positive clones for each gene and confirmed the clones by DNA sequencing. A total of 182 paired end sequences were obtained from 96 of the BAC clones. Using BLAST searches, we found that 25% of the BAC end sequences were similar to DNA sequences in GenBank. Of these, 68% shared sequence with transposable elements and 25% with genes from other taxa. This result closely reflected the content of random sequences obtained from a small insert genomic library for L. tulipifera, indicating that the BAC library construction process was not biased. The first genomic DNA sequences for Liriodendrongenes are also reported. All the Liriodendrongenomic sequences described in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank data library. The end sequences from shotgun genomic clones and BAC clones are under accession DU169330–DU169684. Partial sequences of Gigantea, Frigida, LEAFY, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase, 4-coumarate:CoA ligase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase genes are under accession DQ223429–DQ223434.

End sequences from bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) provide highly specific sequence markers in large-scale sequencing projects. To date, we have generated >300,000 end sequences from >186,000 human BAC clones with an average read length of >460 bp for a total of 141 Mb covering ∼4.7% of the genome. Over 60% of the clones have BAC end sequences (BESs) from both ends representing more than fivefold coverage of the human genome by the paired-end clones. Our quality assessments and sequence analyses indicate that BESs from human BAC libraries developed at The California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and Roswell Park Cancer Institute have similar properties. The analyses have highlighted differences in insert size for different segments of the CalTech library. Problems with the fidelity of tracking of sequence data back to physical clones have been observed in some subsets of the overall BES dataset. The annotation results of BESs for the contents of available genomic sequences, sequence tagged sites, expressed sequence tags, protein encoding regions, and repeats indicate that this resource will be valuable in many areas of genome research.

The (6-4) photolyase catalyzes the photoreversal of the (6-4) dipyrimidine photoproducts induced in DNA by ultraviolet light. Using the cloned Drosophila melanogaster(6-4) photolyase gene, we overproduced and purified the recombinant enzyme. The binding and catalytic properties of the enzyme were investigated using natural substrates, T[6-4]T and T[6-4]C, and the Dewar isomer of (6-4) photoproduct and substrate analogs s5T[6-4]T/thietane, mes5T[6-4]T, and the N-methyl-3′T thietane analog of the oxetane intermediate. The enzyme binds to the natural substrates and to mes5T[6-4]T with high affinity (KD∼10−9-10−10m) and produces a DNase I footprint of about 20 base pairs around the photolesion. Several lines of evidence suggest that upon binding by the enzyme, the photoproduct flips out of the duplex. Of the four substrates that bind with high affinity to the enzyme, T[6-4]T and T[6-4]C are repaired with relatively high quantum yields compared with the Dewar isomer and the mes5T[6-4]T which are repaired with 300–400-fold lower quantum yield than the former two photoproducts. Reduction of the FAD cofactor with dithionite increases the quantum yield of repair. Taken together, the data are consistent with photoinduced electron transfer from reduced FAD to substrate, in a manner analogous to the cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer photolyase.

Background Cattle are important agriculturally and relevant as a model organism. Previously described genetic and radiation hybrid (RH) maps of the bovine genome have been used to identify genomic regions and genes affecting specific traits. Application of these maps to identify influential genetic polymorphisms will be enhanced by integration with each other and with bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries. The BAC libraries and clone maps are essential for the hybrid clone-by-clone/whole-genome shotgun sequencing approach taken by the bovine genome sequencing project.Results A bovine BAC map was constructed with HindIII restriction digest fragments of 290,797 BAC clones from animals of three different breeds. Comparative mapping of 422,522 BAC end sequences assisted with BAC map ordering and assembly. Genotypes and pedigree from two genetic maps and marker scores from three whole-genome RH panels were consolidated on a 17,254-marker composite map. Sequence similarity allowed integrating the BAC and composite maps with the bovine draft assembly (Btau3.1), establishing a comprehensive resource describing the bovine genome. Agreement between the marker and BAC maps and the draft assembly is high, although discrepancies exist. The composite and BAC maps are more similar than either is to the draft assembly.Conclusion Further refinement of the maps and greater integration into the genome assembly process may contribute to a high quality assembly. The maps provide resources to associate phenotypic variation with underlying genomic variation, and are crucial resources for understanding the biology underpinning this important ruminant species so closely associated with humans.

Background Is it possible to construct an accurate and detailed subgene-level map of a genome using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) end sequences, a sparse marker map, and the sequences of other genomes?Results A sheep BAC library, CHORI-243, was constructed and the BAC end sequences were determined and mapped with high sensitivity and low specificity onto the frameworks of the human, dog, and cow genomes. To maximize genome coverage, the coordinates of all BAC end sequence hits to the cow and dog genomes were also converted to the equivalent human genome coordinates. The 84,624 sheep BACs (about 5.4-fold genome coverage) with paired ends in the correct orientation (tail-to-tail) and spacing, combined with information from sheep BAC comparative genome contigs (CGCs) built separately on the dog and cow genomes, were used to construct 1,172 sheep BAC-CGCs, covering 91.2% of the human genome. Clustered non-tail-to-tail and outsize BACs located close to the ends of many BAC-CGCs linked BAC-CGCs covering about 70% of the genome to at least one other BAC-CGC on the same chromosome. Using the BAC-CGCs, the intrachromosomal and interchromosomal BAC-CGC linkage information, human/cow and vertebrate synteny, and the sheep marker map, a virtual sheep genome was constructed. To identify BACs potentially located in gaps between BAC-CGCs, an additional set of 55,668 sheep BACs were positioned on the sheep genome with lower confidence. A coordinate conversion process allowed us to transfer human genes and other genome features to the virtual sheep genome to display on a sheep genome browser.Conclusion We demonstrate that limited sequencing of BACs combined with positioning on a well assembled genome and integrating locations from other less well assembled genomes can yield extensive, detailed subgene-level maps of mammalian genomes, for which genomic resources are currently limited.