@article {818, title = {A genomic strategy for precision medicine in rare diseases: integrating customized algorithms into clinical practice.}, journal = {J Transl Med}, volume = {23}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Jan 20}, pages = {86}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Despite the use of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) as the gold standard for the diagnosis of rare diseases, its clinical implementation has been challenging, limiting the cost-effectiveness of NGS and the understanding, control and safety essential for decision-making in clinical applications. Here, we describe a personalized NGS-based strategy integrating precision medicine into a public healthcare system and its implementation in the routine diagnosis process during a five-year pilot program.

METHODS: Our approach involved customized probe designs, the generation of virtual panels and the development of a personalized medicine module (PMM) for variant prioritization. This strategy was applied to 6500 individuals including 6267 index patients and 233 NGS-based carrier screenings.

RESULTS: Causative variants were identified in 2061 index patients (average 32.9\%, ranging from 12 to 62\% by condition). Also, 131 autosomal-recessive cases could be partially genetically diagnosed. These results led to over 5000 additional studies including carrier, prenatal and preimplantational tests or pharmacological and gene therapy treatments.

CONCLUSION: This strategy has shown promising improvements in the diagnostic rate, facilitating timely diagnosis and gradually expanding our services portfolio for rare diseases. The steps taken towards the integration of clinical and genomic data are opening new possibilities for conducting both retrospective and prospective healthcare studies. Overall, this study represents a major milestone in the ongoing efforts to improve our understanding and clinical management of rare diseases, a crucial area of medical research and care.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Female, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Precision Medicine, rare diseases}, issn = {1479-5876}, doi = {10.1186/s12967-025-06069-2}, author = {M{\'e}ndez-Vidal, Cristina and Bravo-Gil, Nereida and Perez-Florido, Javier and Marcos-Luque, Irene and Fern{\'a}ndez, Raquel M and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose Luis and Gonz{\'a}lez-del Pozo, Mar{\'\i}a and Mart{\'\i}n-S{\'a}nchez, Marta and Fern{\'a}ndez-Su{\'a}rez, Elena and Mena, Marcela and Carmona, Rosario and Dopazo, Joaquin and Borrego, Salud and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo} } @article {817, title = {Metatranscriptomic analysis reveals gut microbiome bacterial genes in pyruvate and amino acid metabolism associated with hyperuricemia and gout in humans.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {15}, year = {2025}, month = {2025 Mar 22}, pages = {9981}, abstract = {

Several pathologies with metabolic origin, such as hyperuricemia and gout, have been associated with the gut microbiota taxonomic profile. However, there is no evidence of which bacterial genes are being expressed in the gut microbiome, and of their potential effects on hyperuricemia and gout. We sequenced the RNA of 26 fecal samples from 10 healthy normouricemic controls, 10 with asymptomatic hyperuricemia (AH), and six gout patients. The coding sequences were mapped to KEGG orthologues (KO). We compared the expression levels using generalized linear models and validated the expression of four KO in a larger sample by qRT-PCR. A distinct genetic expression pattern was identified among groups. AH individuals and gout patients showed an over-expression of KOs mainly related to pyruvate metabolism (Log2foldchange > 23, p-adj <= 3.56 {\texttimes} 10), the pentose pathway (Log2foldchange > 24, p-adj < 1.10 {\texttimes} 10) and purine metabolism (Log2foldchange > 22, p-adj < 1.25 {\texttimes} 10). AH subjects had lower expression of KO related to glycine metabolism (Log2foldchange=-18, p-adj < 1.72 {\texttimes} 10) than controls. Gout patients had lower expression (Log2foldchange=-22.42, p-adj < 3.31 {\texttimes} 10) of a KO involved in phenylalanine biosynthesis, in comparison to controls and AH subjects. The over-expression seen for the KO related to pyruvate metabolism and the pentose pathway in gout patients{\textasciiacute} microbiome was validated. There is a differential gene expression pattern in the gut microbiome of normouricemic individuals, AH subjects and gout patients. These differences are mainly located in metabolic pathways involved in acetate precursors and bioavailability of amino acids.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Amino Acids, Bacteria, Case-Control Studies, Feces, Female, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Gene Expression Profiling, Genes, Bacterial, Gout, Humans, Hyperuricemia, Male, Middle Aged, Pyruvic Acid, Transcriptome}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-025-93899-1}, author = {Mart{\'\i}nez-Nava, Gabriela Ang{\'e}lica and Altamirano-Molina, Efren and V{\'a}zquez-Mellado, Janitzia and Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Dopazo, Joaquin and Lozada-P{\'e}rez, Carlos and Herrera-L{\'o}pez, Br{\'\i}gida and Mart{\'\i}nez-G{\'o}mez, Laura Edith and Mart{\'\i}nez-Armenta, Carlos and Guido-G{\'o}mora, Dafne Lissete and Valle-Guti{\'e}rrez, Sarah{\'\i} and Suarez-Ahedo, Carlos and Camacho-Rea, Mar{\'\i}a Del Carmen and Mart{\'\i}nez-Garc{\'\i}a, Mireya and Guti{\'e}rrez-Esparza, Guadalupe and Amezcua-Guerra, Luis M and Zamudio-Cuevas, Yessica and Mart{\'\i}nez-Flores, Karina and Fern{\'a}ndez-Torres, Javier and Burguete-Garc{\'\i}a, Ana I and Orbe-Orihuela, Yaneth Citlalli and Lagunas-Mart{\'\i}nez, Alfredo and M{\'e}ndez-Salazar, Eder Orlando and Francisco-Balderas, Adriana and Palacios-Gonz{\'a}lez, Berenice and Pineda, Carlos and L{\'o}pez-Reyes, Alberto} } @article {819, title = {Mutations in the small nuclear RNA gene RNU2-2 cause a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with prominent epilepsy}, journal = {Nature Genetics}, year = {2025}, month = {Oct-04-2025}, issn = {1061-4036}, doi = {10.1038/s41588-025-02159-5}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02159-5https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02159-5.pdfhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02159-5.pdfhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02159-5}, author = {Greene, Daniel and De Wispelaere, Koenraad and Lees, Jon and Codina-Sol{\`a}, Marta and Jensson, Brynjar O. and Hales, Emma and Katrinecz, Andrea and Nieto Molina, Esther and Sevilla Porras, Marta and Pascoal, Sonia and Valenzuela, Irene and Pfundt, Rolph and Schot, Rachel and Sleutels, Frank and Wijngaard, Robin and Arroyo Carrera, Ignacio and Duat Rodr{\'\i}guez, Anna and Atton, Giles and Casas-Alba, Didac and Donnelly, Deirdre and Fern{\'a}ndez Garoz, B{\'a}rbara and Foulds, Nicola and Garc{\'\i}a-Navas N{\'u}{\~n}ez, Deyanira and Gonz{\'a}lez Alguacil, Elena and Jarvis, Joanna and Kant, Sarina G. and Madrigal Bajo, Irene and Martinez-Monseny, Antonio F. and McKee, Shane and Sariego Jamardo, Andrea and Stefansson, Kari and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Revenga Bodi, Laia and Ortiz Cabrera, Nelmar Valentina and Sulem, Patrick and Suri, Mohnish and Van Karnebeek, Clara and Vasudevan, Pradeep and Vega Pajares, Ana Isabel and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Engelen, Marc and Lapunzina, Pablo and Morgan, Natasha P. and Morte, Beatriz and Rump, Patrick and Stirrups, Kathy and Tizzano, Eduardo F. and Barakat, Tahsin Stefan and O{\textquoteright}Donoghue, Michael and P{\'e}rez-Jurado, Luis Alberto and Freson, Kathleen and Mumford, Andrew D. and Turro, Ernest} } @article {816, title = {Characterization of the Common Genetic Variation in the Spanish Population of Navarre.}, journal = {Genes (Basel)}, volume = {15}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 May 04}, abstract = {

Large-scale genomic studies have significantly increased our knowledge of genetic variability across populations. Regional genetic profiling is essential for distinguishing common benign variants from disease-causing ones. To this end, we conducted a comprehensive characterization of exonic variants in the population of Navarre (Spain), utilizing whole genome sequencing data from 358 unrelated individuals of Spanish origin. Our analysis revealed 61,410 biallelic single nucleotide variants (SNV) within the Navarrese cohort, with 35\% classified as common (MAF > 1\%). By comparing allele frequency data from 1000 Genome Project (excluding the Iberian cohort of Spain, IBS), Genome Aggregation Database, and a Spanish cohort (including IBS individuals and data from Medical Genome Project), we identified 1069 SNVs common in Navarre but rare (MAF <= 1\%) in all other populations. We further corroborated this observation with a second regional cohort of 239 unrelated exomes, which confirmed 676 of the 1069 SNVs as common in Navarre. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of population-specific characterization of genetic variation to improve allele frequency filtering in sequencing data analysis to identify disease-causing variants.

}, keywords = {Cohort Studies, Exome, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, Humans, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Spain, Whole Genome Sequencing}, issn = {2073-4425}, doi = {10.3390/genes15050585}, author = {Maillo, Alberto and Huergo, Estefania and Apell{\'a}niz-Ruiz, Mar{\'\i}a and Urrutia-Lafuente, Edurne and Miranda, Mar{\'\i}a and Salgado, Josefa and Pasalodos-Sanchez, Sara and Delgado-Mora, Luna and Teijido, {\'O}scar and Goicoechea, Ibai and Carmona, Rosario and Perez-Florido, Javier and Aquino, Virginia and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Beltran, Sergi and Dopazo, Joaquin and Lasa, I{\~n}igo and Beloqui, Juan Jos{\'e} and Alonso, {\'A}ngel and Gomez-Cabrero, David} } @article {810, title = {drexml: A command line tool and Python package for drug repurposing.}, journal = {Comput Struct Biotechnol J}, volume = {23}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Dec}, pages = {1129-1143}, abstract = {

We introduce drexml, a command line tool and Python package for rational data-driven drug repurposing. The package employs machine learning and mechanistic signal transduction modeling to identify drug targets capable of regulating a particular disease. In addition, it employs explainability tools to contextualize potential drug targets within the functional landscape of the disease. The methodology is validated in Fanconi Anemia and Familial Melanoma, two distinct rare diseases where there is a pressing need for solutions. In the Fanconi Anemia case, the model successfully predicts previously validated repurposed drugs, while in the Familial Melanoma case, it identifies a promising set of drugs for further investigation.

}, issn = {2001-0370}, doi = {10.1016/j.csbj.2024.02.027}, author = {Esteban-Medina, Marina and de la Oliva Roque, V{\'\i}ctor Manuel and Herr{\'a}iz-Gil, Sara and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Loucera, Carlos} } @article {805, title = {Drug-target identification in COVID-19 disease mechanisms using computational systems biology approaches.}, journal = {Front Immunol}, volume = {14}, year = {2024}, month = {2023}, pages = {1282859}, abstract = {

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 Disease Map project is a large-scale community effort uniting 277 scientists from 130 Institutions around the globe. We use high-quality, mechanistic content describing SARS-CoV-2-host interactions and develop interoperable bioinformatic pipelines for novel target identification and drug repurposing.

METHODS: Extensive community work allowed an impressive step forward in building interfaces between Systems Biology tools and platforms. Our framework can link biomolecules from omics data analysis and computational modelling to dysregulated pathways in a cell-, tissue- or patient-specific manner. Drug repurposing using text mining and AI-assisted analysis identified potential drugs, chemicals and microRNAs that could target the identified key factors.

RESULTS: Results revealed drugs already tested for anti-COVID-19 efficacy, providing a mechanistic context for their mode of action, and drugs already in clinical trials for treating other diseases, never tested against COVID-19.

DISCUSSION: The key advance is that the proposed framework is versatile and expandable, offering a significant upgrade in the arsenal for virus-host interactions and other complex pathologies.

}, keywords = {Computer Simulation, COVID-19, drug repositioning, Humans, SARS-CoV-2, Systems biology}, issn = {1664-3224}, doi = {10.3389/fimmu.2023.1282859}, author = {Niarakis, Anna and Ostaszewski, Marek and Mazein, Alexander and Kuperstein, Inna and Kutmon, Martina and Gillespie, Marc E and Funahashi, Akira and Acencio, Marcio Luis and Hemedan, Ahmed and Aichem, Michael and Klein, Karsten and Czauderna, Tobias and Burtscher, Felicia and Yamada, Takahiro G and Hiki, Yusuke and Hiroi, Noriko F and Hu, Finterly and Pham, Nhung and Ehrhart, Friederike and Willighagen, Egon L and Valdeolivas, Alberto and Dugourd, Aur{\'e}lien and Messina, Francesco and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Rian, Kinza and Soliman, Sylvain and Aghamiri, Sara Sadat and Puniya, Bhanwar Lal and Naldi, Aur{\'e}lien and Helikar, Tom{\'a}{\v s} and Singh, Vidisha and Fern{\'a}ndez, Marco Fari{\~n}as and Bermudez, Viviam and Tsirvouli, Eirini and Montagud, Arnau and No{\"e}l, Vincent and Ponce-de-Leon, Miguel and Maier, Dieter and Bauch, Angela and Gyori, Benjamin M and Bachman, John A and Luna, Augustin and Pi{\~n}ero, Janet and Furlong, Laura I and Balaur, Irina and Rougny, Adrien and Jarosz, Yohan and Overall, Rupert W and Phair, Robert and Perfetto, Livia and Matthews, Lisa and Rex, Devasahayam Arokia Balaya and Orlic-Milacic, Marija and Gomez, Luis Cristobal Monraz and De Meulder, Bertrand and Ravel, Jean Marie and Jassal, Bijay and Satagopam, Venkata and Wu, Guanming and Golebiewski, Martin and Gawron, Piotr and Calzone, Laurence and Beckmann, Jacques S and Evelo, Chris T and D{\textquoteright}Eustachio, Peter and Schreiber, Falk and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Kuiper, Martin and Valencia, Alfonso and Wolkenhauer, Olaf and Kitano, Hiroaki and Barillot, Emmanuel and Auffray, Charles and Balling, Rudi and Schneider, Reinhard} } @article {807, title = {HMGA1 regulates trabectedin sensitivity in advanced soft-tissue sarcoma (STS): A Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS) study.}, journal = {Cell Mol Life Sci}, volume = {81}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 May 17}, pages = {219}, abstract = {

HMGA1 is a structural epigenetic chromatin factor that has been associated with tumor progression and drug resistance. Here, we reported the prognostic/predictive value of HMGA1 for trabectedin in advanced soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) and the effect of inhibiting HMGA1 or the mTOR downstream pathway in trabectedin activity. The prognostic/predictive value of HMGA1 expression was assessed in a cohort of 301 STS patients at mRNA (n = 133) and protein level (n = 272), by HTG EdgeSeq transcriptomics and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The effect of HMGA1 silencing on trabectedin activity and gene expression profiling was measured in leiomyosarcoma cells. The effect of combining mTOR inhibitors with trabectedin was assessed on cell viability in vitro studies, whereas in vivo studies tested the activity of this combination. HMGA1 mRNA and protein expression were significantly associated with worse progression-free survival of trabectedin and worse overall survival in STS. HMGA1 silencing sensitized leiomyosarcoma cells for trabectedin treatment, reducing the spheroid area and increasing cell death. The downregulation of HGMA1 significantly decreased the enrichment of some specific gene sets, including the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. The inhibition of mTOR, sensitized leiomyosarcoma cultures for trabectedin treatment, increasing cell death. In in vivo studies, the combination of rapamycin with trabectedin downregulated HMGA1 expression and stabilized tumor growth of 3-methylcholantrene-induced sarcoma-like models. HMGA1 is an adverse prognostic factor for trabectedin treatment in advanced STS. HMGA1 silencing increases trabectedin efficacy, in part by modulating the mTOR signaling pathway. Trabectedin plus mTOR inhibitors are active in preclinical models of sarcoma, downregulating HMGA1 expression levels and stabilizing tumor growth.

}, keywords = {Animals, Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating, Cell Line, Tumor, Drug Resistance, Neoplasm, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, HMGA1a Protein, Humans, Leiomyosarcoma, Mice, Prognosis, Sarcoma, Signal Transduction, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases, Trabectedin, Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays}, issn = {1420-9071}, doi = {10.1007/s00018-024-05250-y}, author = {Moura, David S and Mondaza-Hernandez, Jose L and Sanchez-Bustos, Paloma and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Cordero-Varela, Juan A and Lopez-Alvarez, Maria and Carrillo-Garcia, Jaime and Martin-Ruiz, Marta and Romero-Gonzalez, Pablo and Renshaw-Calderon, Marta and Ramos, Rafael and Marcilla, David and Alvarez-Alegret, Ramiro and Agra-Pujol, Carolina and Izquierdo, Francisco and Ortega-Medina, Luis and Martin-Davila, Francisco and Hernandez-Leon, Carmen Nieves and Romagosa, Cleofe and Salgado, Maria Angeles Vaz and Lavernia, Javier and Bagu{\'e}, Silvia and Mayodormo-Aranda, Empar and Alvarez, Rosa and Valverde, Claudia and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Castilla-Ramirez, Carolina and Gutierrez, Antonio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Hindi, Nadia and Garcia-Foncillas, Jesus and Martin-Broto, Javier} } @article {808, title = {The Iberian Roma Population Variant Server (IRPVS).}, journal = {J Genet Genomics}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Mar 26}, issn = {1673-8527}, doi = {10.1016/j.jgg.2024.03.006}, author = {Mavillard, Fabiola and Perez-Florido, Javier and Ortuno, Francisco M and Valladares, Amador and {\'A}lvarez-Villegas, Miren L and Rold{\'a}n, Gema and Carmona, Rosario and Soriano, Manuel and Susarte, Santiago and Fuentes, Pilar and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Nu{\~n}ez-Negrillo, Ana Mar{\'\i}a and Carvajal, Alejandra and Morgado, Yolanda and Arteaga, Daniel and Ufano, Rosa and Mir, Pablo and Gamella, Juan F and Dopazo, Joaquin and Paradas, Carmen and Cabrera-Serrano, Macarena} } @article {813, title = {The integrated genomic surveillance system of Andalusia (SIEGA) provides a One Health regional resource connected with the clinic.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {14}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Aug 19}, pages = {19200}, abstract = {

The One Health approach, recognizing the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health, has gained significance amid emerging zoonotic diseases and antibiotic resistance concerns. This paper aims to demonstrate the utility of a collaborative tool, the SIEGA, for monitoring infectious diseases across domains, fostering a comprehensive understanding of disease dynamics and risk factors, highlighting the pivotal role of One Health surveillance systems. Raw whole-genome sequencing is processed through different species-specific open software that additionally reports the presence of genes associated to anti-microbial resistances and virulence. The SIEGA application is a Laboratory Information Management System, that allows customizing reports, detect transmission chains, and promptly alert on alarming genetic similarities. The SIEGA initiative has successfully accumulated a comprehensive collection of more than 1900 bacterial genomes, including Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica and Legionella pneumophila, showcasing its potential in monitoring pathogen transmission, resistance patterns, and virulence factors. SIEGA enables customizable reports and prompt detection of transmission chains, highlighting its contribution to enhancing vigilance and response capabilities. Here we show the potential of genomics in One Health surveillance when supported by an appropriate bioinformatic tool. By facilitating precise disease control strategies and antimicrobial resistance management, SIEGA enhances global health security and reduces the burden of infectious diseases. The integration of health data from humans, animals, and the environment, coupled with advanced genomics, underscores the importance of a holistic One Health approach in mitigating health threats.

}, keywords = {Animals, Drug Resistance, Bacterial, Genome, Bacterial, Genomics, Humans, One Health, Virulence Factors, Whole Genome Sequencing}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-024-70107-0}, author = {Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Perez-Florido, Javier and Robles, Enrique A and Lara, Mar{\'\i}a and Aguado, Andrea and Rodr{\'\i}guez Iglesias, Manuel A and Lepe, Jose A and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and P{\'e}rez-Alegre, M{\'o}nica and And{\'u}jar, Elo{\'\i}sa and Jim{\'e}nez, Victoria E and Camino, Lola P and Loruso, Nicola and Ameyugo, Ulises and Vazquez, Isabel Mar{\'\i}a and Lozano, Carlota M and Chaves, J Alberto and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {804, title = {The mechanistic functional landscape of retinitis pigmentosa: a machine learning-driven approach to therapeutic target discovery.}, journal = {J Transl Med}, volume = {22}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Feb 06}, pages = {139}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Retinitis pigmentosa is the prevailing genetic cause of blindness in developed nations with no effective treatments. In the pursuit of unraveling the intricate dynamics underlying this complex disease, mechanistic models emerge as a tool of proven efficiency rooted in systems biology, to elucidate the interplay between RP genes and their mechanisms. The integration of mechanistic models and drug-target interactions under the umbrella of machine learning methodologies provides a multifaceted approach that can boost the discovery of novel therapeutic targets, facilitating further drug repurposing in RP.

METHODS: By mapping Retinitis Pigmentosa-related genes (obtained from Orphanet, OMIM and HPO databases) onto KEGG signaling pathways, a collection of signaling functional circuits encompassing Retinitis Pigmentosa molecular mechanisms was defined. Next, a mechanistic model of the so-defined disease map, where the effects of interventions can be simulated, was built. Then, an explainable multi-output random forest regressor was trained using normal tissue transcriptomic data to learn causal connections between targets of approved drugs from DrugBank and the functional circuits of the mechanistic disease map. Selected target genes involvement were validated on rd10 mice, a murine model of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

RESULTS: A mechanistic functional map of Retinitis Pigmentosa was constructed resulting in 226 functional circuits belonging to 40 KEGG signaling pathways. The method predicted 109 targets of approved drugs in use with a potential effect over circuits corresponding to nine hallmarks identified. Five of those targets were selected and experimentally validated in rd10 mice: Gabre, Gabra1 (GABARĪ±1 protein), Slc12a5 (KCC2 protein), Grin1 (NR1 protein) and Glr2a. As a result, we provide a resource to evaluate the potential impact of drug target genes in Retinitis Pigmentosa.

CONCLUSIONS: The possibility of building actionable disease models in combination with machine learning algorithms to learn causal drug-disease interactions opens new avenues for boosting drug discovery. Such mechanistically-based hypotheses can guide and accelerate the experimental validations prioritizing drug target candidates. In this work, a mechanistic model describing the functional disease map of Retinitis Pigmentosa was developed, identifying five promising therapeutic candidates targeted by approved drug. Further experimental validation will demonstrate the efficiency of this approach for a systematic application to other rare diseases.

}, keywords = {Animals, Mice, Retinitis pigmentosa, Signal Transduction}, issn = {1479-5876}, doi = {10.1186/s12967-024-04911-7}, author = {Esteban-Medina, Marina and Loucera, Carlos and Rian, Kinza and Velasco, Sheyla and Olivares-Gonz{\'a}lez, Lorena and Rodrigo, Regina and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria} } @article {809, title = {Molecular and phylogenetic characterization of the monkeypox outbreak in the South of Spain.}, journal = {Health Sci Rep}, volume = {7}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Mar}, pages = {e1965}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Until the May 2022 Monkeypox (MPXV) outbreak, which spread rapidly to many non-endemic countries, the virus was considered a viral zoonosis limited to some African countries. The Andalusian circuit of genomic surveillance was rapidly applied to characterize the MPXV~outbreak in the South of Spain.

METHODS: Whole genome sequencing was used to obtain the genomic profiles of samples collected across the south of Spain, representative of all the provinces of Andalusia. Phylogenetic analysis was used to study the relationship of the isolates and the available sequences of the 2022 outbreak.

RESULTS: Whole genome sequencing of a total of 160 MPXV~viruses from the different provinces that reported cases were obtained. Interestingly, we report the sequences of MPXV~viruses obtained from two patients who died. While one of the isolates bore no noteworthy mutations that explain a potential heightened virulence, in another patient the second consecutive genome sequence, performed after the administration of tecovirimat, uncovered a mutation within the A0A7H0DN30 gene, known to be a prime target for tecovirimat in its Vaccinia counterpart. In general, a low number of mutations were observed in the sequences reported, which were very similar to the reference of the 2022 outbreak (OX044336), as expected from a DNA virus. The samples likely correspond to several introductions of the circulating MPXV~viruses from the last outbreak. The virus sequenced from one of the two patients that died presented a mutation in a gene that bears potential connections to drug resistance. This mutation was absent in the initial sequencing before treatment.

