scholarly journals Long-read viral metagenomics captures abundant and microdiverse viral populations and their niche-defining genomic islands

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Warwick-Dugdale ◽  
Natalie Solonenko ◽  
Karen Moore ◽  
Lauren Chittick ◽  
Ann C. Gregory ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Genomic Islands ◽  
Viral Metagenomics ◽  
Viral Gene ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Viral Genomes ◽  
Long Read

Marine viruses impact global biogeochemical cycles via their influence on host community structure and function, yet our understanding of viral ecology is constrained by limitations in host culturing and a lack of reference genomes and ‘universal’ gene markers to facilitate community surveys. Short-read viral metagenomic studies have provided clues to viral function and first estimates of global viral gene abundance and distribution, but their assemblies are confounded by populations with high levels of strain evenness and nucleotide diversity (microdiversity), limiting assembly of some of the most abundant viruses on Earth. Such features also challenge assembly across genomic islands containing niche-defining genes that drive ecological speciation. These populations and features may be successfully captured by single-virus genomics and fosmid-based approaches, at least in abundant taxa, but at considerable cost and technical expertise. Here we established a low-cost, low-input, high throughput alternative sequencing and informatics workflow to improve viral metagenomic assemblies using short-read and long-read technology. The ‘VirION’ (Viral, long-read metagenomics via MinION sequencing) approach was first validated using mock communities where it was found to be as relatively quantitative as short-read methods and provided significant improvements in recovery of viral genomes. We then then applied VirION to the first metagenome from a natural viral community from the Western English Channel. In comparison to a short-read only approach, VirION: (i) increased number and completeness of assembled viral genomes; (ii) captured abundant, highly microdiverse virus populations, and (iii) captured more and longer genomic islands. Together, these findings suggest that VirION provides a high throughput and cost-effective alternative to fosmid and single-virus genomic approaches to more comprehensively explore viral communities in nature.

scholarly journals Long-read viral metagenomics enables capture of abundant and microdiverse viral populations and their niche-defining genomic islands

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Warwick-Dugdale ◽  
Natalie Solonenko ◽  
Karen Moore ◽  
Lauren Chittick ◽  
Ann C. Gregory ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Host Community ◽  
Genomic Islands ◽  
Viral Metagenomics ◽  
Viral Gene ◽  
Bioinformatics Pipeline ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Long Read

AbstractMarine viruses impact global biogeochemical cycles via their influence on host community structure and function, yet our understanding of viral ecology is constrained by limitations in culturing of important hosts and the lack of a ‘universal’ gene to facilitate community surveys. Short-read viral metagenomic studies have provided clues to viral function and first estimates of global viral gene abundance and distribution. However, short-read assemblies are confounded by populations with high levels of strain evenness and nucleotide diversity (microdiversity), limiting assembly of some of the most abundant viruses on Earth. Assembly across genomic islands which likely contain niche-defining genes that drive ecological speciation is also challenging. While such populations and features are successfully captured by single-virus genomics and fosmid-based approaches, both techniques require considerable cost and technical expertise. Here we established a low-cost, low-input, high throughput alternative method for improving assembly of viral metagenomics using long read technology. Named ‘VirION’ (Viral, long-read metagenomics via MinION sequencing), our sequencing approach and complementary bioinformatics pipeline (i) increased number and completeness of assembled viral genomes compared to short-read sequencing methods; (ii) captured populations of abundant viruses with high microdiversity missed by short-read methods and (iii) captured more and longer genomic islands than short-read methods. Thus, VirION provides a high throughput and cost-effective alternative to fosmid and single-virus genomic approaches to more comprehensively explore viral communities in nature.

scholarly journals VirION2: a short- and long-read sequencing and informatics workflow to study the genomic diversity of viruses in nature

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Zablocki ◽  
Michelle Michelsen ◽  
Marie Burris ◽  
Natalie Solonenko ◽  
Joanna Warwick-Dugdale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Error Correction ◽  
Previous Method ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Viral Metagenomics ◽  
Natural Seawater ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Long Reads ◽  
Long Read

