scholarly journals Measuring significant changes in chromatin conformation with ACCOST

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 2303-2311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate B Cook ◽  
Borislav H Hristov ◽  
Karine G Le Roch ◽  
Jean Philippe Vert ◽  
William Stafford Noble
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Read Depth ◽  
Chromatin Conformation ◽  
Genomic Distance ◽  
Confidence Measure ◽  
Statistical Confidence ◽  
3D Architecture

Abstract Chromatin conformation assays such as Hi-C cannot directly measure differences in 3D architecture between cell types or cell states. For this purpose, two or more Hi-C experiments must be carried out, but direct comparison of the resulting Hi-C matrices is confounded by several features of Hi-C data. Most notably, the genomic distance effect, whereby contacts between pairs of genomic loci that are proximal along the chromosome exhibit many more Hi-C contacts that distal pairs of loci, dominates every Hi-C matrix. Furthermore, the form that this distance effect takes often varies between different Hi-C experiments, even between replicate experiments. Thus, a statistical confidence measure designed to identify differential Hi-C contacts must accurately account for the genomic distance effect or risk being misled by large-scale but artifactual differences. ACCOST (Altered Chromatin COnformation STatistics) accomplishes this goal by extending the statistical model employed by DEseq, re-purposing the ‘size factors,’ which were originally developed to account for differences in read depth between samples, to instead model the genomic distance effect. We show via analysis of simulated and real data that ACCOST provides unbiased statistical confidence estimates that compare favorably with competing methods such as diffHiC, FIND and HiCcompare. ACCOST is freely available with an Apache license at https://bitbucket.org/noblelab/accost.

scholarly journals Measuring significant changes in chromatin conformation with ACCOST

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate B. Cook ◽  
Karine Le Roch ◽  
Jean Philippe Vert ◽  
William Stafford Noble
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Distance Effect ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Read Depth ◽  
Chromatin Conformation ◽  
Genomic Distance ◽  
Confidence Measure ◽  
Statistical Confidence ◽  
3D Architecture

AbstractChromatin conformation assays such as Hi-C cannot directly measure differences in 3D architecture between cell types or cell states. For this purpose, two or more Hi-C experiments must be carried out, but direct comparison of the resulting Hi-C matrices is confounded by several features of Hi-C data. Most notably, the genomic distance effect, whereby contacts between pairs of genomic loci that are proximal along the chromosome exhibit many more Hi-C contacts that distal pairs of loci, dominates every Hi-C matrix. Furthermore, the form that this distance effect takes often varies between different Hi-C experiments, even between replicate experiments. Thus, a statistical confidence measure designed to identify differential Hi-C contacts must accurately account for the genomic distance effect or risk being misled by large-scale but artifactual differences. ACCOST (Altered Chromatin Conformation STatistics) accomplishes this goal by extending the statistical model employed by DEseq, re-purposing the “size factors,” which were originally developed to account for differences in read depth between samples, to instead model the genomic distance effect. We show via analysis of simulated and real data that ACCOST provides unbiased statistical confidence estimates that compare favorably with competing methods such as diffHiC, FIND, and HiCcompare. ACCOST is freely available with an Apache license at https://bitbucket.org/noblelab/accost.

scholarly journals The potential of family-free rearrangements towards gene orthology inference

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego P. Rubert ◽  
Daniel Doerr ◽  
Marília D. V. Braga
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Gene Families ◽  
Genome Rearrangements ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Genomic Distance ◽  
Optimal Matching ◽  
Natural Family

Recently, we proposed an efficient ILP formulation [Rubert DP, Martinez FV, Braga MDV, Natural family-free genomic distance, Algorithms Mol Biol 16:4, 2021] for exactly computing the rearrangement distance of two genomes in a family-free setting. In such a setting, neither prior classification of genes into families, nor further restrictions on the genomes are imposed. Given two genomes, the mentioned ILP computes an optimal matching of the genes taking into account simultaneously local mutations, given by gene similarities, and large-scale genome rearrangements. Here, we explore the potential of using this ILP for inferring groups of orthologs across several species. More precisely, given a set of genomes, our method first computes all pairwise optimal gene matchings, which are then integrated into gene families in the second step. Our approach is implemented into a pipeline incorporating the pre-computation of gene similarities. It can be downloaded from gitlab.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/gi/FFGC. We obtained promising results with experiments on both simulated and real data.

scholarly journals Comparison of computational methods for imputing single-cell RNA-sequencing data

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihua Zhang ◽  
Shihua Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Rna Sequencing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Biological Functions ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Imputation Methods ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Single Cell Rna Sequencing

AbstractSingle-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) is a recent breakthrough technology, which paves the way for measuring RNA levels at single cell resolution to study precise biological functions. One of the main challenges when analyzing scRNA-seq data is the presence of zeros or dropout events, which may mislead downstream analyses. To compensate the dropout effect, several methods have been developed to impute gene expression since the first Bayesian-based method being proposed in 2016. However, these methods have shown very diverse characteristics in terms of model hypothesis and imputation performance. Thus, large-scale comparison and evaluation of these methods is urgently needed now. To this end, we compared eight imputation methods, evaluated their power in recovering original real data, and performed broad analyses to explore their effects on clustering cell types, detecting differentially expressed genes, and reconstructing lineage trajectories in the context of both simulated and real data. Simulated datasets and case studies highlight that there are no one method performs the best in all the situations. Some defects of these methods such as scalability, robustness and unavailability in some situations need to be addressed in future studies.