}, issn = {2398-8835}, doi = {10.1002/hsr2.1965}, author = {Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Perez-Florido, Javier and Lara, Mar{\'\i}a and Camacho-Martinez, Pedro and Merino-Diaz, Laura and Pupo-Ledo, Inmaculada and de Salazar, Adolfo and Fuentes, Ana and Vi{\~n}uela, Laura and Chueca, Natalia and Martinez-Martinez, Luis and Lorusso, Nicola and Lepe, Jose A and Dopazo, Joaquin and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico} } @article {815, title = {Mutational landscape of risk variants in comorbid depression and obesity: a next-generation sequencing approach.}, journal = {Mol Psychiatry}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 May 28}, abstract = {

Major depression (MD) and obesity are complex genetic disorders that are frequently comorbid. However, the study of both diseases concurrently remains poorly addressed and therefore the underlying genetic mechanisms involved in this comorbidity remain largely unknown. Here we examine the contribution of common and rare variants to this comorbidity through a next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach. Specific genomic regions of interest in MD and obesity were sequenced in a group of 654 individuals from the PISMA-ep epidemiological study. We obtained variants across the entire frequency spectrum and assessed their association with comorbid MD and obesity, both at variant and gene levels. We identified 55 independent common variants and a burden of rare variants in 4 genes (PARK2, FGF21, HIST1H3D and RSRC1) associated with the comorbid phenotype. Follow-up analyses revealed significantly enriched gene-sets associated with biological processes and pathways involved in metabolic dysregulation, hormone signaling and cell cycle regulation. Our results suggest that, while risk variants specific to the comorbid phenotype have been identified, the genes functionally impacted by the risk variants share cell biological processes and signaling pathways with MD and obesity phenotypes separately. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study involving a targeted sequencing approach toward the study of the comorbid MD and obesity. The framework presented here allowed a deep characterization of the genetics of the co-occurring MD and obesity, revealing insights into the mutational and functional profile that underlies this comorbidity and contributing to a better understanding of the relationship between these two disabling disorders.

}, issn = {1476-5578}, doi = {10.1038/s41380-024-02609-2}, author = {P{\'e}rez-Guti{\'e}rrez, Ana M and Carmona, Rosario and Loucera, Carlos and Cervilla, Jorge A and Guti{\'e}rrez, Blanca and Molina, Esther and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Perez-Florido, Javier and Zarza-Rebollo, Juan Antonio and L{\'o}pez-Isac, Elena and Dopazo, Joaquin and Martinez-Gonzalez, Luis Javier and Rivera, Margarita} } @article {806, title = {Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia and Retinitis Pigmentosa: Novel Variant and Possible Modifier Gene.}, journal = {Cells}, volume = {13}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Mar 16}, abstract = {

We report a novel missense variant co-segregated with a familial X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) case. The brothers were hemizygous for this variant, but only the proband presented with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD). Thus, we aimed to elucidate the role of the variant and other modifier genes in the phenotypic variability observed in the family and its impact on motile cilia. The pathogenicity of the variant on the RPGR protein was evaluated by in vitro studies transiently transfecting the mutated gene, and immunofluorescence analysis on nasal brushing samples. Whole-exome sequencing was conducted to identify potential modifier variants. In vitro studies showed that the mutated RPGR protein could not localise to the cilium and impaired cilium formation. Accordingly, RPGR was abnormally distributed in the siblings{\textquoteright} nasal brushing samples. In addition, a missense variant in was identified. The concurrent variant influenced ciliary mislocalisation of the protein. We provide a comprehensive characterisation of motile cilia in this XLRP family, with only the proband presenting PCD symptoms. The variant{\textquoteright}s pathogenicity was confirmed, although it alone does not explain the respiratory symptoms. Finally, the gene may be a potential modifier for respiratory symptoms in patients with mutations.

}, keywords = {Ciliary Motility Disorders, Eye Proteins, Genes, Modifier, Humans, Male, mutation, Retinitis pigmentosa}, issn = {2073-4409}, doi = {10.3390/cells13060524}, author = {Baz-Red{\'o}n, Noelia and S{\'a}nchez-Bellver, Laura and Fern{\'a}ndez-Cancio, M{\'o}nica and Rovira-Amigo, Sandra and Burgoyne, Thomas and Ranjit, Rai and Aquino, Virginia and Toro-Barrios, Noem{\'\i} and Carmona, Rosario and Polverino, Eva and Cols, Maria and Moreno-Gald{\'o}, Antonio and Camats-Tarruella, N{\'u}ria and Marfany, Gemma} } @article {794, title = {Case report: Analysis of phage therapy failure in a patient with a Pseudomonas aeruginosa prosthetic vascular graft infection}, journal = {Front Med (Lausanne)}, volume = {10}, year = {2023}, month = {2023}, pages = {1199657}, abstract = {

Clinical case of a patient with a multidrug-resistant prosthetic vascular graft infection which was treated with a cocktail of phages (PT07, 14/01, and PNM) in combination with ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA). After the application of the phage treatment and in absence of antimicrobial therapy, a new bloodstream infection (BSI) with a septic residual limb metastasis occurred, now involving a wild-type strain being susceptible to {\ss}-lactams and quinolones. Clinical strains were analyzed by microbiology and whole genome sequencing techniques. In relation with phage administration, the clinical isolates of before phage therapy (HE2011471) and post phage therapy (HE2105886) showed a clonal relationship but with important genomic changes which could be involved in the resistance to this therapy. Finally, phenotypic studies showed a decrease in Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) to {\ss}-lactams and quinolones as well as an increase of the biofilm production and phage resistant mutants in the clinical isolate of post phage therapy.

}, doi = {10.3389/fmed.2023.1199657}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10235614/}, author = {Blasco, Lucia and L{\'o}pez-Hern{\'a}ndez, Inmaculada and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Fern{\'a}ndez, Miguel and Perez-Florido, Javier and Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S} } @book {798, title = {Cell-Level Pathway Scoring Comparison with~a~Biologically Constrained Variational Autoencoder}, series = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Computational Methods in Systems Biology}, volume = {14137}, year = {2023}, pages = {62 - 77}, publisher = {Springer Nature Switzerland}, organization = {Springer Nature Switzerland}, address = {Cham}, isbn = {978-3-031-42696-4}, issn = {0302-9743}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-42697-110.1007/978-3-031-42697-1_5}, url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-42697-1_5}, author = {Gundogdu, Pelin and Pay{\'a}-Milans, Miriam and Alamo-Alvarez, Inmaculada and Nepomuceno-Chamorro, Isabel A. and Dopazo, Joaquin and Loucera, Carlos} } @article {770, title = {A Comprehensive Analysis of 21 Actionable Pharmacogenes in the Spanish Population: From Genetic Characterisation to Clinical Impact.}, journal = {Pharmaceutics}, volume = {15}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Apr 19}, abstract = {

The implementation of pharmacogenetics (PGx) is a main milestones of precision medicine nowadays in order to achieve safer and more effective therapies. Nevertheless, the implementation of PGx diagnostics is extremely slow and unequal worldwide, in part due to a lack of ethnic PGx information. We analysed genetic data from 3006 Spanish individuals obtained by different high-throughput (HT) techniques. Allele frequencies were determined in our population for the main 21 actionable PGx genes associated with therapeutical changes. We found that 98\% of the Spanish population harbours at least one allele associated with a therapeutical change and, thus, there would be a need for a therapeutical change in a mean of 3.31 of the 64 associated drugs. We also identified 326 putative deleterious variants that were not previously related with PGx in 18 out of the 21 main PGx genes evaluated and a total of 7122 putative deleterious variants for the 1045 PGx genes described. Additionally, we performed a comparison of the main HT diagnostic techniques, revealing that after whole genome sequencing, genotyping with the PGx HT array is the most suitable solution for PGx diagnostics. Finally, all this information was integrated in the Collaborative Spanish Variant Server to be available to and updated by the scientific community.

}, issn = {1999-4923}, doi = {10.3390/pharmaceutics15041286}, author = {N{\'u}{\~n}ez-Torres, Roc{\'\i}o and Pita, Guillermo and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Zamora, Jorge and Rold{\'a}n, Gema and Herr{\'a}ez, Bel{\'e}n and Alvarez, Nuria and Alonso, Mar{\'\i}a Rosario and Dopazo, Joaquin and Gonz{\'a}lez-Neira, Anna} } @article {771, title = {Crosstalk between Metabolite Production and Signaling Activity in Breast Cancer.}, journal = {Int J Mol Sci}, volume = {24}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Apr 18}, abstract = {

The reprogramming of metabolism is a recognized cancer hallmark. It is well known that different signaling pathways regulate and orchestrate this reprogramming that contributes to cancer initiation and development. However, recent evidence is accumulating, suggesting that several metabolites could play a relevant role in regulating signaling pathways. To assess the potential role of metabolites in the regulation of signaling pathways, both metabolic and signaling pathway activities of Breast invasive Carcinoma (BRCA) have been modeled using mechanistic models. Gaussian Processes, powerful machine learning methods, were used in combination with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), a recent methodology that conveys causality, to obtain potential causal relationships between the production of metabolites and the regulation of signaling pathways. A total of 317 metabolites were found to have a strong impact on signaling circuits. The results presented here point to the existence of a complex crosstalk between signaling and metabolic pathways more complex than previously was thought.

}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms24087450}, author = {Cubuk, Cankut and Loucera, Carlos and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {769, title = {A crowdsourcing database for the copy-number variation of the Spanish population.}, journal = {Hum Genomics}, volume = {17}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Mar 09}, pages = {20}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Despite being a very common type of genetic variation, the distribution of copy-number variations (CNVs) in the population is still poorly understood. The knowledge of the genetic variability, especially at the level of the local population, is a critical factor for distinguishing pathogenic from non-pathogenic variation in the discovery of new disease variants.

RESULTS: Here, we present the SPAnish Copy Number Alterations Collaborative Server (SPACNACS), which currently contains copy number variation profiles obtained from more than 400 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. By means of a collaborative crowdsourcing effort whole genome and whole exome sequencing data, produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes, is continuously collected. Once checked both, the Spanish ancestry and the lack of kinship with other individuals in the SPACNACS, the CNVs are inferred for these sequences and they are used to populate the database. A web interface allows querying the database with different filters that include ICD10 upper categories. This allows discarding samples from the disease under study and obtaining pseudo-control CNV profiles from the local population. We also show here additional studies on the local impact of CNVs in some phenotypes and on pharmacogenomic variants. SPACNACS can be accessed at: http://csvs.clinbioinfosspa.es/spacnacs/ .

CONCLUSION: SPACNACS facilitates disease gene discovery by providing detailed information of the local variability of the population and exemplifies how to reuse genomic data produced for other purposes to build a local reference database.

}, issn = {1479-7364}, doi = {10.1186/s40246-023-00466-8}, author = {L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Rold{\'a}n, Gema and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L and Bostelmann, Gerrit and Carmona, Rosario and Aquino, Virginia and Perez-Florido, Javier and Ortuno, Francisco and Pita, Guillermo and N{\'u}{\~n}ez-Torres, Roc{\'\i}o and Gonz{\'a}lez-Neira, Anna and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {796, title = {Defective extracellular matrix remodeling in brown adipose tissue is associated with fibro-inflammation and reduced diet-induced thermogenesis.}, journal = {Cell Rep}, volume = {42}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Jun 13}, pages = {112640}, abstract = {

The relevance of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling is reported in white adipose tissue (AT) and obesity-related dysfunctions, but little is known about the importance of ECM remodeling in brown AT (BAT) function. Here, we show that a time course of high-fat diet (HFD) feeding progressively impairs diet-induced thermogenesis concomitantly with the development of fibro-inflammation in BAT. Higher markers of fibro-inflammation are associated with lower cold-induced BAT activity in humans. Similarly, when mice are housed at thermoneutrality, inactivated BAT features fibro-inflammation. We validate the pathophysiological relevance of BAT ECM remodeling in response to temperature challenges and HFD using a model of a primary defect in the collagen turnover mediated by partial ablation of the Pepd prolidase. Pepd-heterozygous mice display exacerbated dysfunction and BAT fibro-inflammation at thermoneutrality and in HFD. Our findings show the relevance of ECM remodeling in BAT activation and provide a mechanism for BAT dysfunction in obesity.

}, issn = {2211-1247}, doi = {10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112640}, author = {Pellegrinelli, Vanessa and Figueroa-Ju{\'a}rez, Elizabeth and Samuelson, Isabella and U-Din, Mueez and Rodriguez-Fdez, Sonia and Virtue, Samuel and Leggat, Jennifer and Cubuk, Cankut and Peirce, Vivian J and Niemi, Tarja and Campbell, Mark and Rodriguez-Cuenca, Sergio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Carobbio, Stefania and Virtanen, Kirsi A and Vidal-Puig, Antonio} } @article {766, title = {Detection of High Level of Co-Infection and the Emergence of Novel SARS CoV-2 Delta-Omicron and Omicron-Omicron Recombinants in the Epidemiological Surveillance of Andalusia.}, journal = {Int J Mol Sci}, volume = {24}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Jan 26}, abstract = {

Recombination is an evolutionary strategy to quickly acquire new viral properties inherited from the parental lineages. The systematic survey of the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences of the Andalusian genomic surveillance strategy has allowed the detection of an unexpectedly high number of co-infections, which constitute the ideal scenario for the emergence of new recombinants. Whole genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 has been carried out as part of the genomic surveillance programme. Sample sources included the main hospitals in the Andalusia region. In addition to the increase of co-infections and known recombinants, three novel SARS-CoV-2 delta-omicron and omicron-omicron recombinant variants with two break points have been detected. Our observations document an epidemiological scenario in which co-infection and recombination are detected more frequently. Finally, we describe a family case in which co-infection is followed by the detection of a recombinant made from the two co-infecting variants. This increased number of recombinants raises the risk of emergence of recombinant variants with increased transmissibility and pathogenicity.

}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms24032419}, author = {Perez-Florido, Javier and Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Ortuno, Francisco and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L and Aguado, Andrea and Lara, Mar{\'\i}a and Riazzo, Cristina and Rodriguez-Iglesias, Manuel A and Camacho-Martinez, Pedro and Merino-Diaz, Laura and Pupo-Ledo, Inmaculada and de Salazar, Adolfo and Vi{\~n}uela, Laura and Fuentes, Ana and Chueca, Natalia and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and Dopazo, Joaquin and Lepe, Jose A} } @article {801, title = {Evaluation of a combined detection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants using real-time allele-specific PCR strategy: an advantage for clinical practice.}, journal = {Epidemiol Infect}, volume = {151}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Nov 24}, pages = {e201}, abstract = {

This study aimed to assess the ability of a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with multiple targets to detect SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in a single test. Nasopharyngeal specimens were collected from patients in Granada, Spain, between January 2021 and December 2022. Five allele-specific RT-PCR kits were used sequentially, with each kit designed to detect a predominant variant at the time. When the Alpha variant was dominant, the kit included the HV69/70 deletion, E and N genes. When Delta replaced Alpha, the kit incorporated the L452R mutation in addition to E and N genes. When Omicron became dominant, L452R was replaced with the N679K mutation. Before incorporating each variant kit, a comparative analysis was carried out with SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing (WGS). The results demonstrated that RT-PCR with multiple targets can provide rapid and effective detection of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in a single test. A very high degree of agreement (96.2\%) was obtained between the comparison of RT-PCR and WGS. Allele-specific RT-PCR assays make it easier to implement epidemiological surveillance systems for effective public health decision making.

}, keywords = {Alleles, COVID-19, COVID-19 Testing, Humans, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, SARS-CoV-2, Sensitivity and Specificity}, issn = {1469-4409}, doi = {10.1017/S095026882300184X}, author = {Chaves-Blanco, Luc{\'\i}a and de Salazar, Adolfo and Fuentes, Ana and Vi{\~n}uela, Laura and Perez-Florido, Javier and Dopazo, Joaquin and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico} } @article {767, title = {Metabolic reprogramming by Acly inhibition using SB-204990 alters glucoregulation and modulates molecular mechanisms associated with aging.}, journal = {Commun Biol}, volume = {6}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Mar 08}, pages = {250}, abstract = {

ATP-citrate lyase is a central integrator of cellular metabolism in the interface of protein, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism. The physiological consequences as well as the molecular mechanisms orchestrating the response to long-term pharmacologically induced Acly inhibition are unknown. We report here that the Acly inhibitor SB-204990 improves metabolic health and physical strength in wild-type mice when fed with a high-fat diet, while in mice fed with healthy diet results in metabolic imbalance and moderated insulin resistance. By applying a multiomic approach using untargeted metabolomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, we determined that, in vivo, SB-204990 plays a role in the regulation of molecular mechanisms associated with aging, such as energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, mTOR signaling, and folate cycle, while global alterations on histone acetylation are absent. Our findings indicate a mechanism for regulating molecular pathways of aging that prevents the development of metabolic abnormalities associated with unhealthy dieting. This strategy might be explored for devising therapeutic approaches to prevent metabolic diseases.

}, issn = {2399-3642}, doi = {10.1038/s42003-023-04625-4}, author = {Sola-Garc{\'\i}a, Alejandro and C{\'a}liz-Molina, Mar{\'\i}a {\'A}ngeles and Espadas, Isabel and Petr, Michael and Panadero-Mor{\'o}n, Concepci{\'o}n and Gonz{\'a}lez-Mor{\'a}n, Daniel and Mart{\'\i}n-V{\'a}zquez, Mar{\'\i}a Eugenia and Narbona-P{\'e}rez, {\'A}lvaro Jes{\'u}s and L{\'o}pez-Noriega, Livia and Mart{\'\i}nez-Corrales, Guillermo and L{\'o}pez-Fern{\'a}ndez-Sobrino, Ra{\'u}l and Carmona-Marin, Lina M and Mart{\'\i}nez-Force, Enrique and Yanes, Oscar and Vinaixa, Maria and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Reyes, Jos{\'e} Carlos and Dopazo, Joaquin and Mart{\'\i}n, Franz and Gauthier, Benoit R and Scheibye-Knudsen, Morten and Capilla-Gonz{\'a}lez, Vivian and Mart{\'\i}n-Montalvo, Alejandro} } @article {775, title = {microRNAs-mediated regulation of insulin signaling in white adipose tissue during aging: Role of caloric restriction.}, journal = {Aging Cell}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Jul 04}, pages = {e13919}, abstract = {

Caloric restriction is a non-pharmacological intervention known to ameliorate the metabolic defects associated with aging, including insulin resistance. The levels of miRNA expression may represent a predictive tool for aging-related alterations. In order to investigate the role of miRNAs underlying insulin resistance in adipose tissue during the early stages of aging, 3- and 12-month-old male animals fed ad libitum, and 12-month-old male animals fed with a 20\% caloric restricted diet were used. In this work we demonstrate that specific miRNAs may contribute to the impaired insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism specifically in the subcutaneous white adipose tissue, through the regulation of target genes implicated in the insulin signaling cascade. Moreover, the expression of these miRNAs is modified by caloric restriction in middle-aged animals, in accordance with the improvement of the metabolic state. Overall, our work demonstrates that alterations in posttranscriptional gene expression because of miRNAs dysregulation might represent an endogenous mechanism by which insulin response in the subcutaneous fat depot is already affected at middle age. Importantly, caloric restriction could prevent this modulation, demonstrating that certain miRNAs could constitute potential biomarkers of age-related metabolic alterations.

}, issn = {1474-9726}, doi = {10.1111/acel.13919}, author = {Corrales, Patricia and Martin-Taboada, Marina and Vivas-Garc{\'\i}a, Yurena and Torres, Lucia and Ramirez-Jimenez, Laura and Lopez, Yamila and Horrillo, Daniel and Vila-Bedmar, Rocio and Barber-Cano, Eloisa and Izquierdo-Lahuerta, Adriana and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Mart{\'\i}nez, Carmen and Dopazo, Joaquin and Ros, Manuel and Medina-Gomez, Gema} } @article {774, title = {Rapid degeneration of iPSC-derived motor neurons lacking Gdap1 engages a mitochondrial-sustained innate immune response.}, journal = {Cell Death Discov}, volume = {9}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Jul 01}, pages = {217}, abstract = {

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a chronic hereditary motor and sensory polyneuropathy targeting Schwann cells and/or motor neurons. Its multifactorial and polygenic origin portrays a complex clinical phenotype of the disease with a wide range of genetic inheritance patterns. The disease-associated gene GDAP1 encodes for a mitochondrial outer membrane protein. Mouse and insect models with mutations in Gdap1 have reproduced several traits of the human disease. However, the precise function in the cell types affected by the disease remains unknown. Here, we use induced-pluripotent stem cells derived from a Gdap1 knockout mouse model to better understand the molecular and cellular phenotypes of the disease caused by the loss-of-function of this gene. Gdap1-null motor neurons display a fragile cell phenotype prone to early degeneration showing (1) altered mitochondrial morphology, with an increase in the fragmentation of these organelles, (2) activation of autophagy and mitophagy, (3) abnormal metabolism, characterized by a downregulation of Hexokinase 2 and ATP5b proteins, (4) increased reactive oxygen species and elevated mitochondrial membrane potential, and (5) increased innate immune response and p38 MAP kinase activation. Our data reveals the existence of an underlying Redox-inflammatory axis fueled by altered mitochondrial metabolism in the absence of Gdap1. As this biochemical axis encompasses a wide variety of druggable targets, our results may have implications for developing therapies using combinatorial pharmacological approaches and improving therefore human welfare. A Redox-immune axis underlying motor neuron degeneration caused by the absence of Gdap1. Our results show that Gdap1 motor neurons have a fragile cellular phenotype that is prone to degeneration. Gdap1 iPSCs differentiated into motor neurons showed an altered metabolic state: decreased glycolysis and increased OXPHOS. These alterations may lead to hyperpolarization of mitochondria and increased ROS levels. Excessive amounts of ROS might be the cause of increased mitophagy, p38 activation and inflammation as a cellular response to oxidative stress. The p38 MAPK pathway and the immune response may, in turn, have feedback mechanisms, leading to the induction of apoptosis and senescence, respectively. CAC, citric acid cycle; ETC, electronic transport chain; Glc, glucose; Lac, lactate; Pyr, pyruvate.

}, issn = {2058-7716}, doi = {10.1038/s41420-023-01531-w}, author = {Le{\'o}n, Marian and Prieto, Javier and Molina-Navarro, Mar{\'\i}a Micaela and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Barneo-Mu{\~n}oz, Manuela and Ponsoda, Xavier and S{\'a}ez, Rosana and Palau, Francesc and Dopazo, Joaquin and Izpisua Belmonte, Juan Carlos and Torres, Josema} } @article {799, title = {Real-world evidence with a retrospective cohort of 15,968 COVID-19 hospitalized patients suggests 21 new effective treatments.}, journal = {Virol J}, volume = {20}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Oct 06}, pages = {226}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Despite the extensive vaccination campaigns in many countries, COVID-19 is still a major worldwide health problem because of its associated morbidity and mortality. Therefore, finding efficient treatments as fast as possible is a pressing need. Drug repurposing constitutes a convenient alternative when the need for new drugs in an unexpected medical scenario is urgent, as is the case with COVID-19.

METHODS: Using data from a central registry of electronic health records (the Andalusian Population Health Database), the effect of prior consumption of drugs for other indications previous to the hospitalization with respect to patient outcomes, including survival and lymphocyte progression, was studied on a retrospective cohort of 15,968 individuals, comprising all COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Andalusia between January and November 2020.

RESULTS: Covariate-adjusted hazard ratios and analysis of lymphocyte progression curves support a significant association between consumption of 21 different drugs and better patient survival. Contrarily, one drug, furosemide, displayed a significant increase in patient mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: In this study we have taken advantage of the availability of a regional clinical database to study the effect of drugs, which patients were taking for other indications, on their survival. The large size of the database allowed us to control covariates effectively.