ABSTRACTMicrobes play fundamental roles in shaping natural ecosystem properties and functions, but do so under constraints imposed by their viral predators. However, studying viruses in nature can be challenging due to low biomass and the lack of universal gene markers. Though metagenomic short-read sequencing has greatly improved our virus ecology toolkit— and revealed many critical ecosystem roles for viruses — microdiverse populations and fine-scale genomic traits are missed. Some of these microdiverse populations are abundant and the missed regions may be of interest for identifying selection pressures that underpin evolutionary constraints associated with hosts and environments. Though long-read sequencing promises complete virus genomes on single reads, it currently suffers from high DNA requirements and sequencing errors that limit accurate gene prediction. Here we introduce VirION2, an integrated short- and long-read metagenomic wet-lab and informatics pipeline that updates our previous method (VirION) to further enhance the utility of long-read viral metagenomics. Using a viral mock community, we first optimized laboratory protocols (polymerase choice, DNA shearing size, PCR cycling) to enable 76% longer reads (now median length of 6,965 bp) from 100-fold less input DNA (now 1 nanogram). Using a virome from a natural seawater sample, we compared viromes generated with VirION2 against other library preparation options (unamplified, original VirION, and short-read), and optimized downstream informatics for improved long-read error correction and assembly. VirION2 assemblies combined with short-read based data (‘enhanced’viromes), provided significant improvements over VirION libraries in the recovery of longer and more complete viral genomes, and our optimized error-correction strategy using long- and short-read data achieved 99.97% accuracy. In the seawater virome, VirION2 assemblies captured 5,161 viral populations (including all of the virus populations observed in the other assemblies), 30% of which were uniquely assembled through inclusion of long-reads, and 22% of the top 10% most abundant virus populations derived from assembly of long-reads. Viral populations unique to VirION2 assemblies had significantly higher microdiversity, which may explain why short-read virome approaches failed to capture them. These findings suggest the VirION2 sample prep and workflow (updated at protocols.io) can help researchers better investigate the virosphere, even from challenging low-biomass samples. Our new protocols are available to the research community on protocols.io as a ‘living document’ to facilitate dissemination of updates to keep pace with the rapid evolution of long read sequencing technology. Taken together, the addition of long-reads uniquely enabled the recovery of 22% of the most abundant viruses—that would have been missed in short-read only assemblies.

scholarly journals VirION2: a short- and long-read sequencing and informatics workflow to study the genomic diversity of viruses in nature

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11088
Author(s):  
Olivier Zablocki ◽  
Michelle Michelsen ◽  
Marie Burris ◽  
Natalie Solonenko ◽  
Joanna Warwick-Dugdale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Error Correction ◽  
Previous Method ◽  
Genomic Diversity ◽  
Viral Metagenomics ◽  
Natural Seawater ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Long Reads ◽  
Long Read

Microbes play fundamental roles in shaping natural ecosystem properties and functions, but do so under constraints imposed by their viral predators. However, studying viruses in nature can be challenging due to low biomass and the lack of universal gene markers. Though metagenomic short-read sequencing has greatly improved our virus ecology toolkit—and revealed many critical ecosystem roles for viruses—microdiverse populations and fine-scale genomic traits are missed. Some of these microdiverse populations are abundant and the missed regions may be of interest for identifying selection pressures that underpin evolutionary constraints associated with hosts and environments. Though long-read sequencing promises complete virus genomes on single reads, it currently suffers from high DNA requirements and sequencing errors that limit accurate gene prediction. Here we introduce VirION2, an integrated short- and long-read metagenomic wet-lab and informatics pipeline that updates our previous method (VirION) to further enhance the utility of long-read viral metagenomics. Using a viral mock community, we first optimized laboratory protocols (polymerase choice, DNA shearing size, PCR cycling) to enable 76% longer reads (now median length of 6,965 bp) from 100-fold less input DNA (now 1 nanogram). Using a virome from a natural seawater sample, we compared viromes generated with VirION2 against other library preparation options (unamplified, original VirION, and short-read), and optimized downstream informatics for improved long-read error correction and assembly. VirION2 assemblies combined with short-read based data (‘enhanced’ viromes), provided significant improvements over VirION libraries in the recovery of longer and more complete viral genomes, and our optimized error-correction strategy using long- and short-read data achieved 99.97% accuracy. In the seawater virome, VirION2 assemblies captured 5,161 viral populations (including all of the virus populations observed in the other assemblies), 30% of which were uniquely assembled through inclusion of long-reads, and 22% of the top 10% most abundant virus populations derived from assembly of long-reads. Viral populations unique to VirION2 assemblies had significantly higher microdiversity means, which may explain why short-read virome approaches failed to capture them. These findings suggest the VirION2 sample prep and workflow can help researchers better investigate the virosphere, even from challenging low-biomass samples. Our new protocols are available to the research community on protocols.io as a ‘living document’ to facilitate dissemination of updates to keep pace with the rapid evolution of long-read sequencing technology.

