Immunomodulatory potential of four candidate probiotic Lactobacillus strains from plant and animal origin using comparative genomic analysis

Probiotic strains from different origins have shown promise in recent decades for their health benefits, for example in promoting and regulating the immune system. The immunomodulatory potential of four Lactobacillus strains from animal and plant origins was evaluated in this paper based on their genomic information. Comparative genomic analysis was performed through genome alignment, average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis and gene mining for putative immunomodulatory genes. The genomes of the four Lactobacillus strains show relative similarities in multiple regions, as observed in the genome alignment. However, ANI analysis showed that L. mucosae LM1 and L. fermentum SK152 are the most similar when considering their nucleotide sequences alone. Gene mining of putative immunomodulatory genes studied from L. plantarum WCFS1 yielded multiple results in the four potential probiotic strains, with L. plantarum SK151 showing the largest number of genes at around 74 hits, followed by L. johnsonii PF01 at 41 genes when adjusted for matches with at least 30 % identity. Looking at the immunomodulatory genes in each strain, L. plantarum SK151 and L. johnsonii PF01 may have wider activity, covering both immune activation and immune suppression, as compared to L. mucosae LM1 and L. fermentum SK152, which could be more effective in activating immune cells and the pro-inflammatory cascade rather than suppressing it. The similarities and differences between the four Lactobacillus species showed that there is no definitive trend based on the origin of isolation alone. Moreover, higher percentage identities between genomes do not directly correlate with higher similarities in potential activity, such as in immunomodulation. The immunomodulatory function of each of the four Lactobacillus strains should be observed and verified experimentally in the future, since some the activity of some genes may be strain-specific, which would not be identified through comparative genomics alone.

Targeted Sequencing of the Short Arm of Chromosome 6V of a Wheat Relative Haynaldia villosa for Marker Development and Gene Mining

The short arm of chromosome 6V (6VS) of Haynaldia villosa has been used in wheat breeding programs to introduce Pm21 resistance gene against powdery mildew (Pm) and some other genes. In this this study, 6VS was flow-sorted from wheat-H. villosa ditelosomic addition line Dt6VS and sequenced by Illumina technology. An assembly of 230.39 Mb was built with contig N50 of 9.788 bp. In total, 3.276 high-confidence genes were annotated and supported by RNA sequencing data. Repetitive elements represented 74.91% of the 6VS assembly. The 6VS homologous genes were identified on homologous group 6 in six Triticeae species confirming their synteny relationships. Out of 45 NB-ARC domain proteins identified on 6VS, 15 were upregulated and might also be involved in the innate immunity of H. villosa to Pm. High thousand grain weight (TGW) for 6VS/6AL translocation line was not attributable to GW2-6V gene. Based on the intron size differences, 119 intron-target (IT) markers were developed to trace the 6VS chromatins introduced into wheat background. The assembled 6VS genome sequence and the developed 6VS specific IT markers in this work will facilitate the gene mining and utilization of agronomic important genes on 6VS.