}, issn = {1743-422X}, doi = {10.1186/s12985-023-02195-9}, author = {Loucera, Carlos and Carmona, Rosario and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Bostelmann, Gerrit and Mu{\~n}oyerro-Mu{\~n}iz, Dolores and Villegas, Rom{\'a}n and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {795, title = {Visualization of automatically combined disease maps and pathway diagrams for rare diseases.}, journal = {Front Bioinform}, volume = {3}, year = {2023}, month = {2023}, pages = {1101505}, abstract = {

Investigation of molecular mechanisms of human disorders, especially rare diseases, require exploration of various knowledge repositories for building precise hypotheses and complex data interpretation. Recently, increasingly more resources offer diagrammatic representation of such mechanisms, including disease-dedicated schematics in pathway databases and disease maps. However, collection of knowledge across them is challenging, especially for research projects with limited manpower. In this article we present an automated workflow for construction of maps of molecular mechanisms for rare diseases. The workflow requires a standardized definition of a disease using Orphanet or HPO identifiers to collect relevant genes and variants, and to assemble a functional, visual repository of related mechanisms, including data overlays. The diagrams composing the final map are unified to a common systems biology format from CellDesigner SBML, GPML and SBML+layout+render. The constructed resource contains disease-relevant genes and variants as data overlays for immediate visual exploration, including embedded genetic variant browser and protein structure viewer. We demonstrate the functionality of our workflow on two examples of rare diseases: Kawasaki disease and retinitis pigmentosa. Two maps are constructed based on their corresponding identifiers. Moreover, for the retinitis pigmentosa use-case, we include a list of differentially expressed genes to demonstrate how to tailor the workflow using omics datasets. In summary, our work allows for an ad-hoc construction of molecular diagrams combined from different sources, preserving their layout and graphical style, but integrating them into a single resource. This allows to reduce time consuming tasks of prototyping of a molecular disease map, enabling visual exploration, hypothesis building, data visualization and further refinement. The code of the workflow is open and accessible at https://gitlab.lcsb.uni.lu/minerva/automap/.

}, issn = {2673-7647}, doi = {10.3389/fbinf.2023.1101505}, author = {Gawron, Piotr and Hoksza, David and Pi{\~n}ero, Janet and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose Luis and Colonna, Vincenza and Smula, Ewa and Heirendt, Laurent and Ancien, Fran{\c c}ois and Grou{\`e}s, Valentin and Satagopam, Venkata P and Schneider, Reinhard and Dopazo, Joaquin and Furlong, Laura I and Ostaszewski, Marek} } @article {762, title = {Assessing the Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Lineages and Mutations on Patient Survival.}, journal = {Viruses}, volume = {14}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Aug 27}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 still remains a global public health problem. Successive waves of infection have produced new SARS-CoV-2 variants with new mutations for which the impact on COVID-19 severity and patient survival is uncertain.

METHODS: A total of 764 SARS-CoV-2 genomes, sequenced from COVID-19 patients, hospitalized from 19th February 2020 to 30 April 2021, along with their clinical data, were used for survival analysis.

RESULTS: A significant association of B.1.1.7, the alpha lineage, with patient mortality (log hazard ratio (LHR) = 0.51, C.I. = [0.14,0.88]) was found upon adjustment by all the covariates known to affect COVID-19 prognosis. Moreover, survival analysis of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome revealed 27 of them were significantly associated with higher mortality of patients. Most of these mutations were located in the genes coding for the S, ORF8, and N proteins.

CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates how a combination of genomic and clinical data can provide solid evidence for the impact of viral lineage on patient survival.

}, keywords = {COVID-19, Genome, Viral, Humans, mutation, Pandemics, Phylogeny, SARS-CoV-2}, issn = {1999-4915}, doi = {10.3390/v14091893}, author = {Loucera, Carlos and Perez-Florido, Javier and Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Ortuno, Francisco M and Carmona, Rosario and Bostelmann, Gerrit and Mart{\'\i}nez-Gonz{\'a}lez, L Javier and Mu{\~n}oyerro-Mu{\~n}iz, Dolores and Villegas, Rom{\'a}n and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Ba{\~n}o, Jes{\'u}s and Romero-G{\'o}mez, Manuel and Lorusso, Nicola and Garcia-Le{\'o}n, Javier and Navarro-Mar{\'\i}, Jose M and Camacho-Martinez, Pedro and Merino-Diaz, Laura and Salazar, Adolfo de and Vi{\~n}uela, Laura and Lepe, Jose A and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {750, title = {CIBERER: Spanish National Network for Research on Rare Diseases: a highly productive collaborative initiative.}, journal = {Clin Genet}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jan 20}, abstract = {

CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigaci{\'o}n Biom{\'e}dica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on Rare Diseases currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER{\textquoteright}s mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical and cellular research of rare diseases. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this paper, we intend to review CIBERER{\textquoteright}s 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions towards the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients{\textquoteright} associations and many other topics related to rare disease research. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

}, issn = {1399-0004}, doi = {10.1111/cge.14113}, author = {Luque, Juan and Mendes, Ingrid and G{\'o}mez, Beatriz and Morte, Beatriz and de Heredia, Miguel L{\'o}pez and Herreras, Enrique and Corrochano, Virginia and Bueren, Juan and Gallano, Pia and Artuch, Rafael and Fillat, Cristina and P{\'e}rez-Jurado, Luis A and Montoliu, Lluis and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Mill{\'a}n, Jos{\'e} M and Webb, Susan M and Palau, Francesc and Lapunzina, Pablo} } @article {751, title = {Discovering potential interactions between rare diseases and COVID-19 by combining mechanistic models of viral infection with statistical modeling.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jan 12}, abstract = {

Recent studies have demonstrated a relevant role of the host genetics in the COVID-19 prognosis. Most of the 7000 rare diseases described to date have a genetic component, typically highly penetrant. However, this vast spectrum of genetic variability remains yet unexplored with respect to possible interactions with COVID-19. Here, a mathematical mechanistic model of the COVID-19 molecular disease mechanism has been used to detect potential interactions between rare disease genes and the COVID-19 infection process and downstream consequences. Out of the 2518 disease genes analyzed, causative of 3854 rare diseases, a total of 254 genes have a direct effect on the COVID-19 molecular disease mechanism and 207 have an indirect effect revealed by a significant strong correlation. This remarkable potential of interaction occurs for more than 300 rare diseases. Mechanistic modeling of COVID-19 disease map has allowed a holistic systematic analysis of the potential interactions between the loss of function in known rare disease genes and the pathological consequences of COVID-19 infection. The results identify links between disease genes and COVID-19 hallmarks and demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach for future preventive measures in some rare diseases.

}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddac007}, author = {L{\'o}pez-S{\'a}nchez, Macarena and Loucera, Carlos and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {763, title = {Endoglin and MMP14 Contribute to Ewing Sarcoma Spreading by Modulation of Cell-Matrix Interactions.}, journal = {Int J Mol Sci}, volume = {23}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Aug 04}, abstract = {

Endoglin (ENG) is a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) marker typically expressed by active endothelium. This transmembrane glycoprotein is shed by matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14). Our previous work demonstrated potent preclinical activity of first-in-class anti-ENG antibody-drug conjugates as a nascent strategy to eradicate Ewing sarcoma (ES), a devastating rare bone/soft tissue cancer with a putative MSC origin. We also defined a correlation between ENG and MMP14 expression in ES. Herein, we show that ENG expression is significantly associated with a dismal prognosis in a large cohort of ES patients. Moreover, both ENG/MMP14 are frequently expressed in primary ES tumors and metastasis. To deepen in their functional relevance in ES, we conducted transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of in vitro ES models that unveiled a key role of ENG and MMP14 in cell mechano-transduction. Migration and adhesion assays confirmed that loss of ENG disrupts actin filament assembly and filopodia formation, with a concomitant effect on cell spreading. Furthermore, we observed that ENG regulates cell-matrix interaction through activation of focal adhesion signaling and protein kinase C expression. In turn, loss of MMP14 contributed to a more adhesive phenotype of ES cells by modulating the transcriptional extracellular matrix dynamics. Overall, these results suggest that ENG and MMP14 exert a significant role in mediating correct spreading machinery of ES cells, impacting the aggressiveness of the disease.

}, keywords = {Bone Neoplasms, Endoglin, Humans, Matrix Metalloproteinase 14, Proteomics, Receptors, Growth Factor, Sarcoma, Ewing, Signal Transduction}, issn = {1422-0067}, doi = {10.3390/ijms23158657}, author = {Puerto-Camacho, Pilar and Diaz-Martin, Juan and Olmedo-Pelayo, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Bolado-Carrancio, Alfonso and Salguero-Aranda, Carmen and Jord{\'a}n-P{\'e}rez, Carmen and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Alamo-Alvarez, Inmaculada and Delgado-Bellido, Daniel and Lobo-Selma, Laura and Dopazo, Joaquin and Sastre, Ana and Alonso, Javier and Gr{\"u}newald, Thomas G P and Bernabeu, Carmelo and Byron, Adam and Brunton, Valerie G and Amaral, Ana Teresa and de Alava, Enrique} } @article {754, title = {Incidence and Prevalence of Children{\textquoteright}s Diffuse Lung Disease in Spain.}, journal = {Arch Bronconeumol}, volume = {58}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jan}, pages = {22-29}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Children{\textquoteright}s diffuse lung disease, also known as children{\textquoteright}s Interstitial Lung Diseases (chILD), are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases with relevant morbidity and mortality, which diagnosis and classification are very complex. Epidemiological data are scarce. The aim of this study was to analyse incidence and prevalence of chILD in Spain.

METHODS: Multicentre observational prospective study in patients from 0 to 18 years of age with chILD to analyse its incidence and prevalence in Spain, based on data reported in 2018 and 2019.

RESULTS: A total of 381 cases with chILD were notified from 51 paediatric pulmonology units all over Spain, covering the 91.7\% of the paediatric population. The average incidence of chILD was 8.18 (CI 95\% 6.28-10.48) new cases/million of children per year. The average prevalence of chILD was 46.53 (CI 95\% 41.81-51.62) cases/million of children. The age group with the highest prevalence were children under 1 year of age. Different types of disorders were seen in children 2-18 years of age compared with children 0-2 years of age. Most frequent cases were: primary pulmonary interstitial glycogenosis in neonates (17/65), neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy in infants from 1 to 12 months (44/144), idiopathic pulmonary haemosiderosis in children from 1 to 5 years old (13/74), hypersensitivity pneumonitis in children from 5 to 10 years old (9/51), and scleroderma in older than 10 years old (8/47).

CONCLUSIONS: We found a higher incidence and prevalence of chILD than previously described probably due to greater understanding and increased clinician awareness of these rare diseases.

}, issn = {1579-2129}, doi = {10.1016/j.arbres.2021.06.001}, author = {Torrent-Vernetta, Alba and Gaboli, Mirella and Castillo-Corull{\'o}n, Silvia and Mond{\'e}jar-L{\'o}pez, Pedro and Sanz Santiago, Ver{\'o}nica and Costa-Colomer, Jordi and Osona, Borja and Torres-Borrego, Javier and de la Serna-Bl{\'a}zquez, Olga and Bell{\'o}n Alonso, Sara and Caro Aguilera, Pilar and Gimeno-D{\'\i}az de Atauri, {\'A}lvaro and Valenzuela Soria, Alfredo and Ayats, Roser and Martin de Vicente, Carlos and Velasco Gonz{\'a}lez, Valle and Moure Gonz{\'a}lez, Jos{\'e} Domingo and Canino Calder{\'\i}n, Elisa Mar{\'\i}a and Pastor-Vivero, Mar{\'\i}a Dolores and Villar {\'A}lvarez, Mar{\'\i}a {\'A}ngeles and Rovira-Amigo, Sandra and Iglesias Serrano, Ignacio and D{\'\i}ez Izquierdo, Ana and de Mir Messa, In{\'e}s and Gartner, Silvia and Navarro, Alexandra and Baz-Red{\'o}n, Noelia and Carmona, Rosario and Camats-Tarruella, N{\'u}ria and Fern{\'a}ndez-Cancio, M{\'o}nica and Rapp, Christina and Dopazo, Joaquin and Griese, Matthias and Moreno-Gald{\'o}, Antonio} } @article {760, title = {Novel genes and sex differences in COVID-19 severity.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jun 16}, abstract = {

Here we describe the results of a genome-wide study conducted in 11 939 COVID-19 positive cases with an extensive clinical information that were recruited from 34 hospitals across Spain (SCOURGE consortium). In sex-disaggregated genome-wide association studies for COVID-19 hospitalization, genome-wide significance (p < 5x10-8) was crossed for variants in 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci only among males (p =~1.3x10-22 and p =~8.1x10-12, respectively), and for variants in 9q21.32 near TLE1 only among females (p =~4.4x10-8). In a second phase, results were combined with an independent Spanish cohort (1598 COVID-19 cases and 1068 population controls), revealing in the overall analysis two novel risk loci in 9p13.3 and 19q13.12, with fine-mapping prioritized variants functionally associated with AQP3 (p =~2.7x10-8) and ARHGAP33 (p =~1.3x10-8), respectively. The meta-analysis of both phases with four European studies stratified by sex from the Host Genetics Initiative confirmed the association of the 3p21.31 and 21q22.11 loci predominantly in males and replicated a recently reported variant in 11p13 (ELF5, p = 4.1x10-8). Six of the COVID-19 HGI discovered loci were replicated and an HGI-based genetic risk score predicted the severity strata in SCOURGE. We also found more SNP-heritability and larger heritability differences by age (<60 or >= 60~years) among males than among females. Parallel genome-wide screening of inbreeding depression in SCOURGE also showed an effect of homozygosity in COVID-19 hospitalization and severity and this effect was stronger among older males. In summary, new candidate genes for COVID-19 severity and evidence supporting genetic disparities among sexes are provided.

}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddac132}, author = {Cruz, Raquel and Almeida, Silvia Diz-de and Heredia, Miguel L{\'o}pez and Quintela, In{\'e}s and Ceballos, Francisco C and Pita, Guillermo and Lorenzo-Salazar, Jos{\'e} M and Gonz{\'a}lez-Montelongo, Rafaela and Gago-Dom{\'\i}nguez, Manuela and Porras, Marta Sevilla and Casta{\~n}o, Jair Antonio Tenorio and Nevado, Juli{\'a}n and Aguado, Jose Mar{\'\i}a and Aguilar, Carlos and Aguilera-Albesa, Sergio and Almadana, Virginia and Almoguera, Berta and Alvarez, Nuria and Andreu-Bernabeu, {\'A}lvaro and Arana-Arri, Eunate and Arango, Celso and Arranz, Mar{\'\i}a J and Artiga, Maria-Jesus and Baptista-Rosas, Ra{\'u}l C and Barreda-S{\'a}nchez, Mar{\'\i}a and Belhassen-Garcia, Moncef and Bezerra, Joao F and Bezerra, Marcos A C and Boix-Palop, Luc{\'\i}a and Bri{\'o}n, Maria and Brugada, Ram{\'o}n and Bustos, Matilde and Calder{\'o}n, Enrique J and Carbonell, Cristina and Castano, Luis and Castelao, Jose E and Conde-Vicente, Rosa and Cordero-Lorenzana, M Lourdes and Cortes-Sanchez, Jose L and Corton, Marta and Darnaude, M Teresa and De Martino-Rodr{\'\i}guez, Alba and Campo-P{\'e}rez, Victor and Bustamante, Aranzazu Diaz and Dom{\'\i}nguez-Garrido, Elena and Luchessi, Andr{\'e} D and Eir{\'o}s, Roc{\'\i}o and Sanabria, Gladys Mercedes Estigarribia and Fari{\~n}as, Mar{\'\i}a Carmen and Fern{\'a}ndez-Robelo, Ux{\'\i}a and Fern{\'a}ndez-Rodr{\'\i}guez, Amanda and Fern{\'a}ndez-Villa, Tania and Gil-Fournier, Bel{\'e}n and G{\'o}mez-Arrue, Javier and {\'A}lvarez, Beatriz Gonz{\'a}lez and Quir{\'o}s, Fernan Gonzalez Bernaldo and Gonz{\'a}lez-Pe{\~n}as, Javier and Guti{\'e}rrez-Bautista, Juan F and Herrero, Mar{\'\i}a Jos{\'e} and Herrero-Gonzalez, Antonio and Jimenez-Sousa, Mar{\'\i}a A and Lattig, Mar{\'\i}a Claudia and Borja, Anabel Liger and Lopez-Rodriguez, Rosario and Mancebo, Esther and Mart{\'\i}n-L{\'o}pez, Caridad and Mart{\'\i}n, Vicente and Martinez-Nieto, Oscar and Martinez-Lopez, Iciar and Martinez-Resendez, Michel F and Martinez-Perez, {\'A}ngel and Mazzeu, Juliana A and Mac{\'\i}as, Eleuterio Merayo and Minguez, Pablo and Cuerda, Victor Moreno and Silbiger, Vivian N and Oliveira, Silviene F and Ortega-Paino, Eva and Parellada, Mara and Paz-Artal, Estela and Santos, Ney P C and P{\'e}rez-Matute, Patricia and Perez, Patricia and P{\'e}rez-Tom{\'a}s, M Elena and Perucho, Teresa and Pinsach-Abuin, Mel Lina and Pompa-Mera, Ericka N and Porras-Hurtado, Gloria L and Pujol, Aurora and Le{\'o}n, Soraya Ramiro and Resino, Salvador and Fernandes, Marianne R and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Ruiz, Emilio and Rodriguez-Artalejo, Fernando and Rodriguez-Garcia, Jos{\'e} A and Ruiz-Cabello, Francisco and Ruiz-Hornillos, Javier and Ryan, Pablo and Soria, Jos{\'e} Manuel and Souto, Juan Carlos and Tamayo, Eduardo and Tamayo-Velasco, Alvaro and Taracido-Fernandez, Juan Carlos and Teper, Alejandro and Torres-Tobar, Lilian and Urioste, Miguel and Valencia-Ramos, Juan and Y{\'a}{\~n}ez, Zuleima and Zarate, Ruth and Nakanishi, Tomoko and Pigazzini, Sara and Degenhardt, Frauke and Butler-Laporte, Guillaume and Maya-Miles, Douglas and Bujanda, Luis and Bouysran, Youssef and Palom, Adriana and Ellinghaus, David and Mart{\'\i}nez-Bueno, Manuel and Rolker, Selina and Amitrano, Sara and Roade, Luisa and Fava, Francesca and Spinner, Christoph D and Prati, Daniele and Bernardo, David and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and Darcis, Gilles and Fern{\'a}ndez-Cadenas, Israel and Holter, Jan Cato and Banales, Jesus M and Frithiof, Robert and Duga, Stefano and Asselta, Rosanna and Pereira, Alexandre C and Romero-G{\'o}mez, Manuel and Nafr{\'\i}a-Jim{\'e}nez, Beatriz and Hov, Johannes R and Migeotte, Isabelle and Renieri, Alessandra and Planas, Anna M and Ludwig, Kerstin U and Buti, Maria and Rahmouni, Souad and Alarc{\'o}n-Riquelme, Marta E and Schulte, Eva C and Franke, Andre and Karlsen, Tom H and Valenti, Luca and Zeberg, Hugo and Richards, Brent and Ganna, Andrea and Boada, Merc{\`e} and Rojas, Itziar and Ruiz, Agust{\'\i}n and S{\'a}nchez, Pascual and Real, Luis Miguel and Guill{\'e}n-Navarro, Encarna and Ayuso, Carmen and Gonz{\'a}lez-Neira, Anna and Riancho, Jos{\'e} A and Rojas-Martinez, Augusto and Flores, Carlos and Lapunzina, Pablo and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel} } @article {759, title = {Protein and functional isoform levels and genetic variants of the BAFF and APRIL pathway components in systemic lupus erythematosus.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {12}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jul 02}, pages = {11219}, abstract = {

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the prototype of an autoimmune disease. Belimumab, a monoclonal antibody targets BAFF, is the only biologic approved for SLE and active lupus nephritis. BAFF is a cytokine with a key-regulatory role in the B cell homeostasis, which acts by binding to three receptors: BAFF-R, TACI and BCMA. TACI and BCMA also bind APRIL. Many studies reported elevated soluble BAFF and APRIL levels in the sera of SLE patients, but other questions about the role of this system in the disease remain open. The study aimed to investigate the utility of the cytokine levels in serum and urine as biomarkers, the role of non-functional isoforms, and the association of gene variants with the disease. This case-control study includes a cohort (women, 18-60~years old) of 100 patients (48\% with nephritis) and 100 healthy controls. We used ELISA assays to measure the cytokine concentrations in serum (sBAFF and sAPRIL) and urine (uBAFF and uAPRIL); TaqMan Gene Expression Assays to quantify the relative mRNA expression of Ī”BAFF, Ī²APRIL, and ĪµAPRIL, and next-generation sequencing to genotype the cytokine (TNFSF13 and TNFSF13B) and receptor (TNFRSF13B, TNFRSF17 and TNFRSF13C) genes. The statistical tests used were: Kruskal-Wallis (qualitative variables), the Spearman Rho coefficient (correlations), the Chi-square and SKAT (association of common and rare genetic variants, respectively). As expected, sBAFF and sAPRIL levels were higher in patients than in controls (p <= 0.001) but found differences between patient subgroups. sBAFF and sAPRIL significantly correlated only in patients with nephritis (r = 0.67, p <= 0.001) and Ī²APRIL levels were lower in patients with nephritis (p = 0.04), and Ī”BAFF levels were lower in patients with dsDNA antibodies (p = 0.04). Rare variants of TNFSF13 and TNFRSF13B and TNFSF13 p.Gly67Arg and TNFRSF13B p.Val220Ala were associated with SLE. Our study supports differences among SLE patient subgroups with diverse clinical features in the BAFF/APRIL pathway. In addition, it suggests the involvement of genetic variants in the susceptibility to the disease.

}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-022-15549-0}, author = {Ortiz-Aljaro, Pilar and Montes-Cano, Marco Antonio and Garc{\'\i}a-Lozano, Jos{\'e}-Ra{\'u}l and Aquino, Virginia and Carmona, Rosario and Perez-Florido, Javier and Garc{\'\i}a-Hern{\'a}ndez, Francisco Jos{\'e} and Dopazo, Joaquin and Gonz{\'a}lez-Escribano, Mar{\'\i}a Francisca} } @article {765, title = {An SPM-Enriched Marine Oil Supplement Shifted Microglia Polarization toward M2, Ameliorating Retinal Degeneration in Mice.}, journal = {Antioxidants (Basel)}, volume = {12}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Dec 30}, abstract = {

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is the most common inherited retinal dystrophy causing progressive vision loss. It is accompanied by chronic and sustained inflammation, including M1 microglia activation. This study evaluated the effect of an essential fatty acid (EFA) supplement containing specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs), on retinal degeneration and microglia activation in mice, a model of RP, as well as on LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. The EFA supplement was orally administered to mice from postnatal day (P)9 to P18. At P18, the electrical activity of the retina was examined by electroretinography (ERG) and innate behavior in response to light were measured. Retinal degeneration was studied via histology including the TUNEL assay and microglia immunolabeling. Microglia polarization (M1/M2) was assessed by flow cytometry, qPCR, ELISA and histology. Redox status was analyzed by measuring antioxidant enzymes and markers of oxidative damage. Interestingly, the EFA supplement ameliorated retinal dysfunction and degeneration by improving ERG recording and sensitivity to light, and reducing photoreceptor cell loss. The EFA supplement reduced inflammation and microglia activation attenuating M1 markers as well as inducing a shift to the M2 phenotype in mouse retinas and LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. It also reduced oxidative stress markers of lipid peroxidation and carbonylation. These findings could open up new therapeutic opportunities based on resolving inflammation with oral supplementation with SPMs such as the EFA supplement.

}, issn = {2076-3921}, doi = {10.3390/antiox12010098}, author = {Olivares-Gonz{\'a}lez, Lorena and Velasco, Sheyla and Gallego, Idoia and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Puras, Gustavo and Loucera, Carlos and Mart{\'\i}nez-Romero, Alicia and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Pedraz, Jos{\'e} Luis and Rodrigo, Regina} } @article {752, title = {Towards a metagenomics machine learning interpretable model for understanding the transition from adenoma to colorectal cancer.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {12}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jan 10}, pages = {450}, abstract = {

Gut microbiome is gaining interest because of its links with several diseases, including colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as the possibility of being used to obtain non-intrusive predictive disease biomarkers. Here we performed a meta-analysis of 1042 fecal metagenomic samples from seven publicly available studies. We used an interpretable machine learning approach based on functional profiles, instead of the conventional taxonomic profiles, to produce a highly accurate predictor of CRC with better precision than those of previous proposals. Moreover, this approach is also able to discriminate samples with adenoma, which makes this approach very promising for CRC prevention by detecting early stages in which intervention is easier and more effective. In addition, interpretable machine learning methods allow extracting features relevant for the classification, which reveals basic molecular mechanisms accounting for the changes undergone by the microbiome functional landscape in the transition from healthy gut to adenoma and CRC conditions. Functional profiles have demonstrated superior accuracy in predicting CRC and adenoma conditions than taxonomic profiles and additionally, in a context of explainable machine learning, provide useful hints on the molecular mechanisms operating in the microbiota behind these conditions.