scholarly journals Ultra-low input single tube linked-read library method enables short-read NGS systems to generate highly accurate and economical long-range sequencing information for de novo genome assembly and haplotype phasing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhoutao Chen ◽  
Long Pham ◽  
Tsai-Chin Wu ◽  
Guoya Mo ◽  
Yu Xia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
De Novo Genome Assembly ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Single Tube ◽  
Haplotype Phasing ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Long Read

AbstractLong-range sequencing information is required for haplotype phasing, de novo assembly and structural variation detection. Current long-read sequencing technologies can provide valuable long-range information but at a high cost with low accuracy and high DNA input requirement. We have developed a single-tube Transposase Enzyme Linked Long-read Sequencing (TELL-Seq™) technology, which enables a low-cost, high-accuracy and high-throughput short-read next generation sequencer to routinely generate over 100 Kb long-range sequencing information with as little as 0.1 ng input material. In a PCR tube, millions of clonally barcoded beads are used to uniquely barcode long DNA molecules in an open bulk reaction without dilution and compartmentation. The barcode linked reads are used to successfully assemble genomes ranging from microbes to human. These linked-reads also generate mega-base-long phased blocks and provide a cost-effective tool for detecting structural variants in a genome, which are important to identify compound heterozygosity in recessive Mendelian diseases and discover genetic drivers and diagnostic biomarkers in cancers.

scholarly journals Perspectives and benefits of high-throughput long-read sequencing in microbial ecology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leho Tedersoo ◽  
Mads Albertsen ◽  
Sten Anslan ◽  
Benjamin Callahan
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Ecology ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
Environmental Dna ◽  
Nanopore Sequencing ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Sequencing Technologies ◽  
Long Read

Short-read, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) methods have yielded numerous important insights into microbial ecology and function. Yet, in many instances short-read HTS techniques are suboptimal, for example by providing insufficient phylogenetic resolution or low integrity of assembled genomes. Single-molecule and synthetic long-read (SLR) HTS methods have successfully ameliorated these limitations. In addition, nanopore sequencing has generated a number of unique analysis opportunities such as rapid molecular diagnostics and direct RNA sequencing, and both PacBio and nanopore sequencing support detection of epigenetic modifications. Although initially suffering from relatively low sequence quality, recent advances have greatly improved the accuracy of long read sequencing technologies. In spite of great technological progress in recent years, the long-read HTS methods (PacBio and nanopore sequencing) are still relatively costly, require large amounts of high-quality starting material, and commonly need specific solutions in various analysis steps. Despite these challenges, long-read sequencing technologies offer high-quality, cutting-edge alternatives for testing hypotheses about microbiome structure and functioning as well as assembly of eukaryote genomes from complex environmental DNA samples.

scholarly journals A Highly Contiguous Genome for the Golden-Fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) via Hybrid Oxford Nanopore and Short Read Assembly

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1829-1836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Wiley ◽  
Matthew J. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Transposable Elements ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Hybrid Zones ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Oxford Nanopore ◽  
Long Read

Woodpeckers are found in nearly every part of the world and have been important for studies of biogeography, phylogeography, and macroecology. Woodpecker hybrid zones are often studied to understand the dynamics of introgression between bird species. Notably, woodpeckers are gaining attention for their enriched levels of transposable elements (TEs) relative to most other birds. This enrichment of TEs may have substantial effects on molecular evolution. However, comparative studies of woodpecker genomes are hindered by the fact that no high-contiguity genome exists for any woodpecker species. Using hybrid assembly methods combining long-read Oxford Nanopore and short-read Illumina sequencing data, we generated a highly contiguous genome assembly for the Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons). The final assembly is 1.31 Gb and comprises 441 contigs plus a full mitochondrial genome. Half of the assembly is represented by 28 contigs (contig L50), each of these contigs is at least 16 Mb in size (contig N50). High recovery (92.6%) of bird-specific BUSCO genes suggests our assembly is both relatively complete and relatively accurate. Over a quarter (25.8%) of the genome consists of repetitive elements, with 287 Mb (21.9%) of those elements assignable to the CR1 superfamily of transposable elements, the highest proportion of CR1 repeats reported for any bird genome to date. Our assembly should improve comparative studies of molecular evolution and genomics in woodpeckers and allies. Additionally, the sequencing and bioinformatic resources used to generate this assembly were relatively low-cost and should provide a direction for development of high-quality genomes for studies of animal biodiversity.