HCVS: Pinpointing Chromatin States Through Hierarchical Clustering and Visualization Scheme

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-156
Author(s):  
Nighat Noureen ◽  
Sahar Fazal ◽  
Muhammad Abdul Qadir ◽  
Muhammad Tanvir Afzal
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Clustering ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Computational Scheme ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Chromatin States ◽  
Functional Regions ◽  
Visualization Strategy ◽  
Hidden States ◽  
Next Generation Sequencing Ngs

Background: Specific combinations of Histone Modifications (HMs) contributing towards histone code hypothesis lead to various biological functions. HMs combinations have been utilized by various studies to divide the genome into different regions. These study regions have been classified as chromatin states. Mostly Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based techniques have been utilized for this purpose. In case of chromatin studies, data from Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms is being used. Chromatin states based on histone modification combinatorics are annotated by mapping them to functional regions of the genome. The number of states being predicted so far by the HMM tools have been justified biologically till now. Objective: The present study aimed at providing a computational scheme to identify the underlying hidden states in the data under consideration. </P><P> Methods: We proposed a computational scheme HCVS based on hierarchical clustering and visualization strategy in order to achieve the objective of study. Results: We tested our proposed scheme on a real data set of nine cell types comprising of nine chromatin marks. The approach successfully identified the state numbers for various possibilities. The results have been compared with one of the existing models as well which showed quite good correlation. Conclusion: The HCVS model not only helps in deciding the optimal state numbers for a particular data but it also justifies the results biologically thereby correlating the computational and biological aspects.

scholarly journals Contribution of Ionotropic Glutamatergic Receptors to Excitability and Attentional Signals in Macaque Frontal Eye Field

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Dasilva ◽  
Christian Brandt ◽  
Marc Alwin Gieselmann ◽  
Claudia Distler ◽  
Alexander Thiele
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Control ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Neuronal Excitability ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Receptor Activation ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
Control Signals ◽  
Cognitive Operations ◽  
Eye Field ◽  
Large Scale Networks

Abstract Top-down attention, controlled by frontal cortical areas, is a key component of cognitive operations. How different neurotransmitters and neuromodulators flexibly change the cellular and network interactions with attention demands remains poorly understood. While acetylcholine and dopamine are critically involved, glutamatergic receptors have been proposed to play important roles. To understand their contribution to attentional signals, we investigated how ionotropic glutamatergic receptors in the frontal eye field (FEF) of male macaques contribute to neuronal excitability and attentional control signals in different cell types. Broad-spiking and narrow-spiking cells both required N-methyl-D-aspartic acid and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor activation for normal excitability, thereby affecting ongoing or stimulus-driven activity. However, attentional control signals were not dependent on either glutamatergic receptor type in broad- or narrow-spiking cells. A further subdivision of cell types into different functional types using cluster-analysis based on spike waveforms and spiking characteristics did not change the conclusions. This can be explained by a model where local blockade of specific ionotropic receptors is compensated by cell embedding in large-scale networks. It sets the glutamatergic system apart from the cholinergic system in FEF and demonstrates that a reduction in excitability is not sufficient to induce a reduction in attentional control signals.

scholarly journals Transcriptional and morphological profiling of parvalbumin interneuron subpopulations in the mouse hippocampus

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Que ◽  
David Lukacsovich ◽  
Wenshu Luo ◽  
Csaba Földy
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Neuronal Identity ◽  
Parvalbumin Interneurons ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Parvalbumin Interneuron ◽  
Cam Profile ◽  
Developmental Domains

AbstractThe diversity reflected by >100 different neural cell types fundamentally contributes to brain function and a central idea is that neuronal identity can be inferred from genetic information. Recent large-scale transcriptomic assays seem to confirm this hypothesis, but a lack of morphological information has limited the identification of several known cell types. In this study, we used single-cell RNA-seq in morphologically identified parvalbumin interneurons (PV-INs), and studied their transcriptomic states in the morphological, physiological, and developmental domains. Overall, we find high transcriptomic similarity among PV-INs, with few genes showing divergent expression between morphologically different types. Furthermore, PV-INs show a uniform synaptic cell adhesion molecule (CAM) profile, suggesting that CAM expression in mature PV cells does not reflect wiring specificity after development. Together, our results suggest that while PV-INs differ in anatomy and in vivo activity, their continuous transcriptomic and homogenous biophysical landscapes are not predictive of these distinct identities.

scholarly journals scSorter: assigning cells to known cell types according to marker genes

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyu Guo ◽  
Jun Li
Keyword(s):  
Real Data ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Exact Expression ◽  
Marker Genes ◽  
Specific Marker ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Reference Dataset ◽  
Over Expression ◽  
Higher Power ◽  
Cell Type Specific