}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-04182-y}, author = {Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Loucera, Carlos and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {726, title = {A comprehensive database for integrated analysis of omics data in autoimmune diseases.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {22}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Jun 24}, pages = {343}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Autoimmune diseases are heterogeneous pathologies with difficult diagnosis and few therapeutic options. In the last decade, several omics studies have provided significant insights into the molecular mechanisms of these diseases. Nevertheless, data from different cohorts and pathologies are stored independently in public repositories and a unified resource is imperative to assist researchers in this field.

RESULTS: Here, we present Autoimmune Diseases Explorer ( https://adex.genyo.es ), a database that integrates 82 curated transcriptomics and methylation studies covering 5609 samples for some of the most common autoimmune diseases. The database provides, in an easy-to-use environment, advanced data analysis and statistical methods for exploring omics datasets, including meta-analysis, differential expression or pathway analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first omics database focused on autoimmune diseases. This resource incorporates homogeneously processed data to facilitate integrative analyses among studies.

}, keywords = {Autoimmune Diseases, Computational Biology, Databases, Factual, Humans}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-021-04268-4}, author = {Martorell-Marug{\'a}n, Jordi and L{\'o}pez-Dom{\'\i}nguez, Ra{\'u}l and Garc{\'\i}a-Moreno, Adri{\'a}n and Toro-Dom{\'\i}nguez, Daniel and Villatoro-Garc{\'\i}a, Juan Antonio and Barturen, Guillermo and Mart{\'\i}n-G{\'o}mez, Adoraci{\'o}n and Troule, Kevin and G{\'o}mez-L{\'o}pez, Gonzalo and Al-Shahrour, F{\'a}tima and Gonz{\'a}lez-Rumayor, V{\'\i}ctor and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio and Alarc{\'o}n-Riquelme, Marta E and Carmona-S{\'a}ez, Pedro} } @article {736, title = {COVID19 Disease Map, a computational knowledge repository of virus-host interaction mechanisms.}, journal = {Mol Syst Biol}, volume = {17}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 10}, pages = {e10387}, abstract = {

We need to effectively combine the knowledge from surging literature with complex datasets to propose mechanistic models of SARS-CoV-2 infection, improving data interpretation and predicting key targets of intervention. Here, we describe a large-scale community effort to build an open access, interoperable and computable repository of COVID-19 molecular mechanisms. The COVID-19 Disease Map (C19DMap) is a graphical, interactive representation of disease-relevant molecular mechanisms linking many knowledge sources. Notably, it is a computational resource for graph-based analyses and disease modelling. To this end, we established a framework of tools, platforms and guidelines necessary for a multifaceted community of biocurators, domain experts, bioinformaticians and computational biologists. The diagrams of the C19DMap, curated from the literature, are integrated with relevant interaction and text mining databases. We demonstrate the application of network analysis and modelling approaches by concrete examples to highlight new testable hypotheses. This framework helps to find signatures of SARS-CoV-2 predisposition, treatment response or prioritisation of drug candidates. Such an approach may help deal with new waves of COVID-19 or similar pandemics in the long-term perspective.

}, keywords = {Antiviral Agents, Computational Biology, Computer Graphics, COVID-19, Cytokines, Data Mining, Databases, Factual, Gene Expression Regulation, Host Microbial Interactions, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Immunity, Humoral, Immunity, Innate, Lymphocytes, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Myeloid Cells, Protein Interaction Mapping, SARS-CoV-2, Signal Transduction, Software, Transcription Factors, Viral Proteins}, issn = {1744-4292}, doi = {10.15252/msb.202110387}, author = {Ostaszewski, Marek and Niarakis, Anna and Mazein, Alexander and Kuperstein, Inna and Phair, Robert and Orta-Resendiz, Aurelio and Singh, Vidisha and Aghamiri, Sara Sadat and Acencio, Marcio Luis and Glaab, Enrico and Ruepp, Andreas and Fobo, Gisela and Montrone, Corinna and Brauner, Barbara and Frishman, Goar and Monraz G{\'o}mez, Luis Crist{\'o}bal and Somers, Julia and Hoch, Matti and Kumar Gupta, Shailendra and Scheel, Julia and Borlinghaus, Hanna and Czauderna, Tobias and Schreiber, Falk and Montagud, Arnau and Ponce de Leon, Miguel and Funahashi, Akira and Hiki, Yusuke and Hiroi, Noriko and Yamada, Takahiro G and Dr{\"a}ger, Andreas and Renz, Alina and Naveez, Muhammad and Bocskei, Zsolt and Messina, Francesco and B{\"o}rnigen, Daniela and Fergusson, Liam and Conti, Marta and Rameil, Marius and Nakonecnij, Vanessa and Vanhoefer, Jakob and Schmiester, Leonard and Wang, Muying and Ackerman, Emily E and Shoemaker, Jason E and Zucker, Jeremy and Oxford, Kristie and Teuton, Jeremy and Kocakaya, Ebru and Summak, G{\"o}k{\c c}e Ya{\u g}mur and Hanspers, Kristina and Kutmon, Martina and Coort, Susan and Eijssen, Lars and Ehrhart, Friederike and Rex, Devasahayam Arokia Balaya and Slenter, Denise and Martens, Marvin and Pham, Nhung and Haw, Robin and Jassal, Bijay and Matthews, Lisa and Orlic-Milacic, Marija and Senff Ribeiro, Andrea and Rothfels, Karen and Shamovsky, Veronica and Stephan, Ralf and Sevilla, Cristoffer and Varusai, Thawfeek and Ravel, Jean-Marie and Fraser, Rupsha and Ortseifen, Vera and Marchesi, Silvia and Gawron, Piotr and Smula, Ewa and Heirendt, Laurent and Satagopam, Venkata and Wu, Guanming and Riutta, Anders and Golebiewski, Martin and Owen, Stuart and Goble, Carole and Hu, Xiaoming and Overall, Rupert W and Maier, Dieter and Bauch, Angela and Gyori, Benjamin M and Bachman, John A and Vega, Carlos and Grou{\`e}s, Valentin and Vazquez, Miguel and Porras, Pablo and Licata, Luana and Iannuccelli, Marta and Sacco, Francesca and Nesterova, Anastasia and Yuryev, Anton and de Waard, Anita and Turei, Denes and Luna, Augustin and Babur, Ozgun and Soliman, Sylvain and Valdeolivas, Alberto and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Rian, Kinza and Helikar, Tom{\'a}{\v s} and Puniya, Bhanwar Lal and Modos, Dezso and Treveil, Agatha and Olbei, Marton and De Meulder, Bertrand and Ballereau, Stephane and Dugourd, Aur{\'e}lien and Naldi, Aur{\'e}lien and No{\"e}l, Vincent and Calzone, Laurence and Sander, Chris and Demir, Emek and Korcsmaros, Tamas and Freeman, Tom C and Aug{\'e}, Franck and Beckmann, Jacques S and Hasenauer, Jan and Wolkenhauer, Olaf and Wilighagen, Egon L and Pico, Alexander R and Evelo, Chris T and Gillespie, Marc E and Stein, Lincoln D and Hermjakob, Henning and D{\textquoteright}Eustachio, Peter and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Valencia, Alfonso and Kitano, Hiroaki and Barillot, Emmanuel and Auffray, Charles and Balling, Rudi and Schneider, Reinhard} } @article {701, title = {CSVS, a crowdsourcing database of the Spanish population genetic variability.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {49}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 01 08}, pages = {D1130-D1137}, abstract = {

The knowledge of the genetic variability of the local population is of utmost importance in personalized medicine and has been revealed as a critical factor for the discovery of new disease variants. Here, we present the Collaborative Spanish Variability Server (CSVS), which currently contains more than 2000 genomes and exomes of unrelated Spanish individuals. This database has been generated in a collaborative crowdsourcing effort collecting sequencing data produced by local genomic projects and for other purposes. Sequences have been grouped by ICD10 upper categories. A web interface allows querying the database removing one or more ICD10 categories. In this way, aggregated counts of allele frequencies of the pseudo-control Spanish population can be obtained for diseases belonging to the category removed. Interestingly, in addition to pseudo-control studies, some population studies can be made, as, for example, prevalence of pharmacogenomic variants, etc. In addition, this genomic data has been used to define the first Spanish Genome Reference Panel (SGRP1.0) for imputation. This is the first local repository of variability entirely produced by a crowdsourcing effort and constitutes an example for future initiatives to characterize local variability worldwide. CSVS is also part of the GA4GH Beacon network. CSVS can be accessed at: http://csvs.babelomics.org/.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Chromosome Mapping, Crowdsourcing, Databases, Genetic, Exome, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genetics, Population, Genome, Human, Genomics, Humans, Internet, Precision Medicine, Software, Spain}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkaa794}, author = {Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Rold{\'a}n, Gema and Perez-Florido, Javier and Ortuno, Francisco M and Carmona, Rosario and Aquino, Virginia and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Loucera, Carlos and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L and Gallego, Asunci{\'o}n and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Gonz{\'a}lez-Neira, Anna and Pita, Guillermo and N{\'u}{\~n}ez-Torres, Roc{\'\i}o and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier and Ayuso, Carmen and Minguez, Pablo and Avila-Fernandez, Almudena and Corton, Marta and Moreno-Pelayo, Miguel {\'A}ngel and Morin, Mat{\'\i}as and Gallego-Martinez, Alvaro and Lopez-Escamez, Jose A and Borrego, Salud and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo and Amigo, Jorge and Salgado-Garrido, Josefa and Pasalodos-Sanchez, Sara and Morte, Beatriz and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Alonso, {\'A}ngel and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {731, title = {De novo small deletion affecting transcription start site of short isoform of AUTS2 gene in a patient with syndromic neurodevelopmental defects.}, journal = {Am J Med Genet A}, volume = {185}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 03}, pages = {877-883}, abstract = {

Disruption of the autism susceptibility candidate 2 (AUTS2) gene through genomic rearrangements, copy number variations (CNVs), and intragenic deletions and mutations, has been recurrently involved in syndromic forms of developmental delay and intellectual disability, known as AUTS2 syndrome. The AUTS2 gene plays an important role in regulation of neuronal migration, and when altered, associates with a variable phenotype from severely to mildly affected patients. The more severe phenotypes significantly correlate with the presence of defects affecting the C-terminus part of the gene. This article reports a new patient with a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder, who presents a deletion of 30 nucleotides in the exon 9 of the AUTS2 gene. Importantly, this deletion includes the transcription start site for the AUTS2 short transcript isoform, which has an important role in brain development. Gene expression analysis of AUTS2 full-length and short isoforms revealed that the deletion found in this patient causes a remarkable reduction in the expression level, not only of the short isoform, but also of the full AUTS2 transcripts. This report adds more evidence for the role of mutated AUTS2 short transcripts in the development of a severe phenotype in the AUTS2 syndrome.

}, keywords = {Child, Preschool, Cytoskeletal Proteins, Dwarfism, Exons, Gene Expression Regulation, Genetic Association Studies, Humans, Male, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Protein Isoforms, RNA, Messenger, Sequence Deletion, Syndrome, Transcription Factors, Transcription Initiation Site, Transcription, Genetic}, issn = {1552-4833}, doi = {10.1002/ajmg.a.62017}, author = {Martinez-Delgado, Beatriz and Lopez-Martin, Estrella and Lara-Herguedas, Juli{\'a}n and Monzon, Sara and Cuesta, Isabel and Juli{\'a}, Miguel and Aquino, Virginia and Rodriguez-Martin, Carlos and Damian, Alejandra and Gonzalo, Irene and Gomez-Mariano, Gema and Baladron, Beatriz and Cazorla, Rosario and Iglesias, Gema and Roman, Enriqueta and Ros, Purificacion and Tutor, Pablo and Mellor, Susana and Jimenez, Carlos and Cabrejas, Maria Jose and Gonzalez-Vioque, Emiliano and Alonso, Javier and Bermejo-S{\'a}nchez, Eva and Posada, Manuel} } @article {720, title = {A DNA damage repair gene-associated signature predicts responses of patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcoma to treatment with trabectedin.}, journal = {Mol Oncol}, volume = {15}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 12}, pages = {3691-3705}, abstract = {

Predictive biomarkers of trabectedin represent an unmet need in advanced soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). DNA damage repair (DDR) genes, involved in homologous recombination or nucleotide excision repair, had been previously described as biomarkers of trabectedin resistance or sensitivity, respectively. The majority of these studies only focused on specific factors (ERCC1, ERCC5, and BRCA1) and did not evaluate several other DDR-related genes that could have a relevant role for trabectedin efficacy. In this retrospective translational study, 118 genes involved in DDR were evaluated to determine, by transcriptomics, a predictive gene signature of trabectedin efficacy. A six-gene predictive signature of trabectedin efficacy was built in a series of 139 tumor samples from patients with advanced STS. Patients in the high-risk gene signature group showed a significantly worse progression-free survival compared with patients in the low-risk group (2.1 vs 6.0 months, respectively). Differential gene expression analysis defined new potential predictive biomarkers of trabectedin sensitivity (PARP3 and CCNH) or resistance (DNAJB11 and PARP1). Our study identified a new gene signature that significantly predicts patients with higher probability to respond to treatment with trabectedin. Targeting some genes of this signature emerges as a potential strategy to enhance trabectedin efficacy.

}, issn = {1878-0261}, doi = {10.1002/1878-0261.12996}, author = {Moura, David S and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Cordero Varela, Juan Antonio and Alvarez-Alegret, Ramiro and Agra-Pujol, Carolina and Izquierdo, Francisco and Ramos, Rafael and Ortega-Medina, Luis and Martin-Davila, Francisco and Castilla-Ramirez, Carolina and Hernandez-Leon, Carmen Nieves and Romagosa, Cleofe and Vaz Salgado, Maria Angeles and Lavernia, Javier and Bagu{\'e}, Silvia and Mayodormo-Aranda, Empar and Vicioso, Luis and Hern{\'a}ndez Barcel{\'o}, Jose Emilio and Rubio-Casadevall, Jordi and de Juan, Ana and Fia{\~n}o-Valverde, Maria Concepcion and Hindi, Nadia and Lopez-Alvarez, Maria and Lacerenza, Serena and Dopazo, Joaquin and Gutierrez, Antonio and Alvarez, Rosa and Valverde, Claudia and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Martin-Broto, Javier} } @article {728, title = {DOME: recommendations for supervised machine learning validation in biology.}, journal = {Nat Methods}, volume = {18}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 10}, pages = {1122-1127}, keywords = {Algorithms, Computational Biology, Guidelines as Topic, Humans, Models, Biological, Research Design, Supervised Machine Learning}, issn = {1548-7105}, doi = {10.1038/s41592-021-01205-4}, author = {Walsh, Ian and Fishman, Dmytro and Garcia-Gasulla, Dario and Titma, Tiina and Pollastri, Gianluca and Harrow, Jennifer and Psomopoulos, Fotis E and Tosatto, Silvio C E} } @article {724, title = {Genome-scale mechanistic modeling of signaling pathways made easy: A bioconductor/cytoscape/web server framework for the analysis of omic data}, journal = {Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal}, volume = {19}, year = {2021}, month = {Jan-01-2021}, pages = {2968 - 2978}, issn = {20010370}, doi = {10.1016/j.csbj.2021.05.022}, url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2001037021002038}, author = {Rian, Kinza and Hidalgo, Marta R. and Cubuk, Cankut and Falco, Matias M. and Loucera, Carlos and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Alamo-Alvarez, Inmaculada and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {744, title = {Highly accurate whole-genome imputation of SARS-CoV-2 from partial or low-quality sequences.}, journal = {Gigascience}, volume = {10}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 12 02}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has emphasized the utility of viral whole-genome sequencing in the surveillance and control of the pathogen. An unprecedented ongoing global initiative is producing hundreds of thousands of sequences worldwide. However, the complex circumstances in which viruses are sequenced, along with the demand of urgent results, causes a high rate of incomplete and, therefore, useless sequences. Viral sequences evolve in the context of a complex phylogeny and different positions along the genome are in linkage disequilibrium. Therefore, an imputation method would be able to predict missing positions from the available sequencing data.

RESULTS: We have developed the impuSARS application, which takes advantage of the enormous number of SARS-CoV-2 genomes available, using a reference panel containing 239,301 sequences, to produce missing data imputation in viral genomes. ImpuSARS was tested in a wide range of conditions (continuous fragments, amplicons or sparse individual positions missing), showing great fidelity when reconstructing the original sequences, recovering the lineage with a 100\% precision for almost all the lineages, even in very poorly covered genomes (<20\%).

CONCLUSIONS: Imputation can improve the pace of SARS-CoV-2 sequencing production by recovering many incomplete or low-quality sequences that would be otherwise discarded. ImpuSARS can be incorporated in any primary data processing pipeline for SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing.

}, keywords = {Genome, Viral, Phylogeny, SARS-CoV-2, Whole Genome Sequencing}, issn = {2047-217X}, doi = {10.1093/gigascience/giab078}, author = {Ortuno, Francisco M and Loucera, Carlos and Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Lepe, Jose A and Camacho Martinez, Pedro and Merino Diaz, Laura and de Salazar, Adolfo and Chueca, Natalia and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and Perez-Florido, Javier and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {761, title = {Immunotherapy in nonsmall-cell lung cancer: current status and future prospects for liquid biopsy.}, journal = {Cancer Immunol Immunother}, volume = {70}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 May}, pages = {1177-1188}, abstract = {

Immunotherapy has been one of the great advances in the recent years for the treatment of advanced tumors, with nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) being one of the cancers that has benefited most from this approach. Currently, the only validated companion diagnostic test for first-line immunotherapy in metastatic NSCLC patients is testing for programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in tumor tissues. However, not all patients experience an effective response with the established selection criteria and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Liquid biopsy offers a noninvasive opportunity to monitor disease in patients with cancer and identify those who would benefit the most from immunotherapy. This review focuses on the use of liquid biopsy in immunotherapy treatment of NSCLC patients. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and exosomes are promising tools for developing new biomarkers. We discuss the current application and future implementation of these parameters to improve therapeutic decision-making and identify the patients who will benefit most from immunotherapy.

}, keywords = {Animals, Biomarkers, Tumor, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Cell-Free Nucleic Acids, Exosomes, Humans, Immunotherapy, Liquid Biopsy, Lung Neoplasms}, issn = {1432-0851}, doi = {10.1007/s00262-020-02752-z}, author = {Brozos-V{\'a}zquez, Elena Mar{\'\i}a and D{\'\i}az-Pe{\~n}a, Roberto and Garc{\'\i}a-Gonz{\'a}lez, Jorge and Le{\'o}n-Mateos, Luis and Mondelo-Mac{\'\i}a, Patricia and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Rafael} } @article {725, title = {Implementing Personalized Medicine in COVID-19 in Andalusia: An Opportunity to Transform the Healthcare System.}, journal = {J Pers Med}, volume = {11}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 May 26}, abstract = {

The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented opportunity to exploit the advantages of personalized medicine for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, surveillance and management of a new challenge in public health. COVID-19 infection is highly variable, ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe, life-threatening manifestations. Personalized medicine can play a key role in elucidating individual susceptibility to the infection as well as inter-individual variability in clinical course, prognosis and response to treatment. Integrating personalized medicine into clinical practice can also transform health care by enabling the design of preventive and therapeutic strategies tailored to individual profiles, improving the detection of outbreaks or defining transmission patterns at an increasingly local level. SARS-CoV2 genome sequencing, together with the assessment of specific patient genetic variants, will support clinical decision-makers and ultimately better ways to fight this disease. Additionally, it would facilitate a better stratification and selection of patients for clinical trials, thus increasing the likelihood of obtaining positive results. Lastly, defining a national strategy to implement in clinical practice all available tools of personalized medicine in COVID-19 could be challenging but linked to a positive transformation of the health care system. In this review, we provide an update of the achievements, promises, and challenges of personalized medicine in the fight against COVID-19 from susceptibility to natural history and response to therapy, as well as from surveillance to control measures and vaccination. We also discuss strategies to facilitate the adoption of this new paradigm for medical and public health measures during and after the pandemic in health care systems.

}, issn = {2075-4426}, doi = {10.3390/jpm11060475}, author = {Dopazo, Joaquin and Maya-Miles, Douglas and Garc{\'\i}a, Federico and Lorusso, Nicola and Calleja, Miguel {\'A}ngel and Pareja, Mar{\'\i}a Jes{\'u}s and L{\'o}pez-Miranda, Jos{\'e} and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Ba{\~n}o, Jes{\'u}s and Padillo, Javier and T{\'u}nez, Isaac and Romero-G{\'o}mez, Manuel} } @article {711, title = {Mechanistic modeling of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map.}, journal = {BioData Min}, volume = {14}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Jan 21}, pages = {5}, abstract = {

Here we present a web interface that implements a comprehensive mechanistic model of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map. In this framework, the detailed activity of the human signaling circuits related to the viral infection, covering from the entry and replication mechanisms to the downstream consequences as inflammation and antigenic response, can be inferred from gene expression experiments. Moreover, the effect of potential interventions, such as knock-downs, or drug effects (currently the system models the effect of more than 8000 DrugBank drugs) can be studied. This freely available tool not only provides an unprecedentedly detailed view of the mechanisms of viral invasion and the consequences in the cell but has also the potential of becoming an invaluable asset in the search for efficient antiviral treatments.

}, issn = {1756-0381}, doi = {10.1186/s13040-021-00234-1}, author = {Rian, Kinza and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Hidalgo, Marta R and Cubuk, Cankut and Falco, Matias M and Loucera, Carlos and Gunyel, Devrim and Ostaszewski, Marek and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {741, title = {Mutational Characterization of Cutaneous Melanoma Supports Divergent Pathways Model for Melanoma Development.}, journal = {Cancers (Basel)}, volume = {13}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Oct 18}, abstract = {

According to the divergent pathway model, cutaneous melanoma comprises a nevogenic group with a propensity to melanocyte proliferation and another one associated with cumulative solar damage (CSD). While characterized clinically and epidemiologically, the differences in the molecular profiles between the groups have remained primarily uninvestigated. This study has used a custom gene panel and bioinformatics tools to investigate the potential molecular differences in a thoroughly characterized cohort of 119 melanoma patients belonging to nevogenic and CSD groups. We found that the nevogenic melanomas had a restricted set of mutations, with the prominently mutated gene being . The CSD melanomas, in contrast, showed mutations in a diverse group of genes that included , , , and . We thus provide evidence that nevogenic and CSD melanomas constitute different biological entities and highlight the need to explore new targeted therapies.