scholarly journals A high-throughput multiplexing and selection strategy to complete bacterial genomes

GigaScience ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Arredondo-Alonso ◽  
Anna K Pöntinen ◽  
François Cléon ◽  
Rebecca A Gladstone ◽  
Anita C Schürch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Selection Strategy ◽  
Bacterial Isolates ◽  
Sequencing Data ◽  
Bacterial Genomes ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Short Read Sequencing ◽  
Long Read ◽  
Isolate Selection ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Background Bacterial whole-genome sequencing based on short-read technologies often results in a draft assembly formed by contiguous sequences. The introduction of long-read sequencing technologies permits those contiguous sequences to be unambiguously bridged into complete genomes. However, the elevated costs associated with long-read sequencing frequently limit the number of bacterial isolates that can be long-read sequenced. Here we evaluated the recently released 96 barcoding kit from Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) to generate complete genomes on a high-throughput basis. In addition, we propose an isolate selection strategy that optimizes a representative selection of isolates for long-read sequencing considering as input large-scale bacterial collections. Results Despite an uneven distribution of long reads per barcode, near-complete chromosomal sequences (assembly contiguity = 0.89) were generated for 96 Escherichia coli isolates with associated short-read sequencing data. The assembly contiguity of the plasmid replicons was even higher (0.98), which indicated the suitability of the multiplexing strategy for studies focused on resolving plasmid sequences. We benchmarked hybrid and ONT-only assemblies and showed that the combination of ONT sequencing data with short-read sequencing data is still highly desirable (i) to perform an unbiased selection of isolates for long-read sequencing, (ii) to achieve an optimal genome accuracy and completeness, and (iii) to include small plasmids underrepresented in the ONT library. Conclusions The proposed long-read isolate selection ensures the completion of bacterial genomes that span the genome diversity inherent in large collections of bacterial isolates. We show the potential of using this multiplexing approach to close bacterial genomes on a high-throughput basis.

scholarly journals High-throughput targeted long-read single cell sequencing reveals the clonal and transcriptional landscape of lymphocytes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandeep Singh ◽  
Ghamdan Al-Eryani ◽  
Shaun Carswell ◽  
James M. Ferguson ◽  
James Blackburn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Clonal Evolution ◽  
Primary Tumour ◽  
Transcriptome Profiling ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Short Read ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Long Read

AbstractHigh-throughput single-cell RNA-Sequencing is a powerful technique for gene expression profiling of complex and heterogeneous cellular populations such as the immune system. However, these methods only provide short-read sequence from one end of a cDNA template, making them poorly suited to the investigation of gene-regulatory events such as mRNA splicing, adaptive immune responses or somatic genome evolution. To address this challenge, we have developed a method that combines targeted long-read sequencing with short-read based transcriptome profiling of barcoded single cell libraries generated by droplet-based partitioning. We use Repertoire And Gene Expression sequencing (RAGE-seq) to accurately characterize full-length T cell (TCR) and B cell (BCR) receptor sequences and transcriptional profiles of more than 7,138 lymphocytes sampled from the primary tumour and draining lymph node of a breast cancer patient. With this method we show that somatic mutation, alternate splicing and clonal evolution of T and B lymphocytes can be tracked across these tissue compartments. Our results demonstrate that RAGE-Seq is an accessible and cost-effective method for high-throughput deep single cell profiling, applicable to a wide range of biological challenges.

scholarly journals Optimizing sequencing protocols for leaderboard metagenomics by combining long and short reads

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon G. Sanders ◽  
Sergey Nurk ◽  
Rodolfo A. Salido ◽  
Jeremiah Minich ◽  
Zhenjiang Z. Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Library Preparation ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Preparation Methods ◽  
Gold Standard Reference ◽  
Long Read ◽  
Metagenome Sequencing ◽  
Reference Genomes

Abstract As metagenomic studies move to increasing numbers of samples, communities like the human gut may benefit more from the assembly of abundant microbes in many samples, rather than the exhaustive assembly of fewer samples. We term this approach leaderboard metagenome sequencing. To explore protocol optimization for leaderboard metagenomics in real samples, we introduce a benchmark of library prep and sequencing using internal references generated by synthetic long-read technology, allowing us to evaluate high-throughput library preparation methods against gold-standard reference genomes derived from the samples themselves. We introduce a low-cost protocol for high-throughput library preparation and sequencing.

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