AbstractOn single-cell RNA-sequencing data, we consider the problem of assigning cells to known cell types, assuming that the identities of cell-type-specific marker genes are given but their exact expression levels are unavailable, that is, without using a reference dataset. Based on an observation that the expected over-expression of marker genes is often absent in a nonnegligible proportion of cells, we develop a method called scSorter. scSorter allows marker genes to express at a low level and borrows information from the expression of non-marker genes. On both simulated and real data, scSorter shows much higher power compared to existing methods.

scholarly journals sepal: identifying transcript profiles with spatial patterns by diffusion-based modeling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alma Andersson ◽  
Joakim Lundeberg
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Expression Profiles ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Statistical Hypothesis ◽  
Supplementary Information ◽  
Statistical Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Transcriptomics Data ◽  
Transcript Profiles

Abstract Motivation Collection of spatial signals in large numbers has become a routine task in multiple omics-fields, but parsing of these rich datasets still pose certain challenges. In whole or near-full transcriptome spatial techniques, spurious expression profiles are intermixed with those exhibiting an organized structure. To distinguish profiles with spatial patterns from the background noise, a metric that enables quantification of spatial structure is desirable. Current methods designed for similar purposes tend to be built around a framework of statistical hypothesis testing, hence we were compelled to explore a fundamentally different strategy. Results We propose an unexplored approach to analyze spatial transcriptomics data, simulating diffusion of individual transcripts to extract genes with spatial patterns. The method performed as expected when presented with synthetic data. When applied to real data, it identified genes with distinct spatial profiles, involved in key biological processes or characteristic for certain cell types. Compared to existing methods, ours seemed to be less informed by the genes’ expression levels and showed better time performance when run with multiple cores. Availabilityand implementation Open-source Python package with a command line interface (CLI), freely available at https://github.com/almaan/sepal under an MIT licence. A mirror of the GitHub repository can be found at Zenodo, doi: 10.5281/zenodo.4573237. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

scholarly journals Constructing Large-Scale Genetic Maps Using an Evolutionary Strategy Algorithm

Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (4) ◽  
pp. 2269-2282
Author(s):  
D Mester ◽  
Y Ronin ◽  
D Minkov ◽  
E Nevo ◽  
A Korol
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Optimization ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Genetic Maps ◽  
Chromosome 1 ◽  
Evolutionary Strategy ◽  
Group A ◽  
The One

Abstract This article is devoted to the problem of ordering in linkage groups with many dozens or even hundreds of markers. The ordering problem belongs to the field of discrete optimization on a set of all possible orders, amounting to n!/2 for n loci; hence it is considered an NP-hard problem. Several authors attempted to employ the methods developed in the well-known traveling salesman problem (TSP) for multilocus ordering, using the assumption that for a set of linked loci the true order will be the one that minimizes the total length of the linkage group. A novel, fast, and reliable algorithm developed for the TSP and based on evolution-strategy discrete optimization was applied in this study for multilocus ordering on the basis of pairwise recombination frequencies. The quality of derived maps under various complications (dominant vs. codominant markers, marker misclassification, negative and positive interference, and missing data) was analyzed using simulated data with ∼50-400 markers. High performance of the employed algorithm allows systematic treatment of the problem of verification of the obtained multilocus orders on the basis of computing-intensive bootstrap and/or jackknife approaches for detecting and removing questionable marker scores, thereby stabilizing the resulting maps. Parallel calculation technology can easily be adopted for further acceleration of the proposed algorithm. Real data analysis (on maize chromosome 1 with 230 markers) is provided to illustrate the proposed methodology.

scholarly journals A Comprehensive Review: Sphingolipid Metabolism and Implications of Disruption in Sphingolipid Homeostasis

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5793
Author(s):  
Brianna M. Quinville ◽  
Natalie M. Deschenes ◽  
Alex E. Ryckman ◽  
Jagdeep S. Walia
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
System Development ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Nervous System Development ◽  
Sphingolipid Metabolism ◽  
Lysosomal Storage ◽  
Bioactive Lipids ◽  
Comprehensive Review

Sphingolipids are a specialized group of lipids essential to the composition of the plasma membrane of many cell types; however, they are primarily localized within the nervous system. The amphipathic properties of sphingolipids enable their participation in a variety of intricate metabolic pathways. Sphingoid bases are the building blocks for all sphingolipid derivatives, comprising a complex class of lipids. The biosynthesis and catabolism of these lipids play an integral role in small- and large-scale body functions, including participation in membrane domains and signalling; cell proliferation, death, migration, and invasiveness; inflammation; and central nervous system development. Recently, sphingolipids have become the focus of several fields of research in the medical and biological sciences, as these bioactive lipids have been identified as potent signalling and messenger molecules. Sphingolipids are now being exploited as therapeutic targets for several pathologies. Here we present a comprehensive review of the structure and metabolism of sphingolipids and their many functional roles within the cell. In addition, we highlight the role of sphingolipids in several pathologies, including inflammatory disease, cystic fibrosis, cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and lysosomal storage disorders.

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