}, issn = {2072-6694}, doi = {10.3390/cancers13205219}, author = {Mill{\'a}n-Esteban, David and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Garc{\'\i}a-Casado, Zaida and Manrique-Silva, Esperanza and Requena, Celia and Ba{\~n}uls, Jos{\'e} and Lopez-Guerrero, Jose Antonio and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Hern{\'a}ndez, Aranzazu and Traves, V{\'\i}ctor and Dopazo, Joaquin and Vir{\'o}s, Amaya and Kumar, Rajiv and Nagore, Eduardo} } @article {714, title = {The NCI Genomic Data Commons}, journal = {Nature Genetics}, year = {2021}, month = {Oct-02-2022}, issn = {1061-4036}, doi = {10.1038/s41588-021-00791-5}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-021-00791-5}, author = {Heath, Allison P. and Ferretti, Vincent and Agrawal, Stuti and An, Maksim and Angelakos, James C. and Arya, Renuka and Bajari, Rosita and Baqar, Bilal and Barnowski, Justin H. B. and Burt, Jeffrey and Catton, Ann and Chan, Brandon F. and Chu, Fay and Cullion, Kim and Davidsen, Tanja and Do, Phuong-My and Dompierre, Christian and Ferguson, Martin L. and Fitzsimons, Michael S. and Ford, Michael and Fukuma, Miyuki and Gaheen, Sharon and Ganji, Gajanan L. and Garcia, Tzintzuni I. and George, Sameera S. and Gerhard, Daniela S. and Gerthoffert, Francois and Gomez, Fauzi and Han, Kang and Hernandez, Kyle M. and Issac, Biju and Jackson, Richard and Jensen, Mark A. and Joshi, Sid and Kadam, Ajinkya and Khurana, Aishmit and Kim, Kyle M. J. and Kraft, Victoria E. and Li, Shenglai and Lichtenberg, Tara M. and Lodato, Janice and Lolla, Laxmi and Martinov, Plamen and Mazzone, Jeffrey A. and Miller, Daniel P. and Miller, Ian and Miller, Joshua S. and Miyauchi, Koji and Murphy, Mark W. and Nullet, Thomas and Ogwara, Rowland O. and Ortu{\~n}o, Francisco M. and Pedrosa, Jes{\'u}s and Pham, Phuong L. and Popov, Maxim Y. and Porter, James J. and Powell, Raymond and Rademacher, Karl and Reid, Colin P. and Rich, Samantha and Rogel, Bessie and Sahni, Himanso and Savage, Jeremiah H. and Schmitt, Kyle A. and Simmons, Trevar J. and Sislow, Joseph and Spring, Jonathan and Stein, Lincoln and Sullivan, Sean and Tang, Yajing and Thiagarajan, Mathangi and Troyer, Heather D. and Wang, Chang and Wang, Zhining and West, Bedford L. and Wilmer, Alex and Wilson, Shane and Wu, Kaman and Wysocki, William P. and Xiang, Linda and Yamada, Joseph T. and Yang, Liming and Yu, Christine and Yung, Christina K. and Zenklusen, Jean Claude and Zhang, Junjun and Zhang, Zhenyu and Zhao, Yuanheng and Zubair, Ariz and Staudt, Louis M. and Grossman, Robert L.} } @article {723, title = {Phylogenetic Analysis of the 2020 West Nile Virus (WNV) Outbreak in Andalusia (Spain)}, journal = {Viruses}, volume = {13}, year = {2021}, month = {Jan-05-2021}, pages = {836}, doi = {10.3390/v13050836}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/5/836 }, author = {Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S. and Perez-Florido, Javier and Fernandez-Rueda, Jose L. and Pedrosa-Corral, Irene and Guillot-Sulay, Vicente and Lorusso, Nicola and Martinez-Gonzalez, Luis Javier and Navarro-Mar{\'\i}, Jose M. and Dopazo, Joaquin and Sanbonmatsu-G{\'a}mez, Sara} } @article {732, title = {Presenilin-1 Mutations Are a Cause of Primary Lateral Sclerosis-Like Syndrome.}, journal = {Front Mol Neurosci}, volume = {14}, year = {2021}, month = {2021}, pages = {721047}, abstract = {

Background and Purpose: Primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) is a progressive upper motor neuron (UMN) disorder. It is debated whether PLS is part of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) spectrum, or a syndrome encompassing different neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, new diagnostic criteria for PLS have been proposed. We describe four patients of two pedigrees, meeting definite PLS criteria and harboring two different mutations in presenilin 1 ().

Methods: Patients underwent neurological and neuropsychological examination, MRI, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), amyloid-related biomarkers, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) testing.

Results: Four patients, aged 25-45 years old, presented with a progressive UMN syndrome meeting clinical criteria of definite PLS. Cognitive symptoms and signs were mild or absent during the first year of the disease but appeared or progressed later in the disease course. Brain MRI showed microbleeds in two siblings, but iron-related hypointensities in the motor cortex were absent. Brain FDG-PET showed variable areas of hypometabolism, including the motor cortex and frontotemporal lobes. Amyloid deposition was confirmed with either cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or imaging biomarkers. Two heterozygous likely pathogenic mutations in (p.Pro88Leu and p.Leu166Pro) were found in the NGS testing.

Conclusion: Clinically defined PLS is a syndrome encompassing different neurodegenerative diseases. The NGS testing should be part of the diagnostic workup in patients with PLS, at least in those with red flags, such as early-onset, cognitive impairment, and/or family history of neurodegenerative diseases.

}, issn = {1662-5099}, doi = {10.3389/fnmol.2021.721047}, author = {V{\'a}zquez-Costa, Juan Francisco and Pay{\'a}-Montes, Mar{\'\i}a and Mart{\'\i}nez-Molina, Marina and Jaijo, Teresa and Szymanski, Jazek and Maz{\'o}n, Miguel and Sopena-Novales, Pablo and P{\'e}rez-Tur, Jordi and Sevilla, Teresa} } @article {745, title = {Real world evidence of calcifediol or vitamin D prescription and mortality rate of COVID-19 in a retrospective cohort of hospitalized Andalusian patients.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {11}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 12 03}, pages = {23380}, abstract = {

COVID-19 is a major worldwide health problem because of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and mortality. Several lines of evidence have suggested a relationship between the vitamin D endocrine system and severity of COVID-19. We present a survival study on a retrospective cohort of 15,968 patients, comprising all COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Andalusia between January and November 2020. Based on a central registry of electronic health records (the Andalusian Population Health Database, BPS), prescription of vitamin D or its metabolites within 15-30~days before hospitalization were recorded. The effect of prescription of vitamin D (metabolites) for other indication previous to the hospitalization was studied with respect to patient survival. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and hazard ratios support an association between prescription of these metabolites and patient survival. Such association was stronger for calcifediol (Hazard Ratio, HR = 0.67, with 95\% confidence interval, CI, of [0.50-0.91]) than for cholecalciferol (HR = 0.75, with 95\% CI of [0.61-0.91]), when prescribed 15~days prior hospitalization. Although the relation is maintained, there is a general decrease of this effect when a longer period of 30~days prior hospitalization is considered (calcifediol HR = 0.73, with 95\% CI [0.57-0.95] and cholecalciferol HR = 0.88, with 95\% CI [0.75, 1.03]), suggesting that association was stronger when the prescription was closer to the hospitalization.

}, keywords = {Calcifediol, COVID-19, Female, Humans, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Male, Retrospective Studies, Spain, Survival Analysis, Vitamin D}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-021-02701-5}, author = {Loucera, Carlos and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Mu{\~n}oyerro-Mu{\~n}iz, Dolores and Villegas, Rom{\'a}n and L{\'o}pez-Miranda, Jos{\'e} and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Ba{\~n}o, Jes{\'u}s and T{\'u}nez, Isaac and Bouillon, Roger and Dopazo, Joaquin and Quesada Gomez, Jose Manuel} } @article {742, title = {Reporting guidelines for human microbiome research: the STORMS checklist.}, journal = {Nat Med}, volume = {27}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 11}, pages = {1885-1892}, abstract = {

The particularly interdisciplinary nature of human microbiome research makes the organization and reporting of results spanning epidemiology, biology, bioinformatics, translational medicine and statistics a challenge. Commonly used reporting guidelines for observational or genetic epidemiology studies lack key features specific to microbiome studies. Therefore, a multidisciplinary group of microbiome epidemiology researchers adapted guidelines for observational and genetic studies to culture-independent human microbiome studies, and also developed new reporting elements for laboratory, bioinformatics and statistical analyses tailored to microbiome studies. The resulting tool, called {\textquoteright}Strengthening The Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies{\textquoteright} (STORMS), is composed of a 17-item checklist organized into six sections that correspond to the typical sections of a scientific publication, presented as an editable table for inclusion in supplementary materials. The STORMS checklist provides guidance for concise and complete reporting of microbiome studies that will facilitate manuscript preparation, peer review, and reader comprehension of publications and comparative analysis of published results.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, Dysbiosis, Humans, Microbiota, Observational Studies as Topic, Research Design, Translational Science, Biomedical}, issn = {1546-170X}, doi = {10.1038/s41591-021-01552-x}, author = {Mirzayi, Chloe and Renson, Audrey and Zohra, Fatima and Elsafoury, Shaimaa and Geistlinger, Ludwig and Kasselman, Lora J and Eckenrode, Kelly and van de Wijgert, Janneke and Loughman, Amy and Marques, Francine Z and MacIntyre, David A and Arumugam, Manimozhiyan and Azhar, Rimsha and Beghini, Francesco and Bergstrom, Kirk and Bhatt, Ami and Bisanz, Jordan E and Braun, Jonathan and Bravo, Hector Corrada and Buck, Gregory A and Bushman, Frederic and Casero, David and Clarke, Gerard and Collado, Maria Carmen and Cotter, Paul D and Cryan, John F and Demmer, Ryan T and Devkota, Suzanne and Elinav, Eran and Escobar, Juan S and Fettweis, Jennifer and Finn, Robert D and Fodor, Anthony A and Forslund, Sofia and Franke, Andre and Furlanello, Cesare and Gilbert, Jack and Grice, Elizabeth and Haibe-Kains, Benjamin and Handley, Scott and Herd, Pamela and Holmes, Susan and Jacobs, Jonathan P and Karstens, Lisa and Knight, Rob and Knights, Dan and Koren, Omry and Kwon, Douglas S and Langille, Morgan and Lindsay, Brianna and McGovern, Dermot and McHardy, Alice C and McWeeney, Shannon and Mueller, Noel T and Nezi, Luigi and Olm, Matthew and Palm, Noah and Pasolli, Edoardo and Raes, Jeroen and Redinbo, Matthew R and R{\"u}hlemann, Malte and Balfour Sartor, R and Schloss, Patrick D and Schriml, Lynn and Segal, Eran and Shardell, Michelle and Sharpton, Thomas and Smirnova, Ekaterina and Sokol, Harry and Sonnenburg, Justin L and Srinivasan, Sujatha and Thingholm, Louise B and Turnbaugh, Peter J and Upadhyay, Vaibhav and Walls, Ramona L and Wilmes, Paul and Yamada, Takuji and Zeller, Georg and Zhang, Mingyu and Zhao, Ni and Zhao, Liping and Bao, Wenjun and Culhane, Aedin and Devanarayan, Viswanath and Dopazo, Joaquin and Fan, Xiaohui and Fischer, Matthias and Jones, Wendell and Kusko, Rebecca and Mason, Christopher E and Mercer, Tim R and Sansone, Susanna-Assunta and Scherer, Andreas and Shi, Leming and Thakkar, Shraddha and Tong, Weida and Wolfinger, Russ and Hunter, Christopher and Segata, Nicola and Huttenhower, Curtis and Dowd, Jennifer B and Jones, Heidi E and Waldron, Levi} } @article {722, title = {Schuurs{\textendash}Hoeijmakers Syndrome (PACS1 Neurodevelopmental Disorder): Seven Novel Patients and a Review}, journal = {Genes}, volume = {12}, year = {2021}, month = {Jan-05-2021}, pages = {738}, doi = {10.3390/genes12050738}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/5/738https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/5/738/pdf}, author = {Tenorio-Casta{\~n}o, Jair and Morte, Beatriz and Nevado, Juli{\'a}n and Mart{\'\i}nez-Glez, V{\'\i}ctor and Santos-Simarro, Fernando and Garc{\'\i}a-Mi{\~n}aur, Sixto and Palomares-Bralo, Mar{\'\i}a and Pacio-M{\'\i}guez, Marta and G{\'o}mez, Beatriz and Arias, Pedro and Alcochea, Alba and Carri{\'o}n, Juan and Arias, Patricia and Almoguera, Berta and L{\'o}pez-Grondona, Fermina and Lorda-Sanchez, Isabel and Gal{\'a}n-G{\'o}mez, Enrique and Valenzuela, Irene and M{\'e}ndez Perez, Mar{\'\i}a and Cusc{\'o}, Iv{\'o}n and Barros, Francisco and Pi{\'e}, Juan and Ramos, Sergio and Ramos, Feliciano and Kuechler, Alma and Tizzano, Eduardo and Ayuso, Carmen and Kaiser, Frank and P{\'e}rez-Jurado, Luis and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Lapunzina, Pablo} } @article {719, title = {Taxonomic variations in the gut microbiome of gout patients with and without tophi might have a functional impact on urate metabolism.}, journal = {Mol Med}, volume = {27}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 05 24}, pages = {50}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the taxonomic composition of the gut microbiome in gout patients with and without tophi formation, and predict bacterial functions that might have an impact on urate metabolism.

METHODS: Hypervariable V3-V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from fecal samples of gout patients with and without tophi (n = 33 and n = 25, respectively) were sequenced and compared to fecal samples from 53 healthy controls. We explored predictive functional profiles using bioinformatics in order to identify differences in taxonomy and metabolic pathways.

RESULTS: We identified a microbiome characterized by the lowest richness and a higher abundance of Phascolarctobacterium, Bacteroides, Akkermansia, and Ruminococcus_gnavus_group genera in patients with gout without tophi when compared to controls. The Proteobacteria phylum and the Escherichia-Shigella genus were more abundant in patients with tophaceous gout than in controls. Fold change analysis detected nine genera enriched in healthy controls compared to gout groups (Bifidobacterium, Butyricicoccus, Oscillobacter, Ruminococcaceae_UCG_010, Lachnospiraceae_ND2007_group, Haemophilus, Ruminococcus_1, Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, and Ruminococcaceae_UGC_013). We found that the core microbiota of both gout groups shared Bacteroides caccae, Bacteroides stercoris ATCC 43183, and Bacteroides coprocola DSM 17136. These bacteria might perform functions linked to one-carbon metabolism, nucleotide binding, amino acid biosynthesis, and purine biosynthesis. Finally, we observed differences in key bacterial enzymes involved in urate synthesis, degradation, and elimination.

CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed that taxonomic variations in the gut microbiome of gout patients with and without tophi might have a functional impact on urate metabolism.

}, keywords = {Biodiversity, Computational Biology, Dysbiosis, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Gout, Humans, Metagenome, metagenomics, Protein Interaction Mapping, Protein Interaction Maps, Uric Acid}, issn = {1528-3658}, doi = {10.1186/s10020-021-00311-5}, author = {M{\'e}ndez-Salazar, Eder Orlando and V{\'a}zquez-Mellado, Janitzia and Casimiro-Soriguer, Carlos S and Dopazo, Joaquin and Cubuk, Cankut and Zamudio-Cuevas, Yessica and Francisco-Balderas, Adriana and Mart{\'\i}nez-Flores, Karina and Fern{\'a}ndez-Torres, Javier and Lozada-P{\'e}rez, Carlos and Pineda, Carlos and S{\'a}nchez-Gonz{\'a}lez, Austreberto and Silveira, Luis H and Burguete-Garc{\'\i}a, Ana I and Orbe-Orihuela, Citlalli and Lagunas-Mart{\'\i}nez, Alfredo and Vazquez-Gomez, Alonso and L{\'o}pez-Reyes, Alberto and Palacios-Gonz{\'a}lez, Berenice and Mart{\'\i}nez-Nava, Gabriela Ang{\'e}lica} } @article {712, title = {A versatile workflow to integrate RNA-seq genomic and transcriptomic data into mechanistic models of signaling pathways.}, journal = {PLoS Comput Biol}, volume = {17}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 02}, pages = {e1008748}, abstract = {

MIGNON is a workflow for the analysis of RNA-Seq experiments, which not only efficiently manages the estimation of gene expression levels from raw sequencing reads, but also calls genomic variants present in the transcripts analyzed. Moreover, this is the first workflow that provides a framework for the integration of transcriptomic and genomic data based on a mechanistic model of signaling pathway activities that allows a detailed biological interpretation of the results, including a comprehensive functional profiling of cell activity. MIGNON covers the whole process, from reads to signaling circuit activity estimations, using state-of-the-art tools, it is easy to use and it is deployable in different computational environments, allowing an optimized use of the resources available.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Cell Line, Tumor, Computational Biology, Databases, Factual, Gene Expression Profiling, Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Models, Theoretical, mutation, RNA-seq, Signal Transduction, Software, Transcriptome, whole exome sequencing, Workflow}, issn = {1553-7358}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008748}, author = {Garrido-Rodriguez, Mart{\'\i}n and L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Ortuno, Francisco M and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Mu{\~n}oz, Eduardo and Calzado, Marco A and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {611, title = {Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the ubxn6 gene with long-term non-progression phenotype in HIV-positive individuals.}, journal = {Clin Microbiol Infect}, volume = {26}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Jan}, pages = {107-114}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: The long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) are a heterogeneous group of HIV-positive individuals characterized by their ability to maintain high CD4 T-cell counts and partially control viral replication for years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy. The present study aims to identify host single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with non-progression in a cohort of 352 individuals.

METHODS: DNA microarrays and exome sequencing were used for genotyping about 240~000 functional polymorphisms throughout more than 20~000 human genes. The allele frequencies of 85 LTNPs were compared with a control population. SNPs associated with LTNPs were confirmed in a population of typical progressors. Functional analyses in the affected gene were carried out through knockdown experiments in HeLa-P4, macrophages and dendritic cells.

RESULTS: Several SNPs located within the major histocompatibility complex region previously related to LTNPs were confirmed in this new cohort. The SNP rs1127888 (UBXN6) surpassed the statistical significance of these markers after Bonferroni correction (q~=~2.11~{\texttimes}~10). An uncommon allelic frequency of rs1127888 among LTNPs was confirmed by comparison with typical progressors and other publicly available populations. UBXN6 knockdown experiments caused an increase in CAV1 expression and its accumulation in the plasma membrane. In~vitro infection of different cell types with HIV-1 replication-competent recombinant viruses caused a reduction of the viral replication capacity compared with their corresponding wild-type cells expressing UBXN6.

CONCLUSIONS: A higher prevalence of Ala31Thr in UBXN6 was found among LTNPs within its N-terminal region, which is crucial for UBXN6/VCP protein complex formation. UBXN6 knockdown affected CAV1 turnover and HIV-1 replication capacity.

}, keywords = {Adaptor Proteins, Vesicular Transport, Autophagy-Related Proteins, Caveolin 1, Cohort Studies, Dendritic Cells, Disease Progression, Gene Frequency, Gene Knockdown Techniques, Genetic Association Studies, HeLa Cells, HIV Infections, HIV Long-Term Survivors, HIV-1, Humans, Macrophages, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, whole exome sequencing}, issn = {1469-0691}, doi = {10.1016/j.cmi.2019.05.015}, author = {D{\'\i}ez-Fuertes, F and De La Torre-Tarazona, H E and Calonge, E and Pernas, M and Bermejo, M and Garc{\'\i}a-P{\'e}rez, J and {\'A}lvarez, A and Capa, L and Garc{\'\i}a-Garc{\'\i}a, F and Saumoy, M and Riera, M and Boland-Auge, A and L{\'o}pez-Gal{\'\i}ndez, C and Lathrop, M and Dopazo, J and Sakuntabhai, A and Alcam{\'\i}, J} } @article {696, title = {Community Assessment of the Predictability of Cancer Protein and Phosphoprotein Levels from Genomics and Transcriptomics.}, journal = {Cell Syst}, volume = {11}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 08 26}, pages = {186-195.e9}, abstract = {

Cancer is driven by genomic alterations, but the processes causing this disease are largely performed by proteins. However, proteins are harder and more expensive to measure than genes and transcripts. To catalyze developments of methods to infer protein levels from other omics measurements, we leveraged crowdsourcing via the NCI-CPTAC DREAM proteogenomic challenge. We asked for methods to predict protein and phosphorylation levels from genomic and transcriptomic data in cancer patients. The best performance was achieved by an ensemble of models, including as predictors transcript level of the corresponding genes, interaction between genes, conservation across tumor types, and phosphosite proximity for phosphorylation prediction. Proteins from metabolic pathways and complexes were the best and worst predicted, respectively. The performance of even the best-performing model was modest, suggesting that many proteins are strongly regulated through translational control and degradation. Our results set a reference for the limitations of computational inference in proteogenomics. A record of this paper{\textquoteright}s transparent peer review process is included in the Supplemental Information.

}, keywords = {Crowdsourcing, Female, Genomics, Humans, Machine Learning, Male, Neoplasms, Phosphoproteins, Proteins, Proteomics, Transcriptome}, issn = {2405-4720}, doi = {10.1016/j.cels.2020.06.013}, author = {Yang, Mi and Petralia, Francesca and Li, Zhi and Li, Hongyang and Ma, Weiping and Song, Xiaoyu and Kim, Sunkyu and Lee, Heewon and Yu, Han and Lee, Bora and Bae, Seohui and Heo, Eunji and Kaczmarczyk, Jan and St{\k e}pniak, Piotr and Warcho{\l}, Micha{\l} and Yu, Thomas and Calinawan, Anna P and Boutros, Paul C and Payne, Samuel H and Reva, Boris and Boja, Emily and Rodriguez, Henry and Stolovitzky, Gustavo and Guan, Yuanfang and Kang, Jaewoo and Wang, Pei and Feny{\"o}, David and Saez-Rodriguez, Julio} } @article {689, title = {COVID-19 Disease Map, building a computational repository of SARS-CoV-2 virus-host interaction mechanisms.}, journal = {Sci Data}, volume = {7}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 05 05}, pages = {136}, keywords = {Betacoronavirus, Computational Biology, Coronavirus Infections, COVID-19, Databases, Factual, Host Microbial Interactions, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Humans, International Cooperation, Models, Biological, Pandemics, Pneumonia, Viral, SARS-CoV-2}, issn = {2052-4463}, doi = {10.1038/s41597-020-0477-8}, author = {Ostaszewski, Marek and Mazein, Alexander and Gillespie, Marc E and Kuperstein, Inna and Niarakis, Anna and Hermjakob, Henning and Pico, Alexander R and Willighagen, Egon L and Evelo, Chris T and Hasenauer, Jan and Schreiber, Falk and Dr{\"a}ger, Andreas and Demir, Emek and Wolkenhauer, Olaf and Furlong, Laura I and Barillot, Emmanuel and Dopazo, Joaquin and Orta-Resendiz, Aurelio and Messina, Francesco and Valencia, Alfonso and Funahashi, Akira and Kitano, Hiroaki and Auffray, Charles and Balling, Rudi and Schneider, Reinhard} } @article {713, title = {Drug repurposing for COVID-19 using machine learning and mechanistic models of signal transduction circuits related to SARS-CoV-2 infection.}, journal = {Signal Transduct Target Ther}, volume = {5}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12 11}, pages = {290}, keywords = {Computational Chemistry, COVID-19, drug repositioning, Humans, Machine Learning, Molecular Docking Simulation, Molecular Targeted Therapy, Proteins, SARS-CoV-2, Signal Transduction}, issn = {2059-3635}, doi = {10.1038/s41392-020-00417-y}, author = {Loucera, Carlos and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Rian, Kinza and Falco, Matias M and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria} } @article {729, title = {The ELIXIR Human Copy Number Variations Community: building bioinformatics infrastructure for research.}, journal = {F1000Res}, volume = {9}, year = {2020}, month = {2020}, chapter = {1229}, abstract = {

Copy number variations (CNVs) are major causative contributors both in the genesis of genetic diseases and human neoplasias. While "High-Throughput" sequencing technologies are increasingly becoming the primary choice for genomic screening analysis, their ability to efficiently detect CNVs is still heterogeneous and remains to be developed. The aim of this white paper is to provide a guiding framework for the future contributions of ELIXIR{\textquoteright}s recently established with implications beyond human disease diagnostics and population genomics. This white paper is the direct result of a strategy meeting that took place in September 2018 in Hinxton (UK) and involved representatives of 11 ELIXIR Nodes. The meeting led to the definition of priority objectives and tasks, to address a wide range of CNV-related challenges ranging from detection and interpretation to sharing and training. Here, we provide suggestions on how to align these tasks within the ELIXIR Platforms strategy, and on how to frame the activities of this new ELIXIR Community in the international context.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, DNA Copy Number Variations, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans}, issn = {2046-1402}, doi = {10.12688/f1000research.24887.1}, author = {Salgado, David and Armean, Irina M and Baudis, Michael and Beltran, Sergi and Capella-Gut{\'\i}errez, Salvador and Carvalho-Silva, Denise and Dominguez Del Angel, Victoria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Furlong, Laura I and Gao, Bo and Garcia, Leyla and Gerloff, Dietlind and Gut, Ivo and Gyenesei, Attila and Habermann, Nina and Hancock, John M and Hanauer, Marc and Hovig, Eivind and Johansson, Lennart F and Keane, Thomas and Korbel, Jan and Lauer, Katharina B and Laurie, Steve and Lesko{\v s}ek, Brane and Lloyd, David and Marqu{\'e}s-Bonet, Tom{\'a}s and Mei, Hailiang and Monostory, Katalin and Pi{\~n}ero, Janet and Poterlowicz, Krzysztof and Rath, Ana and Samarakoon, Pubudu and Sanz, Ferran and Saunders, Gary and Sie, Daoud and Swertz, Morris A and Tsukanov, Kirill and Valencia, Alfonso and Vidak, Marko and Yenyxe Gonz{\'a}lez, Cristina and Ylstra, Bauke and B{\'e}roud, Christophe} } @article {693, title = {Immune Cell Associations with Cancer Risk.}, journal = {iScience}, volume = {23}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Jul 24}, pages = {101296}, abstract = {

Proper immune system function hinders cancer development, but little is known about whether genetic variants linked to cancer risk alter immune cells. Here, we report 57 cancer risk loci associated with differences in immune and/or stromal cell contents in the corresponding tissue. Predicted target genes show expression and regulatory associations with immune features. Polygenic risk scores also reveal associations with immune and/or stromal cell contents, and breast cancer scores show consistent results in normal and tumor tissue. SH2B3 links peripheral alterations of several immune cell types to the risk of this malignancy. Pleiotropic SH2B3 variants are associated with breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. A retrospective case-cohort study indicates a positive association between blood counts of basophils, leukocytes, and monocytes and age at breast cancer diagnosis. These findings broaden our knowledge of the role of the immune system in cancer and highlight promising prevention strategies for individuals at high risk.

}, issn = {2589-0042}, doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2020.101296}, author = {Palomero, Luis and Galv{\'a}n-Femen{\'\i}a, Ivan and de Cid, Rafael and Esp{\'\i}n, Roderic and Barnes, Daniel R and Blommaert, Eline and Gil-Gil, Miguel and Falo, Catalina and Stradella, Agostina and Ouchi, Dan and Roso-Llorach, Albert and Violan, Concepci{\'o} and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Extremera, Ana Isabel and Garc{\'\i}a-Valero, Mar and Herranz, Carmen and Mateo, Francesca and Mereu, Elisabetta and Beesley, Jonathan and Chenevix-Trench, Georgia and Roux, Cecilia and Mak, Tak and Brunet, Joan and Hakem, Razq and Gorrini, Chiara and Antoniou, Antonis C and L{\'a}zaro, Conxi and Pujana, Miquel Angel} } @article {702, title = {Mechanistic models of signaling pathways deconvolute the glioblastoma single-cell functional landscapeAbstract}, journal = {NAR Cancer}, volume = {2}, year = {2020}, month = {Jan-06-2020}, doi = {10.1093/narcan/zcaa011}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/narcancer/article/doi/10.1093/narcan/zcaa011/5862620http://academic.oup.com/narcancer/article-pdf/2/2/zcaa011/33428092/zcaa011.pdfhttp://academic.oup.com/narcancer/article-pdf/2/2/zcaa011/33428092/zcaa011.pdf}, author = {Falco, Matias M and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Loucera, Carlos and Hidalgo, Marta R and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {695, title = {Mechanistic Models of Signaling Pathways Reveal the Drug Action Mechanisms behind Gender-Specific Gene Expression for Cancer Treatments.}, journal = {Cells}, volume = {9}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 06 29}, abstract = {

Despite the existence of differences in gene expression across numerous genes between males and females having been known for a long time, these have been mostly ignored in many studies, including drug development and its therapeutic use. In fact, the consequences of such differences over the disease mechanisms or the drug action mechanisms are completely unknown. Here we applied mechanistic mathematical models of signaling activity to reveal the ultimate functional consequences that gender-specific gene expression activities have over cell functionality and fate. Moreover, we also used the mechanistic modeling framework to simulate the drug interventions and unravel how drug action mechanisms are affected by gender-specific differential gene expression. Interestingly, some cancers have many biological processes significantly affected by these gender-specific differences (e.g., bladder or head and neck carcinomas), while others (e.g., glioblastoma or rectum cancer) are almost insensitive to them. We found that many of these gender-specific differences affect cancer-specific pathways or in physiological signaling pathways, also involved in cancer origin and development. Finally, mechanistic models have the potential to be used for finding alternative therapeutic interventions on the pathways targeted by the drug, which lead to similar results compensating the downstream consequences of gender-specific differences in gene expression.

}, keywords = {Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Male, Neoplasms, Signal Transduction}, issn = {2073-4409}, doi = {10.3390/cells9071579}, author = {Cubuk, Cankut and Can, Fatma E and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {707, title = {Nivolumab and sunitinib combination in advanced soft tissue sarcomas: a multicenter, single-arm, phase Ib/II trial.}, journal = {J Immunother Cancer}, volume = {8}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 11}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Sarcomas exhibit low expression of factors related to immune response, which could explain the modest activity of PD-1 inhibitors. A potential strategy to convert a cold into an inflamed microenvironment lies on a combination therapy. As tumor angiogenesis promotes immunosuppression, we designed a phase Ib/II trial to test the double inhibition of angiogenesis (sunitinib) and PD-1/PD-L1 axis (nivolumab).

METHODS: This single-arm, phase Ib/II trial enrolled adult patients with selected subtypes of sarcoma. Phase Ib established two dose levels: level 0 with sunitinib 37.5 mg daily from day 1, plus nivolumab 3 mg/kg intravenously on day 15, and then every 2 weeks; and level -1 with sunitinib 37.5 mg on the first 14 days (induction) and then 25 mg per day plus nivolumab on the same schedule. The primary endpoint was to determine the recommended dose for phase II (phase I) and the 6-month progression-free survival rate, according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors 1.1 (phase II).

RESULTS: From May 2017 to April 2019, 68 patients were enrolled: 16 in phase Ib and 52 in phase II. The recommended dose of sunitinib for phase II was 37.5 mg as induction and then 25 mg in combination with nivolumab. After a median follow-up of 17 months (4-26), the 6-month progression-free survival rate was 48\% (95\% CI 41\% to 55\%). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events included transaminitis (17.3\%) and neutropenia (11.5\%).

CONCLUSIONS: Sunitinib plus nivolumab is an active scheme with manageable toxicity in the treatment of selected patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, with almost half of patients free of progression at 6 months. NCT03277924.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nivolumab, Sarcoma, Sunitinib, Young Adult}, issn = {2051-1426}, doi = {10.1136/jitc-2020-001561}, author = {Martin-Broto, Javier and Hindi, Nadia and Grignani, Giovanni and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Redondo, Andres and Valverde, Claudia and Stacchiotti, Silvia and Lopez-Pousa, Antonio and D{\textquoteright}Ambrosio, Lorenzo and Gutierrez, Antonio and Perez-Vega, Herminia and Encinas-Tobajas, Victor and de Alava, Enrique and Collini, Paola and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Dopazo, Joaquin and Carrasco-Garcia, Irene and Lopez-Alvarez, Maria and Moura, David S and Lopez-Martin, Jose A} } @article {665, title = {Optimised molecular genetic diagnostics of Fanconi anaemia by whole exome sequencing and functional studies.}, journal = {J Med Genet}, volume = {57}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 04}, pages = {258-268}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Patients with Fanconi anaemia (FA), a rare DNA repair genetic disease, exhibit chromosome fragility, bone marrow failure, malformations and cancer susceptibility. FA molecular diagnosis is challenging since FA is caused by point mutations and large deletions in 22 genes following three heritability patterns. To optimise FA patients{\textquoteright} characterisation, we developed a simplified but effective methodology based on whole exome sequencing (WES) and functional studies.

METHODS: 68 patients with FA were analysed by commercial WES services. Copy number variations were evaluated by sequencing data analysis with RStudio. To test missense variants, wt FANCA cDNA was cloned and variants were introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. Vectors were then tested for their ability to complement DNA repair defects of a FANCA-KO human cell line generated by TALEN technologies.

RESULTS: We identified 93.3\% of mutated alleles including large deletions. We determined the pathogenicity of three FANCA missense variants and demonstrated that two variants reported in mutations databases as {\textquoteright}affecting functions{\textquoteright} are SNPs. Deep analysis of sequencing data revealed patients{\textquoteright} true mutations, highlighting the importance of functional analysis. In one patient, no pathogenic variant could be identified in any of the 22 known FA genes, and in seven patients, only one deleterious variant could be identified (three patients each with FANCA and FANCD2 and one patient with FANCE mutations) CONCLUSION: WES and proper bioinformatics analysis are sufficient to effectively characterise patients with FA regardless of the rarity of their complementation group, type of mutations, mosaic condition and DNA source.

}, keywords = {Cell Line, DNA Copy Number Variations, DNA Repair, DNA-Binding Proteins, Fanconi Anemia, Fanconi Anemia Complementation Group A Protein, Female, Gene Knockout Techniques, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Male, Mutation, Missense, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, whole exome sequencing}, issn = {1468-6244}, doi = {10.1136/jmedgenet-2019-106249}, author = {Bogliolo, Massimo and Pujol, Roser and Aza-Carmona, Miriam and Mu{\~n}oz-Subirana, N{\'u}ria and Rodriguez-Santiago, Benjamin and Casado, Jos{\'e} Antonio and Rio, Paula and Bauser, Christopher and Reina-Castill{\'o}n, Judith and Lopez-Sanchez, Marcos and Gonzalez-Quereda, Lidia and Gallano, Pia and Catal{\'a}, Albert and Ruiz-Llobet, Ana and Badell, Isabel and Diaz-Heredia, Cristina and Hladun, Raquel and Senent, Leonort and Argiles, Bienvenida and Bergua Burgues, Juan Miguel and Ba{\~n}ez, Fatima and Arrizabalaga, Beatriz and L{\'o}pez Almaraz, Ricardo and Lopez, Monica and Figuera, {\'A}ngela and Molin{\'e}s, Antonio and P{\'e}rez de Soto, Inmaculada and Hernando, In{\'e}s and Mu{\~n}oz, Juan Antonio and Del Rosario Marin, Maria and Balma{\~n}a, Judith and Stjepanovic, Neda and Carrasco, Estela and Cuesta, Isabel and Cosuelo, Jos{\'e} Miguel and Regueiro, Alexandra and Moraleda Jimenez, Jos{\'e} and Galera-Mi{\~n}arro, Ana Maria and Rosi{\~n}ol, Laura and Carri{\'o}, Anna and Bel{\'e}ndez-Bieler, Cristina and Escudero Soto, Antonio and Cela, Elena and de la Mata, Gregorio and Fern{\'a}ndez-Delgado, Rafael and Garcia-Pardos, Maria Carmen and S{\'a}ez-Villaverde, Raquel and Barraga{\~n}o, Marta and Portugal, Raquel and Lendinez, Francisco and Hernadez, Ines and Vagace, Jos{\'e} Manue and Tapia, Maria and Nieto, Jos{\'e} and Garcia, Marta and Gonzalez, Macarena and Vicho, Cristina and Galvez, Eva and Valiente, Alberto and Antelo, Maria Luisa and Ancliff, Phil and Garc{\'\i}a, Francisco and Dopazo, Joaquin and Sevilla, Julian and Paprotka, Tobias and P{\'e}rez-Jurado, Luis Alberto and Bueren, Juan and Surralles, Jordi} } @article {653, title = {Pazopanib for treatment of typical solitary fibrous tumours: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial.}, journal = {Lancet Oncol}, volume = {21}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 03}, pages = {456-466}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Solitary fibrous tumour is an ultra-rare sarcoma, which encompasses different clinicopathological subgroups. The dedifferentiated subgroup shows an aggressive course with resistance to pazopanib, whereas in the malignant subgroup, pazopanib shows higher activity than in previous studies with chemotherapy. We designed a trial to test pazopanib activity in two different cohorts of solitary fibrous tumour: the malignant-dedifferentiated cohort, which was previously published, and the typical cohort, which is presented here.

METHODS: In this single-arm, phase 2 trial, adult patients (aged >=18 years) diagnosed with confirmed metastatic or unresectable typical solitary fibrous tumour of any location, who had progressed in the previous 6 months (by Choi criteria or Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors [RECIST]) and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2 were enrolled at 11 tertiary hospitals in Italy, France, and Spain. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg once daily, taken orally, until progression, unacceptable toxicity, withdrawal of consent, non-compliance, or a delay in pazopanib administration of longer than 3 weeks. The primary endpoint was proportion of patients achieving an overall response measured by Choi criteria in patients who received at least 1 month of treatment with at least one radiological assessment. All patients who received at least one dose of the study drug were included in the safety analyses. This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02066285, and with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT 2013-005456-15.

FINDINGS: From June 26, 2014, to Dec 13, 2018, of 40 patients who were assessed, 34 patients were enrolled and 31 patients were included in the response analysis. Median follow-up was 18 months (IQR 14-34), and 18 (58\%) of 31 patients had a partial response, 12 (39\%) had stable disease, and one (3\%) showed progressive disease according to Choi criteria and central review. The proportion of overall response based on Choi criteria was 58\% (95\% CI 34-69). There were no deaths caused by toxicity, and the most frequent adverse events were diarrhoea (18 [53\%] of 34 patients), fatigue (17 [50\%]), and hypertension (17 [50\%]).

INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective trial of pazopanib for advanced typical solitary fibrous tumour. The manageable toxicity and activity shown by pazopanib in this cohort suggest that this drug could be considered as first-line treatment for advanced typical solitary fibrous tumour.

FUNDING: Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS), Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), French Sarcoma Group (FSG), GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis.

}, keywords = {Aged, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Indazoles, Male, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Metastasis, Prognosis, Prospective Studies, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Pyrimidines, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, Solitary Fibrous Tumors, Sulfonamides, Survival Rate}, issn = {1474-5488}, doi = {10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30826-5}, author = {Martin-Broto, Javier and Cruz, Josefina and Penel, Nicolas and Le Cesne, Axel and Hindi, Nadia and Luna, Pablo and Moura, David S and Bernabeu, Daniel and de Alava, Enrique and Lopez-Guerrero, Jose Antonio and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Gutierrez, Antonio and Collini, Paola and Karanian, Marie and Redondo, Andres and Lopez-Pousa, Antonio and Grignani, Giovanni and Diaz-Martin, Juan and Marcilla, David and Fernandez-Serra, Antonio and Gonzalez-Aguilera, Cristina and Casali, Paolo G and Blay, Jean-Yves and Stacchiotti, Silvia} } @article {705, title = {SMN1 copy-number and sequence variant analysis from next-generation sequencing data.}, journal = {Hum Mutat}, volume = {41}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12}, pages = {2073-2077}, abstract = {

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a severe neuromuscular autosomal recessive disorder affecting 1/10,000 live births. Most SMA patients present homozygous deletion of SMN1, while the vast majority of SMA carriers present only a single SMN1 copy. The sequence similarity between SMN1 and SMN2, and the complexity of the SMN locus makes the estimation of the SMN1 copy-number by next-generation sequencing (NGS) very difficult. Here, we present SMAca, the first python tool to detect SMA carriers and estimate the absolute SMN1 copy-number using NGS data. Moreover, SMAca takes advantage of the knowledge of certain variants specific to SMN1 duplication to also identify silent carriers. This tool has been validated with a cohort of 326 samples from the Navarra 1000 Genomes Project (NAGEN1000). SMAca was developed with a focus on execution speed and easy installation. This combination makes it especially suitable to be integrated into production NGS pipelines. Source code and documentation are available at https://www.github.com/babelomics/SMAca.

}, keywords = {Base Sequence, DNA Copy Number Variations, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Reproducibility of Results, Software, Survival of Motor Neuron 1 Protein}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.24120}, author = {L{\'o}pez-L{\'o}pez, Daniel and Loucera, Carlos and Carmona, Rosario and Aquino, Virginia and Salgado, Josefa and Pasalodos, Sara and Miranda, Mar{\'\i}a and Alonso, {\'A}ngel and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {692, title = {Towards Improving Skin Cancer Diagnosis by Integrating Microarray and RNA-Seq Datasets.}, journal = {IEEE J Biomed Health Inform}, volume = {24}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 07}, pages = {2119-2130}, abstract = {

Many clinical studies have revealed the high biological similarities existing among different skin pathological states. These similarities create difficulties in the efficient diagnosis of skin cancer, and encourage to study and design new intelligent clinical decision support systems. In this sense, gene expression analysis can help find differentially expressed genes (DEGs) simultaneously discerning multiple skin pathological states in a single test. The integration of multiple heterogeneous transcriptomic datasets requires different pipeline stages to be properly designed: from suitable batch merging and efficient biomarker selection to automated classification assessment. This article presents a novel approach addressing all these technical issues, with the intention of providing new sights about skin cancer diagnosis. Although new future efforts will have to be made in the search for better biomarkers recognizing specific skin pathological states, our study found a panel of 8 highly relevant multiclass DEGs for discerning up to 10 skin pathological states: 2 healthy skin conditions a priori, 2 cataloged precancerous skin diseases and 6 cancerous skin states. Their power of diagnosis over new samples was widely tested by previously well-trained classification models. Robust performance metrics such as overall and mean multiclass F1-score outperformed recognition rates of 94\% and 80\%, respectively. Clinicians should give special attention to highlighted multiclass DEGs that have high gene expression changes present among them, and understand their biological relationship to different skin pathological states.

}, keywords = {Biomarkers, Tumor, Computational Biology, Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted, Gene Expression Profiling, Humans, Machine Learning, RNA-seq, Skin Neoplasms}, issn = {2168-2208}, doi = {10.1109/JBHI.2019.2953978}, author = {Galvez, Juan M and Castillo-Secilla, Daniel and Herrera, Luis J and Valenzuela, Olga and Caba, Octavio and Prados, Jose C and Ortuno, Francisco M and Rojas, Ignacio} } @article {704, title = {Transparency and reproducibility in artificial intelligence.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {586}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 10}, pages = {E14-E16}, keywords = {Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-020-2766-y}, author = {Haibe-Kains, Benjamin and Adam, George Alexandru and Hosny, Ahmed and Khodakarami, Farnoosh and Waldron, Levi and Wang, Bo and McIntosh, Chris and Goldenberg, Anna and Kundaje, Anshul and Greene, Casey S and Broderick, Tamara and Hoffman, Michael M and Leek, Jeffrey T and Korthauer, Keegan and Huber, Wolfgang and Brazma, Alvis and Pineau, Joelle and Tibshirani, Robert and Hastie, Trevor and Ioannidis, John P A and Quackenbush, John and Aerts, Hugo J W L} } @article {718, title = {Using AnABlast for intergenic sORF prediction in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome.}, journal = {Bioinformatics}, volume = {36}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12 08}, pages = {4827-4832}, abstract = {

MOTIVATION: Short bioactive peptides encoded by small open reading frames (sORFs) play important roles in eukaryotes. Bioinformatics prediction of ORFs is an early step in a genome sequence analysis, but sORFs encoding short peptides, often using non-AUG initiation codons, are not easily discriminated from false ORFs occurring by chance.

RESULTS: AnABlast is a computational tool designed to highlight putative protein-coding regions in genomic DNA sequences. This protein-coding finder is independent of ORF length and reading frame shifts, thus making of AnABlast a potentially useful tool to predict sORFs. Using this algorithm, here, we report the identification of 82 putative new intergenic sORFs in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. Sequence similarity, motif presence, expression data and RNA interference experiments support that the underlined sORFs likely encode functional peptides, encouraging the use of AnABlast as a new approach for the accurate prediction of intergenic sORFs in annotated eukaryotic genomes.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: AnABlast is freely available at http://www.bioinfocabd.upo.es/ab/. The C.elegans genome browser with AnABlast results, annotated genes and all data used in this study is available at http://www.bioinfocabd.upo.es/celegans.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

}, keywords = {Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Computational Biology, Genome, Open Reading Frames, Software}, issn = {1367-4811}, doi = {10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa608}, author = {Casimiro-Soriguer, C S and Rigual, M M and Brokate-Llanos, A M and Mu{\~n}oz, M J and Garz{\'o}n, A and P{\'e}rez-Pulido, A J and Jimenez, J} } @article {422, title = {Differential metabolic activity and discovery of therapeutic targets using summarized metabolic pathway models.}, journal = {NPJ Syst Biol Appl}, volume = {5}, year = {2019}, month = {2019}, pages = {7}, abstract = {

In spite of the increasing availability of genomic and transcriptomic data, there is still a gap between the detection of perturbations in gene expression and the understanding of their contribution to the molecular mechanisms that ultimately account for the phenotype studied. Alterations in the metabolism are behind the initiation and progression of many diseases, including cancer. The wealth of available knowledge on metabolic processes can therefore be used to derive mechanistic models that link gene expression perturbations to changes in metabolic activity that provide relevant clues on molecular mechanisms of disease and drug modes of action (MoA). In particular, pathway modules, which recapitulate the main aspects of metabolism, are especially suitable for this type of modeling. We present Metabolizer, a web-based application that offers an intuitive, easy-to-use interactive interface to analyze differences in pathway metabolic module activities that can also be used for class prediction and in silico prediction of knock-out (KO) effects. Moreover, Metabolizer can automatically predict the optimal KO intervention for restoring a diseased phenotype. We provide different types of validations of some of the predictions made by Metabolizer. Metabolizer is a web tool that allows understanding molecular mechanisms of disease or the MoA of drugs within the context of the metabolism by using gene expression measurements. In addition, this tool automatically suggests potential therapeutic targets for individualized therapeutic interventions.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, Computer Simulation, Drug discovery, Gene Regulatory Networks, Humans, Internet, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Models, Biological, Neoplasms, Phenotype, Software, Transcriptome}, issn = {2056-7189}, doi = {10.1038/s41540-019-0087-2}, author = {Cubuk, Cankut and Hidalgo, Marta R and Amadoz, Alicia and Rian, Kinza and Salavert, Francisco and Pujana, Miguel A and Mateo, Francesca and Herranz, Carmen and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {610, title = {Exploring the druggable space around the Fanconi anemia pathway using machine learning and mechanistic models.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {20}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jul 02}, pages = {370}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: In spite of the abundance of genomic data, predictive models that describe phenotypes as a function of gene expression or mutations are difficult to obtain because they are affected by the curse of dimensionality, given the disbalance between samples and candidate genes. And this is especially dramatic in scenarios in which the availability of samples is difficult, such as the case of rare diseases.

RESULTS: The application of multi-output regression machine learning methodologies to predict the potential effect of external proteins over the signaling circuits that trigger Fanconi anemia related cell functionalities, inferred with a mechanistic model, allowed us to detect over 20 potential therapeutic targets.

CONCLUSIONS: The use of artificial intelligence methods for the prediction of potentially causal relationships between proteins of interest and cell activities related with disease-related phenotypes opens promising avenues for the systematic search of new targets in rare diseases.

}, keywords = {Databases, Factual, Fanconi Anemia, Genomics, Humans, Machine Learning, Phenotype, Proteins, Signal Transduction}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-019-2969-0}, author = {Esteban-Medina, Marina and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Loucera, Carlos and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {554, title = {Fibroblast activation and abnormal extracellular matrix remodelling as common hallmarks in three cancer-prone genodermatoses.}, journal = {Br J Dermatol}, volume = {181}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 09}, pages = {512-522}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), Kindler syndrome (KS) and xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) are three cancer-prone genodermatoses whose causal genetic mutations cannot fully explain, on their own, the array of associated phenotypic manifestations. Recent evidence highlights the role of the stromal microenvironment in the pathology of these disorders.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate, by means of comparative gene expression analysis, the role played by dermal fibroblasts in the pathogenesis of RDEB, KS and XPC.

METHODS: We conducted RNA-Seq analysis, which included a thorough examination of the differentially expressed genes, a functional enrichment analysis and a description of affected signalling circuits. Transcriptomic data were validated at the protein level in cell cultures, serum samples and skin biopsies.

RESULTS: Interdisease comparisons against control fibroblasts revealed a unifying signature of 186 differentially expressed genes and four signalling pathways in the three genodermatoses. Remarkably, some of the uncovered expression changes suggest a synthetic fibroblast phenotype characterized by the aberrant expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. Western blot and immunofluorescence in~situ analyses validated the RNA-Seq data. In addition, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay revealed increased circulating levels of periostin in patients with RDEB.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the different causal genetic defects converge into common changes in gene expression, possibly due to injury-sensitive events. These, in turn, trigger a cascade of reactions involving abnormal ECM deposition and underexpression of antioxidant enzymes. The elucidated expression signature provides new potential biomarkers and common therapeutic targets in RDEB, XPC and KS. What{\textquoteright}s already known about this topic? Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), Kindler syndrome (KS) and xeroderma pigmentosum complementation group C (XPC) are three genodermatoses with high predisposition to cancer development. Although their causal genetic mutations mainly affect epithelia, the dermal microenvironment likely contributes to the physiopathology of these disorders. What does this study add? We disclose a large overlapping transcription profile between XPC, KS and RDEB fibroblasts that points towards an activated phenotype with high matrix-synthetic capacity. This common signature seems to be independent of the primary causal deficiency, but reflects an underlying derangement of the extracellular matrix via transforming growth factor-Ī² signalling activation and oxidative state imbalance. What is the translational message? This study broadens the current knowledge about the pathology of these diseases and highlights new targets and biomarkers for effective therapeutic intervention. It is suggested that high levels of circulating periostin could represent a potential biomarker in RDEB.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Biopsy, Blister, Case-Control Studies, Cells, Cultured, Child, Child, Preschool, Epidermolysis Bullosa, Epidermolysis Bullosa Dystrophica, Extracellular Matrix, Extracellular Matrix Proteins, Female, Fibroblasts, Fibrosis, Gene Expression Regulation, Healthy Volunteers, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Middle Aged, mutation, Periodontal Diseases, Photosensitivity Disorders, Primary Cell Culture, RNA-seq, Skin, Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Young Adult}, issn = {1365-2133}, doi = {10.1111/bjd.17698}, author = {Chac{\'o}n-Solano, E and Le{\'o}n, C and D{\'\i}az, F and Garc{\'\i}a-Garc{\'\i}a, F and Garc{\'\i}a, M and Esc{\'a}mez, M J and Guerrero-Aspizua, S and Conti, C J and Menc{\'\i}a, {\'A} and Mart{\'\i}nez-Santamar{\'\i}a, L and Llames, S and P{\'e}vida, M and Carbonell-Caballero, J and Puig-Butill{\'e}, J A and Maseda, R and Puig, S and de Lucas, R and Baselga, E and Larcher, F and Dopazo, J and Del Rio, M} } @article {423, title = {Pazopanib for treatment of advanced malignant and dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour: a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial.}, journal = {Lancet Oncol}, volume = {20}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jan}, pages = {134-144}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: A solitary fibrous tumour is a rare soft-tissue tumour with three clinicopathological variants: typical, malignant, and dedifferentiated. Preclinical experiments and retrospective studies have shown different sensitivities of solitary fibrous tumour to chemotherapy and antiangiogenics. We therefore designed a trial to assess the activity of pazopanib in a cohort of patients with malignant or dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour. The clinical and translational results are presented here.

METHODS: In this single-arm, phase 2 trial, adult patients (aged >= 18 years) with histologically confirmed metastatic or unresectable malignant or dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour at any location, who had progressed (by RECIST and Choi criteria) in the previous 6 months and had an ECOG performance status of 0-2, were enrolled at 16 third-level hospitals with expertise in sarcoma care in Spain, Italy, and France. Patients received pazopanib 800 mg once daily, taken orally without food, at least 1 h before or 2 h after a meal, until progression or intolerance. The primary endpoint of the study was overall response measured by Choi criteria in the subset of the intention-to-treat population (patients who received at least 1 month of treatment with at least one radiological assessment). All patients who received at least one dose of the study drug were included in the safety analyses. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02066285, and with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT number 2013-005456-15.

FINDINGS: From June 26, 2014, to Nov 24, 2016, of 40 patients assessed, 36 were enrolled (34 with malignant solitary fibrous tumour and two with dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour). Median follow-up was 27 months (IQR 16-31). Based on central radiology review, 18 (51\%) of 35 evaluable patients had partial responses, nine (26\%) had stable disease, and eight (23\%) had progressive disease according to Choi criteria. Further enrolment of patients with dedifferentiated solitary fibrous tumour was stopped after detection of early and fast progressions in a planned interim analysis. 51\% (95\% CI 34-69) of 35 patients achieved an overall response according to Choi criteria. Ten (29\%) of 35 patients died. There were no deaths related to adverse events and the most frequent grade 3 or higher adverse events were hypertension (11 [31\%] of 36 patients), neutropenia (four [11\%]), increased concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (four [11\%]), and increased concentrations of bilirubin (three [8\%]).

INTERPRETATION: To our knowledge, this is the first trial of pazopanib for treatment of malignant solitary fibrous tumour showing activity in this patient group. The manageable toxicity profile and the activity shown by pazopanib suggests that this drug could be an option for systemic treatment of advanced malignant solitary fibrous tumour, and provides a benchmark for future trials.

FUNDING: Spanish Group for Research on Sarcomas (GEIS), Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), French Sarcoma Group (FSG), GlaxoSmithKline, and Novartis.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Angiogenesis Inhibitors, Antineoplastic Agents, Female, Humans, Indazoles, Male, Middle Aged, Multivariate Analysis, Pyrimidines, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors, Soft Tissue Neoplasms, Solitary Fibrous Tumors, Sulfonamides, Survival Analysis}, issn = {1474-5488}, doi = {10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30676-4}, author = {Martin-Broto, Javier and Stacchiotti, Silvia and Lopez-Pousa, Antonio and Redondo, Andres and Bernabeu, Daniel and de Alava, Enrique and Casali, Paolo G and Italiano, Antoine and Gutierrez, Antonio and Moura, David S and Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Diaz-Martin, Juan and Biscuola, Michele and Taron, Miguel and Collini, Paola and Ranchere-Vince, Dominique and Garcia Del Muro, Xavier and Grignani, Giovanni and Dumont, Sarah and Martinez-Trufero, Javier and Palmerini, Emanuela and Hindi, Nadia and Sebio, Ana and Dopazo, Joaquin and Dei Tos, Angelo Paolo and LeCesne, Axel and Blay, Jean-Yves and Cruz, Josefina} } @article {555, title = {PyCellBase, an efficient python package for easy retrieval of biological data from heterogeneous sources.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {20}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Mar 28}, pages = {159}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Biological databases and repositories are incrementing in diversity and complexity over the years. This rapid expansion of current and new sources of biological knowledge raises serious problems of data accessibility and integration. To handle the growing necessity of unification, CellBase was created as an integrative solution. CellBase provides a centralized NoSQL database containing biological information from different and heterogeneous sources. Access to this information is done through a RESTful web service API, which provides an efficient interface to the data.

RESULTS: In this work we present PyCellBase, a Python package that provides programmatic access to the rich RESTful web service API offered by CellBase. This package offers a fast and user-friendly access to biological information without the need of installing any local database. In addition, a series of command-line tools are provided to perform common bioinformatic tasks, such as variant annotation. CellBase data is always available by a high-availability cluster and queries have been tuned to ensure a real-time performance.

CONCLUSION: PyCellBase is an open-source Python package that provides an efficient access to heterogeneous biological information. It allows to perform tasks that require a comprehensive set of knowledge resources, as for example variant annotation. Queries can be easily fine-tuned to retrieve the desired information of particular biological features. PyCellBase offers the convenience of an object-oriented scripting language and provides the ability to integrate the obtained results into other Python applications and pipelines.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, Databases, Factual, Software, User-Computer Interface}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-019-2726-4}, author = {Perez-Gil, Daniel and Lopez, Francisco J and Dopazo, Joaquin and Marin-Garcia, Pablo and Rendon, Augusto and Medina, Ignacio} } @article {664, title = {Using mechanistic models for the clinical interpretation of complex genomic variation}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, volume = {9}, year = {2019}, month = {Jan-12-2019}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-019-55454-7}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55454-7http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55454-7.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55454-7.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-55454-7}, author = {Pe{\~n}a-Chilet, Maria and Esteban-Medina, Marina and Falco, Matias M. and Rian, Kinza and Hidalgo, Marta R. and Loucera, Carlos and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {428, title = {A crowdsourced analysis to identify ab initio molecular signatures predictive of susceptibility to viral infection}, journal = {Nature Communications}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {Jan-12-2018}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-06735-8}, url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8.pdfhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06735-8}, author = {Fourati, Slim and Talla, Aarthi and Mahmoudian, Mehrad and Burkhart, Joshua G. and Kl{\'e}n, Riku and Henao, Ricardo and Yu, Thomas and Ayd{\i}n, Zafer and Yeung, Ka Yee and Ahsen, Mehmet Eren and Almugbel, Reem and Jahandideh, Samad and Liang, Xiao and Nordling, Torbj{\"o}rn E. M. and Shiga, Motoki and Stanescu, Ana and Vogel, Robert and Pandey, Gaurav and Chiu, Christopher and McClain, Micah T. and Woods, Christopher W. and Ginsburg, Geoffrey S. and Elo, Laura L. and Tsalik, Ephraim L. and Mangravite, Lara M. and Sieberts, Solveig K.} } @article {397, title = {The effects of death and post-mortem cold ischemia on human tissue transcriptomes.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Feb 13}, pages = {490}, abstract = {

Post-mortem tissues samples are a key resource for investigating patterns of gene expression. However, the processes triggered by death and the post-mortem interval (PMI) can significantly alter physiologically normal RNA levels. We investigate the impact of PMI on gene expression using data from multiple tissues of post-mortem donors obtained from the GTEx project. We find that many genes change expression over relatively short PMIs in a tissue-specific manner, but this potentially confounding effect in a biological analysis can be minimized by taking into account appropriate covariates. By comparing ante- and post-mortem blood samples, we identify the cascade of transcriptional events triggered by death of the organism. These events do not appear to simply reflect stochastic variation resulting from mRNA degradation, but active and ongoing regulation of transcription. Finally, we develop a model to predict the time since death from the analysis of the transcriptome of a few readily accessible tissues.

}, keywords = {Blood, Cold Ischemia, Death, Female, gene expression, Humans, Models, Biological, Postmortem Changes, RNA, Messenger, Stochastic Processes, Transcriptome}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-017-02772-x}, author = {Ferreira, Pedro G and Mu{\~n}oz-Aguirre, Manuel and Reverter, Ferran and S{\'a} Godinho, Caio P and Sousa, Abel and Amadoz, Alicia and Sodaei, Reza and Hidalgo, Marta R and Pervouchine, Dmitri and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Nurtdinov, Ramil and Breschi, Alessandra and Amador, Raziel and Oliveira, Patr{\'\i}cia and Cubuk, Cankut and Curado, Jo{\~a}o and Aguet, Fran{\c c}ois and Oliveira, Carla and Dopazo, Joaquin and Sammeth, Michael and Ardlie, Kristin G and Guig{\'o}, Roderic} } @article {409, title = {Evolution of the Quorum network and the mobilome (plasmids and bacteriophages) in clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii during a decade.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {8}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Feb 06}, pages = {2523}, abstract = {

In this study, we compared eighteen clinical strains of A. baumannii belonging to the ST-2 clone and isolated from patients in the same intensive care unit (ICU) in 2000 (9 strains referred to collectively as Ab_GEIH-2000) and 2010 (9 strains referred to collectively as Ab_GEIH-2010), during the GEIH-REIPI project (Umbrella BioProject PRJNA422585). We observed two main molecular differences between the Ab_GEIH-2010 and the Ab_GEIH-2000 collections, acquired over the course of the decade long sampling interval and involving the mobilome: i) a plasmid harbouring genes for bla {\ss}-lactamase and abKA/abkB proteins of a toxin-antitoxin system; and ii) two temperate bacteriophages, Ab105-1Ļ• (63 proteins) and Ab105-2Ļ• (93 proteins), containing important viral defence proteins. Moreover, all Ab_GEIH-2010 strains contained a Quorum functional network of Quorum Sensing (QS) and Quorum Quenching (QQ) mechanisms, including a new QQ enzyme, AidA, which acts as a bacterial defence mechanism against the exogenous 3-oxo-C12-HSL. Interestingly, the infective capacity of the bacteriophages isolated in this study (Ab105-1Ļ• and Ab105-2Ļ•) was higher in the Ab_GEIH-2010 strains (carrying a functional Quorum network) than in the Ab_GEIH-2000 strains (carrying a deficient Quorum network), in which the bacteriophages showed little or no infectivity. This is the first study about the evolution of the Quorum network and the mobilome in clinical strains of Acinetobacter baumannii during a decade.

}, keywords = {Acinetobacter baumannii, Acinetobacter Infections, Bacteriophages, Cross Infection, Humans, Plasmids, Quorum Sensing, Retrospective Studies}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-018-20847-7}, author = {L{\'o}pez, M and Rueda, A and Florido, J P and Blasco, L and Fern{\'a}ndez-Garc{\'\i}a, L and Trastoy, R and Fern{\'a}ndez-Cuenca, F and Mart{\'\i}nez-Mart{\'\i}nez, L and Vila, J and Pascual, A and Bou, G and Tomas, M} } @article {406, title = {The first complete genomic structure of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens and its chromid.}, journal = {Microb Genom}, volume = {4}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Oct}, abstract = {

Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens forms part of the gastrointestinal microbiome of ruminants and other mammals, including humans. Indeed, it is one of the most common bacteria found in the rumen and plays an important role in ruminal fermentation of polysaccharides, yet, to date, there is no closed reference genome published for this species in any ruminant animal. We successfully assembled the nearly complete genome sequence of B. fibrisolvens strain INBov1 isolated from cow rumen using Illumina paired-end reads, 454 Roche single-end and mate pair sequencing technology. Additionally, we constructed an optical restriction map of this strain to aid in scaffold ordering and positioning, and completed the first genomic structure of this species. Moreover, we identified and assembled the first chromid of this species (pINBov266). The INBov1 genome encodes a large set of genes involved in the cellulolytic process but lacks key genes. This seems to indicate that B. fibrisolvens plays an important role in ruminal cellulolytic processes, but does not have autonomous cellulolytic capacity. When searching for genes involved in the biohydrogenation of unsaturated fatty acids, no linoleate isomerase gene was found in this strain. INBov1 does encode oleate hydratase genes known to participate in the hydrogenation of oleic acids. Furthermore, INBov1 contains an enolase gene, which has been recently determined to participate in the synthesis of conjugated linoleic acids. This work confirms the presence of a novel chromid in B. fibrisolvens and provides a new potential reference genome sequence for this species, providing new insight into its role in biohydrogenation and carbohydrate degradation.

}, keywords = {Animals, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Cattle, Genome, Bacterial, Genomics, Humans, Milk, Rumen, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {2057-5858}, doi = {10.1099/mgen.0.000216}, author = {Rodr{\'\i}guez Hern{\'a}ez, Javier and Cer{\'o}n Cucchi, Maria Esperanza and Cravero, Silvio and Martinez, Maria Carolina and Gonzalez, Sergio and Puebla, Andrea and Dopazo, Joaquin and Farber, Marisa and Paniego, Norma and Rivarola, M{\'a}ximo} } @article {405, title = {Gene Expression Integration into Pathway Modules Reveals a Pan-Cancer Metabolic Landscape.}, journal = {Cancer Res}, volume = {78}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Nov 01}, pages = {6059-6072}, abstract = {

Metabolic reprogramming plays an important role in cancer development and progression and is a well-established hallmark of cancer. Despite its inherent complexity, cellular metabolism can be decomposed into functional modules that represent fundamental metabolic processes. Here, we performed a pan-cancer study involving 9,428 samples from 25 cancer types to reveal metabolic modules whose individual or coordinated activity predict cancer type and outcome, in turn highlighting novel therapeutic opportunities. Integration of gene expression levels into metabolic modules suggests that the activity of specific modules differs between cancers and the corresponding tissues of origin. Some modules may cooperate, as indicated by the positive correlation of their activity across a range of tumors. The activity of many metabolic modules was significantly associated with prognosis at a stronger magnitude than any of their constituent genes. Thus, modules may be classified as tumor suppressors and oncomodules according to their potential impact on cancer progression. Using this modeling framework, we also propose novel potential therapeutic targets that constitute alternative ways of treating cancer by inhibiting their reprogrammed metabolism. Collectively, this study provides an extensive resource of predicted cancer metabolic profiles and dependencies. Combining gene expression with metabolic modules identifies molecular mechanisms of cancer undetected on an individual gene level and allows discovery of new potential therapeutic targets. .

}, keywords = {Cell Line, Tumor, Cluster Analysis, Disease Progression, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Gene Regulatory Networks, Humans, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Metabolome, mutation, Neoplasms, Oncogenes, Phenotype, Prognosis, RNA, Small Interfering, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Transcriptome, Treatment Outcome}, issn = {1538-7445}, doi = {10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-17-2705}, author = {Cubuk, Cankut and Hidalgo, Marta R and Amadoz, Alicia and Pujana, Miguel A and Mateo, Francesca and Herranz, Carmen and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {398, title = {Genomics of the origin and evolution of Citrus.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {554}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Feb 15}, pages = {311-316}, abstract = {

The genus Citrus, comprising some of the most widely cultivated fruit crops worldwide, includes an uncertain number of species. Here we describe ten natural citrus species, using genomic, phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses of 60 accessions representing diverse citrus germ plasms, and propose that citrus diversified during the late Miocene epoch through a rapid southeast Asian radiation that correlates with a marked weakening of the monsoons. A second radiation enabled by migration across the Wallace line gave rise to the Australian limes in the early Pliocene epoch. Further identification and analyses of hybrids and admixed genomes provides insights into the genealogy of major commercial cultivars of citrus. Among mandarins and sweet orange, we find an extensive network of relatedness that illuminates the domestication of these groups. Widespread pummelo admixture among these mandarins and its correlation with fruit size and acidity suggests a plausible role of pummelo introgression in the selection of palatable mandarins. This work provides a new evolutionary framework for the genus Citrus.

}, keywords = {Asia, Southeastern, Biodiversity, citrus, Crop Production, Evolution, Molecular, Genetic Speciation, Genome, Plant, Genomics, Haplotypes, Heterozygote, History, Ancient, Human Migration, Hybridization, Genetic, Phylogeny}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature25447}, author = {Wu, Guohong Albert and Terol, Javier and Iba{\~n}ez, Victoria and L{\'o}pez-Garc{\'\i}a, Antonio and P{\'e}rez-Rom{\'a}n, Estela and Borred{\'a}, Carles and Domingo, Concha and Tadeo, Francisco R and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Alonso, Roberto and Curk, Franck and Du, Dongliang and Ollitrault, Patrick and Roose, Mikeal L and Dopazo, Joaquin and Gmitter, Frederick G and Rokhsar, Daniel S and Talon, Manuel} } @article {410, title = {LRH-1 agonism favours an immune-islet dialogue which protects against diabetes mellitus.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Apr 16}, pages = {1488}, abstract = {

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is due to the selective destruction of islet beta cells by immune cells. Current therapies focused on repressing the immune attack or stimulating beta cell regeneration still have limited clinical efficacy. Therefore, it is timely to identify innovative targets to dampen the immune process, while promoting beta cell survival and function. Liver receptor homologue-1 (LRH-1) is a nuclear receptor that represses inflammation in digestive organs, and protects pancreatic islets against apoptosis. Here, we show that BL001, a small LRH-1 agonist, impedes hyperglycemia progression and the immune-dependent inflammation of pancreas in murine models of T1DM, and beta cell apoptosis in islets of type 2 diabetic patients, while increasing beta cell mass and insulin secretion. Thus, we suggest that LRH-1 agonism favors a dialogue between immune and islet cells, which could be druggable to protect against diabetes mellitus.

}, keywords = {Animals, Apoptosis, Cell Communication, Cell Survival, Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Hypoglycemic Agents, Immunity, Innate, insulin, Insulin-Secreting Cells, Islets of Langerhans, Islets of Langerhans Transplantation, Macrophages, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Phenalenes, Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear, Streptozocin, T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory, Transplantation, Heterologous}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-03943-0}, author = {Cobo-Vuilleumier, Nadia and Lorenzo, Petra I and Rodr{\'\i}guez, Noelia Garc{\'\i}a and Herrera G{\'o}mez, Irene de Gracia and Fuente-Martin, Esther and L{\'o}pez-Noriega, Livia and Mellado-Gil, Jos{\'e} Manuel and Romero-Zerbo, Silvana-Yanina and Baqui{\'e}, Mathurin and Lachaud, Christian Claude and Stifter, Katja and Perdomo, German and Bugliani, Marco and De Tata, Vincenzo and Bosco, Domenico and Parnaud, Geraldine and Pozo, David and Hmadcha, Abdelkrim and Florido, Javier P and Toscano, Miguel G and de Haan, Peter and Schoonjans, Kristina and S{\'a}nchez Palaz{\'o}n, Luis and Marchetti, Piero and Schirmbeck, Reinhold and Mart{\'\i}n-Montalvo, Alejandro and Meda, Paolo and Soria, Bernat and Berm{\'u}dez-Silva, Francisco-Javier and St-Onge, Luc and Gauthier, Benoit R} } @article {432, title = {ATGC transcriptomics: a web-based application to integrate, explore and analyze de novo transcriptomic data.}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {18}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Feb 22}, pages = {121}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: In the last years, applications based on massively parallelized RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) have become valuable approaches for studying non-model species, e.g., without a fully sequenced genome. RNA-seq is a useful tool for detecting novel transcripts and genetic variations and for evaluating differential gene expression by digital measurements. The large and complex datasets resulting from functional genomic experiments represent a challenge in data processing, management, and analysis. This problem is especially significant for small research groups working with non-model species.

RESULTS: We developed a web-based application, called ATGC transcriptomics, with a flexible and adaptable interface that allows users to work with new generation sequencing (NGS) transcriptomic analysis results using an ontology-driven database. This new application simplifies data exploration, visualization, and integration for a better comprehension of the results.

CONCLUSIONS: ATGC transcriptomics provides access to non-expert computer users and small research groups to a scalable storage option and simple data integration, including database administration and management. The software is freely available under the terms of GNU public license at http://atgcinta.sourceforge.net .

}, keywords = {Animals, Databases, Genetic, Gene Expression Profiling, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Internet, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Transcriptome, User-Computer Interface}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-017-1494-2}, author = {Gonzalez, Sergio and Clavijo, Bernardo and Rivarola, M{\'a}ximo and Moreno, Patricio and Fernandez, Paula and Dopazo, Joaquin and Paniego, Norma} } @article {384, title = {Genomic expression differences between cutaneous cells from red hair color individuals and black hair color individuals based on bioinformatic analysis.}, journal = {Oncotarget}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Feb 14}, pages = {11589-11599}, abstract = {

The MC1R gene plays a crucial role in pigmentation synthesis. Loss-of-function MC1R variants, which impair protein function, are associated with red hair color (RHC) phenotype and increased skin cancer risk. Cultured cutaneous cells bearing loss-of-function MC1R variants show a distinct gene expression profile compared to wild-type MC1R cultured cutaneous cells. We analysed the gene signature associated with RHC co-cultured melanocytes and keratinocytes by Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) network analysis to identify genes related with non-functional MC1R variants. From two detected networks, we selected 23 nodes as hub genes based on topological parameters. Differential expression of hub genes was then evaluated in healthy skin biopsies from RHC and black hair color (BHC) individuals. We also compared gene expression in melanoma tumors from individuals with RHC versus BHC. Gene expression in normal skin from RHC cutaneous cells showed dysregulation in 8 out of 23 hub genes (CLN3, ATG10, WIPI2, SNX2, GABARAPL2, YWHA, PCNA and GBAS). Hub genes did not differ between melanoma tumors in RHC versus BHC individuals. The study suggests that healthy skin cells from RHC individuals present a constitutive genomic deregulation associated with the red hair phenotype and identify novel genes involved in melanocyte biology.

}, keywords = {Adult, Coculture Techniques, Computational Biology, gene expression, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genomics, Hair Color, Humans, Keratinocytes, Melanocytes, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 1}, issn = {1949-2553}, doi = {10.18632/oncotarget.14140}, url = {http://www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget/index.php?journal=oncotarget\&page=article\&op=view\&path\%5B\%5D=14140\&path\%5B\%5D=45094}, author = {Puig-Butille, Joan Anton and Gimenez-Xavier, Pol and Visconti, Alessia and Nsengimana, J{\'e}r{\'e}mie and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Tell-Marti, Gemma and Escamez, Maria Jos{\'e} and Newton-Bishop, Julia and Bataille, Veronique and Del Rio, Marcela and Dopazo, Joaquin and Falchi, Mario and Puig, Susana} } @article {386, title = {GGPS1 Mutation and Atypical Femoral Fractures with Bisphosphonates.}, journal = {N Engl J Med}, volume = {376}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 May 04}, pages = {1794-1795}, keywords = {Aged, Amino Acid Sequence, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Dimethylallyltranstransferase, Diphosphonates, Exome, Farnesyltranstransferase, Female, Femoral Fractures, Geranyltranstransferase, Humans, Middle Aged, mutation}, issn = {1533-4406}, doi = {10.1056/NEJMc1612804}, url = {http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1612804}, author = {Roca-Ayats, Neus and Balcells, Susana and Garcia-Giralt, Nat{\`a}lia and Falc{\'o}-Mascar{\'o}, Maite and Mart{\'\i}nez-Gil, N{\'u}ria and Abril, Josep F and Urreizti, Roser and Dopazo, Joaquin and Quesada-G{\'o}mez, Jos{\'e} M and Nogu{\'e}s, Xavier and Mellibovsky, Leonardo and Prieto-Alhambra, Daniel and Dunford, James E and Javaid, Muhammad K and Russell, R Graham and Grinberg, Daniel and D{\'\i}ez-P{\'e}rez, Adolfo} } @article {383, title = {Integration of transcriptomic and metabolic data reveals hub transcription factors involved in drought stress response in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.).}, journal = {Plant Mol Biol}, volume = {94}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jul}, pages = {549-564}, abstract = {

By integration of transcriptional and metabolic profiles we identified pathways and hubs transcription factors regulated during drought conditions in sunflower, useful for applications in molecular and/or biotechnological breeding. Drought is one of the most important environmental stresses that effects crop productivity in many agricultural regions. Sunflower is tolerant to drought conditions but the mechanisms involved in this tolerance remain unclear at the molecular level. The aim of this study was to characterize and integrate transcriptional and metabolic pathways related to drought stress in sunflower plants, by using a system biology approach. Our results showed a delay in plant senescence with an increase in the expression level of photosynthesis related genes as well as higher levels of sugars, osmoprotectant amino acids and ionic nutrients under drought conditions. In addition, we identified transcription factors that were upregulated during drought conditions and that may act as hubs in the transcriptional network. Many of these transcription factors belong to families implicated in the drought response in model species. The integration of transcriptomic and metabolomic data in this study, together with physiological measurements, has improved our understanding of the biological responses during droughts and contributes to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved under this environmental condition. These findings will provide useful biotechnological tools to improve stress tolerance while maintaining crop yield under restricted water availability.

}, keywords = {Chlorophyll, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Helianthus, Plant Leaves, Plant Proteins, Protein Array Analysis, RNA, Plant, Stress, Physiological, Transcription Factors, Water}, issn = {1573-5028}, doi = {10.1007/s11103-017-0625-5}, author = {Moschen, Sebasti{\'a}n and Di Rienzo, Julio A and Higgins, Janet and Tohge, Takayuki and Watanabe, Mutsumi and Gonzalez, Sergio and Rivarola, M{\'a}ximo and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dopazo, Joaquin and Hopp, H Esteban and Hoefgen, Rainer and Fernie, Alisdair R and Paniego, Norma and Fernandez, Paula and Heinz, Ruth A} } @article {1230, title = {A new parallel pipeline for DNA methylation analysis of long reads datasets.}, journal = {BMC bioinformatics}, volume = {18}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Mar 09}, pages = {161}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is an important mechanism of epigenetic regulation in development and disease. New generation sequencers allow genome-wide measurements of the methylation status by reading short stretches of the DNA sequence (Methyl-seq). Several software tools for methylation analysis have been proposed over recent years. However, the current trend is that the new sequencers and the ones expected for an upcoming future yield sequences of increasing length, making these software tools inefficient and obsolete. RESULTS: In this paper, we propose a new software based on a strategy for methylation analysis of Methyl-seq sequencing data that requires much shorter execution times while yielding a better level of sensitivity, particularly for datasets composed of long reads. This strategy can be exported to other methylation, DNA and RNA analysis tools. CONCLUSIONS: The developed software tool achieves execution times one order of magnitude shorter than the existing tools, while yielding equal sensitivity for short reads and even better sensitivity for long reads.}, keywords = {Methyl-Seq, NGS}, issn = {1471-2105}, doi = {10.1186/s12859-017-1574-3}, url = {http://bmcbioinformatics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12859-017-1574-3}, author = {Olanda, Ricardo and P{\'e}rez, Mariano and Ordu{\~n}a, Juan M and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo} } @article {1231, title = {Whole exome sequencing coupled with unbiased functional analysis reveals new Hirschsprung disease genes.}, journal = {Genome biology}, volume = {18}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Mar 08}, pages = {48}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Hirschsprung disease (HSCR), which is congenital obstruction of the bowel, results from a failure of enteric nervous system (ENS) progenitors to migrate, proliferate, differentiate, or survive within the distal intestine. Previous studies that have searched for genes underlying HSCR have focused on ENS-related pathways and genes not fitting the current knowledge have thus often been ignored. We identify and validate novel HSCR genes using whole exome sequencing (WES), burden tests, in silico prediction, unbiased in vivo analyses of the mutated genes in zebrafish, and expression analyses in zebrafish, mouse, and human. RESULTS: We performed de novo mutation (DNM) screening on 24 HSCR trios. We identify 28 DNMs in 21 different genes. Eight of the DNMs we identified occur in RET, the main HSCR gene, and the remaining 20 DNMs reside in genes not reported in the ENS. Knockdown of all 12 genes with missense or loss-of-function DNMs showed that the orthologs of four genes (DENND3, NCLN, NUP98, and TBATA) are indispensable for ENS development in zebrafish, and these results were confirmed by CRISPR knockout. These genes are also expressed in human and mouse gut and/or ENS progenitors. Importantly, the encoded proteins are linked to neuronal processes shared by the central nervous system and the ENS. CONCLUSIONS: Our data open new fields of investigation into HSCR pathology and provide novel insights into the development of the ENS. Moreover, the study demonstrates that functional analyses of genes carrying DNMs are warranted to delineate the full genetic architecture of rare complex diseases.}, keywords = {Hirschprung, Rare Disease, WES}, issn = {1474-760X}, doi = {10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6}, url = {http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6}, author = {Gui, Hongsheng and Schriemer, Duco and Cheng, William W and Chauhan, Rajendra K and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo and Berrios, Courtney and Bleda, Marta and Brooks, Alice S and Brouwer, Rutger W W and Burns, Alan J and Cherny, Stacey S and Dopazo, Joaquin and Eggen, Bart J L and Griseri, Paola and Jalloh, Binta and Le, Thuy-Linh and Lui, Vincent C H and Luz{\'o}n-Toro, Berta and Matera, Ivana and Ngan, Elly S W and Pelet, Anna and Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena and Sham, Pak C and Shepherd, Iain T and So, Man-Ting and Sribudiani, Yunia and Tang, Clara S M and van den Hout, Mirjam C G N and van der Linde, Herma C and van Ham, Tjakko J and van IJcken, Wilfred F J and Verheij, Joke B G M and Amiel, Jeanne and Borrego, Salud and Ceccherini, Isabella and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Lyonnet, Stanislas and Tam, Paul K H and Garcia-Barcel{\'o}, Maria-Merc{\`e} and Hofstra, Robert Mw} } @article {431, title = {Whole exome sequencing coupled with unbiased functional analysis reveals new Hirschsprung disease genes}, journal = {Genome Biology}, volume = {18}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-12-2017}, doi = {10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6}, url = {http://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s13059-017-1174-6.pdf}, author = {Gui, Hongsheng and Schriemer, Duco and Cheng, William W. and Chauhan, Rajendra K. and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo and Berrios, Courtney and Bleda, Marta and Brooks, Alice S. and Brouwer, Rutger W. W. and Burns, Alan J. and Cherny, Stacey S. and Dopazo, Joaquin and Eggen, Bart J. L. and Griseri, Paola and Jalloh, Binta and Le, Thuy-Linh and Lui, Vincent C. H. and Luz{\'o}n-Toro, Berta and Matera, Ivana and Ngan, Elly S. W. and Pelet, Anna and Ruiz-Ferrer, Macarena and Sham, Pak C. and Shepherd, Iain T. and So, Man-Ting and Sribudiani, Yunia and Tang, Clara S. M. and van den Hout, Mirjam C. G. N. and van der Linde, Herma C. and van Ham, Tjakko J. and van IJcken, Wilfred F. J. and Verheij, Joke B. G. M. and Amiel, Jeanne and Borrego, Salud and Ceccherini, Isabella and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Lyonnet, Stanislas and Tam, Paul K. H. and Garcia-Barcel{\'o}, Maria-Merc{\`e} and Hofstra, Robert M. W.} } @article {1182, title = {Assessment of Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing as a Tool for the Diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease and Hereditary Motor Neuropathy.}, journal = {The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 2}, abstract = {Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is characterized by broad genetic heterogeneity with >50 known disease-associated genes. Mutations in some of these genes can cause a pure motor form of hereditary motor neuropathy, the genetics of which are poorly characterized. We designed a panel comprising 56 genes associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease/hereditary motor neuropathy. We validated this diagnostic tool by first testing 11 patients with pathological mutations. A cohort of 33 affected subjects was selected for this study. The DNAJB2 c.352+1G>A mutation was detected in two cases; novel changes and/or variants with low frequency (<1\%) were found in 12 cases. There were no candidate variants in 18 cases, and amplification failed for one sample. The DNAJB2 c.352+1G>A mutation was also detected in three additional families. On haplotype analysis, all of the patients from these five families shared the same haplotype; therefore, the DNAJB2 c.352+1G>A mutation may be a founder event. Our gene panel allowed us to perform a very rapid and cost-effective screening of genes involved in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease/hereditary motor neuropathy. Our diagnostic strategy was robust in terms of both coverage and read depth for all of the genes and patient samples. These findings demonstrate the difficulty in achieving a definitive molecular diagnosis because of the complexity of interpreting new variants and the genetic heterogeneity that is associated with these neuropathies.}, keywords = {Charcot-Marie-Tooth, CMT, Diagnostic, NGS, Panels, rare diseases, Targeted resequencing}, issn = {1943-7811}, doi = {10.1016/j.jmoldx.2015.10.005}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525157815002615}, author = {Lupo, Vincenzo and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Sancho, Paula and Tello, Cristina and Garc{\'\i}a-Romero, Mar and Villarreal, Liliana and Alberti, Antonia and Sivera, Rafael and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Pascual-Pascual, Samuel I and M{\'a}rquez-Infante, Celedonio and Casasnovas, Carlos and Sevilla, Teresa and Espin{\'o}s, Carmen} } @article {436, title = {Dysfunctional mitochondrial fission impairs cell reprogramming.}, journal = {Cell Cycle}, volume = {15}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Dec}, pages = {3240-3250}, abstract = {

We have recently shown that mitochondrial fission is induced early in reprogramming in a Drp1-dependent manner; however, the identity of the factors controlling Drp1 recruitment to mitochondria was unexplored. To investigate this, we used a panel of RNAi targeting factors involved in the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics and we observed that MiD51, Gdap1 and, to a lesser extent, Mff were found to play key roles in this process. Cells derived from Gdap1-null mice were used to further explore the role of this factor in cell reprogramming. Microarray data revealed a prominent down-regulation of cell cycle pathways in Gdap1-null cells early in reprogramming and cell cycle profiling uncovered a G2/M growth arrest in Gdap1-null cells undergoing reprogramming. High-Content analysis showed that this growth arrest was DNA damage-independent. We propose that lack of efficient mitochondrial fission impairs cell reprogramming by interfering with cell cycle progression in a DNA damage-independent manner.

}, keywords = {Animals, Cell Cycle Checkpoints, Cellular Reprogramming, DNA Damage, G2 Phase, Gene Knockdown Techniques, Mice, Mitochondrial Dynamics, Mitosis, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Pluripotent Stem Cells, Transcription Factors}, issn = {1551-4005}, doi = {10.1080/15384101.2016.1241930}, author = {Prieto, Javier and Le{\'o}n, Marian and Ponsoda, Xavier and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Bort, Roque and Serna, Eva and Barneo-Mu{\~n}oz, Manuela and Palau, Francesc and Dopazo, Joaquin and L{\'o}pez-Garc{\'\i}a, Carlos and Torres, Josema} } @article {441, title = {Highly sensitive and ultrafast read mapping for RNA-seq analysis.}, journal = {DNA Res}, volume = {23}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Apr}, pages = {93-100}, abstract = {

As sequencing technologies progress, the amount of data produced grows exponentially, shifting the bottleneck of discovery towards the data analysis phase. In particular, currently available mapping solutions for RNA-seq leave room for improvement in terms of sensitivity and performance, hindering an efficient analysis of transcriptomes by massive sequencing. Here, we present an innovative approach that combines re-engineering, optimization and parallelization. This solution results in a significant increase of mapping sensitivity over a wide range of read lengths and substantial shorter runtimes when compared with current RNA-seq mapping methods available.

}, keywords = {Genomics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Sensitivity and Specificity, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Transcriptome}, issn = {1756-1663}, doi = {10.1093/dnares/dsv039}, author = {Medina, I and T{\'a}rraga, J and Mart{\'\i}nez, H and Barrachina, S and Castillo, M I and Paschall, J and Salavert-Torres, J and Blanquer-Espert, I and Hern{\'a}ndez-Garc{\'\i}a, V and Quintana-Ort{\'\i}, E S and Dopazo, J} } @article {561, title = {Human DNA methylomes of neurodegenerative diseases show common epigenomic patterns.}, journal = {Transl Psychiatry}, volume = {6}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 19}, pages = {e718}, abstract = {

Different neurodegenerative disorders often show similar lesions, such as the presence of amyloid plaques, TAU-neurotangles and synuclein inclusions. The genetically inherited forms are rare, so we wondered whether shared epigenetic aberrations, such as those affecting DNA methylation, might also exist. The studied samples were gray matter samples from the prefrontal cortex of control and neurodegenerative disease-associated cases. We performed the DNA methylation analyses of Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson{\textquoteright}s disease and Alzheimer-like neurodegenerative profile associated with Down{\textquoteright}s syndrome samples. The DNA methylation landscapes obtained show that neurodegenerative diseases share similar aberrant CpG methylation shifts targeting a defined gene set. Our findings suggest that neurodegenerative disorders might have similar pathogenetic mechanisms that subsequently evolve into different clinical entities. The identified aberrant DNA methylation changes can be used as biomarkers of the disorders and as potential new targets for the development of new therapies.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, DNA Methylation, Epigenomics, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, neurodegenerative diseases, Prefrontal Cortex, Tissue Array Analysis}, issn = {2158-3188}, doi = {10.1038/tp.2015.214}, author = {Sanchez-Mut, J V and Heyn, H and Vidal, E and Moran, S and Sayols, S and Delgado-Morales, R and Schultz, M D and Ansoleaga, B and Garcia-Esparcia, P and Pons-Espinal, M and de Lagran, M M and Dopazo, J and Rabano, A and Avila, J and Dierssen, M and Lott, I and Ferrer, I and Ecker, J R and Esteller, M} } @article {437, title = {Identification of the Photoreceptor Transcriptional Co-Repressor SAMD11 as Novel Cause of Autosomal Recessive Retinitis Pigmentosa.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {6}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Oct 13}, pages = {35370}, abstract = {

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most frequent form of inherited retinal dystrophy is characterized by progressive photoreceptor degeneration. Many genes have been implicated in RP development, but several others remain to be identified. Using a combination of homozygosity mapping, whole-exome and targeted next-generation sequencing, we found a novel homozygous nonsense mutation in SAMD11 in five individuals diagnosed with adult-onset RP from two unrelated consanguineous Spanish families. SAMD11 is ortholog to the mouse major retinal SAM domain (mr-s) protein that is implicated in CRX-mediated transcriptional regulation in the retina. Accordingly, protein-protein network analysis revealed a significant interaction of SAMD11 with CRX. Immunoblotting analysis confirmed strong expression of SAMD11 in human retina. Immunolocalization studies revealed SAMD11 was detected in the three nuclear layers of the human retina and interestingly differential expression between cone and rod photoreceptors was observed. Our study strongly implicates SAMD11 as novel cause of RP playing an important role in the pathogenesis of human degeneration of photoreceptors.

}, keywords = {Aged, Animals, Co-Repressor Proteins, Codon, Nonsense, Cohort Studies, Comparative Genomic Hybridization, Consanguinity, DNA Mutational Analysis, Exome, Eye Proteins, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Genes, Recessive, Homeodomain Proteins, Homozygote, Humans, Male, Mice, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Protein Interaction Mapping, Retina, Retinal Dystrophies, Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells, Retinitis pigmentosa, Spain, Trans-Activators, Transcription Factors}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/srep35370}, author = {Corton, M and Avila-Fern{\'a}ndez, A and Campello, L and S{\'a}nchez, M and Benavides, B and L{\'o}pez-Molina, M I and Fern{\'a}ndez-S{\'a}nchez, L and S{\'a}nchez-Alcudia, R and da Silva, L R J and Reyes, N and Mart{\'\i}n-Garrido, E and Zurita, O and Fern{\'a}ndez-San Jos{\'e}, P and P{\'e}rez-Carro, R and Garc{\'\i}a-Garc{\'\i}a, F and Dopazo, J and Garc{\'\i}a-Sandoval, B and Cuenca, N and Ayuso, C} } @article {439, title = {Integrated gene set analysis for microRNA studies.}, journal = {Bioinformatics}, volume = {32}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Sep 15}, pages = {2809-16}, abstract = {

MOTIVATION: Functional interpretation of miRNA expression data is currently done in a three step procedure: select differentially expressed miRNAs, find their target genes, and carry out gene set overrepresentation analysis Nevertheless, major limitations of this approach have already been described at the gene level, while some newer arise in the miRNA scenario.Here, we propose an enhanced methodology that builds on the well-established gene set analysis paradigm. Evidence for differential expression at the miRNA level is transferred to a gene differential inhibition score which is easily interpretable in terms of gene sets or pathways. Such transferred indexes account for the additive effect of several miRNAs targeting the same gene, and also incorporate cancellation effects between cases and controls. Together, these two desirable characteristics allow for more accurate modeling of regulatory processes.

RESULTS: We analyze high-throughput sequencing data from 20 different cancer types and provide exhaustive reports of gene and Gene Ontology-term deregulation by miRNA action.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The proposed methodology was implemented in the Bioconductor library mdgsa http://bioconductor.org/packages/mdgsa For the purpose of reproducibility all of the scripts are available at https://github.com/dmontaner-papers/gsa4mirna

CONTACT: : david.montaner@gmail.com

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene ontology, Gene Regulatory Networks, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, MicroRNAs, Neoplasms, Reproducibility of Results}, issn = {1367-4811}, doi = {10.1093/bioinformatics/btw334}, author = {Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Panadero, Joaquin and Dopazo, Joaquin and Montaner, David} } @article {446, title = {Integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis to understand natural leaf senescence in sunflower.}, journal = {Plant Biotechnol J}, volume = {14}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb}, pages = {719-34}, abstract = {

Leaf senescence is a complex process, which has dramatic consequences on crop yield. In sunflower, gap between potential and actual yields reveals the economic impact of senescence. Indeed, sunflower plants are incapable of maintaining their green leaf area over sustained periods. This study characterizes the leaf senescence process in sunflower through a systems biology approach integrating transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses: plants being grown under both glasshouse and field conditions. Our results revealed a correspondence between profile changes detected at the molecular, biochemical and physiological level throughout the progression of leaf senescence measured at different plant developmental stages. Early metabolic changes were detected prior to anthesis and before the onset of the first senescence symptoms, with more pronounced changes observed when physiological and molecular variables were assessed under field conditions. During leaf development, photosynthetic activity and cell growth processes decreased, whereas sucrose, fatty acid, nucleotide and amino acid metabolisms increased. Pathways related to nutrient recycling processes were also up-regulated. Members of the NAC, AP2-EREBP, HB, bZIP and MYB transcription factor families showed high expression levels, and their expression level was highly correlated, suggesting their involvement in sunflower senescence. The results of this study thus contribute to the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms involved in the onset and progression of leaf senescence in sunflower leaves as well as to the identification of candidate genes involved in this process.

}, keywords = {Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Gene ontology, Genes, Plant, Helianthus, Ions, metabolomics, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Plant Leaves, Principal Component Analysis, RNA, Messenger, Transcription Factors}, issn = {1467-7652}, doi = {10.1111/pbi.12422}, author = {Moschen, Sebasti{\'a}n and Bengoa Luoni, Sof{\'\i}a and Di Rienzo, Julio A and Caro, Mar{\'\i}a Del Pilar and Tohge, Takayuki and Watanabe, Mutsumi and Hollmann, Julien and Gonzalez, Sergio and Rivarola, M{\'a}ximo and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dopazo, Joaquin and Hopp, Horacio Esteban and Hoefgen, Rainer and Fernie, Alisdair R and Paniego, Norma and Fernandez, Paula and Heinz, Ruth A} } @article {449, title = {Mutations in the MORC2 gene cause axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.}, journal = {Brain}, volume = {139}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan}, pages = {62-72}, abstract = {

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a complex disorder with wide genetic heterogeneity. Here we present a new axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease form, associated with the gene microrchidia family CW-type zinc finger 2 (MORC2). Whole-exome sequencing in a family with autosomal dominant segregation identified the novel MORC2 p.R190W change in four patients. Further mutational screening in our axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease clinical series detected two additional sporadic cases, one patient who also carried the same MORC2 p.R190W mutation and another patient that harboured a MORC2 p.S25L mutation. Genetic and in silico studies strongly supported the pathogenicity of these sequence variants. The phenotype was variable and included patients with congenital or infantile onset, as well as others whose symptoms started in the second decade. The patients with early onset developed a spinal muscular atrophy-like picture, whereas in the later onset cases, the initial symptoms were cramps, distal weakness and sensory impairment. Weakness and atrophy progressed in a random and asymmetric fashion and involved limb girdle muscles, leading to a severe incapacity in adulthood. Sensory loss was always prominent and proportional to disease severity. Electrophysiological studies were consistent with an asymmetric axonal motor and sensory neuropathy, while fasciculations and myokymia were recorded rather frequently by needle electromyography. Sural nerve biopsy revealed pronounced multifocal depletion of myelinated fibres with some regenerative clusters and occasional small onion bulbs. Morc2 is expressed in both axons and Schwann cells of mouse peripheral nerve. Different roles in biological processes have been described for MORC2. As the silencing of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease genes have been associated with DNA damage response, it is tempting to speculate that a deregulation of this pathway may be linked to the axonal degeneration observed in MORC2 neuropathy, thus adding a new pathogenic mechanism to the long list of causes of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Animals, Axons, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Female, gene expression, Humans, Infant, Male, Mice, Middle Aged, mutation, Pedigree, Phenotype, Sciatic Nerve, Sural Nerve, Transcription Factors, Young Adult}, issn = {1460-2156}, doi = {10.1093/brain/awv311}, author = {Sevilla, Teresa and Lupo, Vincenzo and Mart{\'\i}nez-Rubio, Dolores and Sancho, Paula and Sivera, Rafael and Chumillas, Mar{\'\i}a J and Garc{\'\i}a-Romero, Mar and Pascual-Pascual, Samuel I and Muelas, Nuria and Dopazo, Joaquin and V{\'\i}lchez, Juan J and Palau, Francesc and Espin{\'o}s, Carmen} } @article {442, title = {Progress in pharmacogenetics: consortiums and new strategies.}, journal = {Drug Metab Pers Ther}, volume = {31}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Mar}, pages = {17-23}, abstract = {

Pharmacogenetics (PGx), as a field dedicated to achieving the goal of personalized medicine (PM), is devoted to the study of genes involved in inter-individual response to drugs. Due to its nature, PGx requires access to large samples; therefore, in order to progress, the formation of collaborative consortia seems to be crucial. Some examples of this collective effort are the European Society of Pharmacogenomics and personalized Therapy and the Ibero-American network of Pharmacogenetics. As an emerging field, one of the major challenges that PGx faces is translating their discoveries from research bench to bedside. The development of genomic high-throughput technologies is generating a revolution and offers the possibility of producing vast amounts of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms for each patient. Moreover, there is a need of identifying and replicating associations of new biomarkers, and, in addition, a greater effort must be invested in developing regulatory organizations to accomplish a correct standardization. In this review, we outline the current progress in PGx using examples to highlight both the importance of polymorphisms and the research strategies for their detection. These concepts need to be applied together with a proper dissemination of knowledge to improve clinician and patient understanding, in a multidisciplinary team-based approach.

}, keywords = {Cooperative Behavior, Genome-Wide Association Study, High-Throughput Screening Assays, Humans, Patient Care Team, pharmacogenetics, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Precision Medicine}, issn = {2363-8915}, doi = {10.1515/dmpt-2015-0039}, author = {Maro{\~n}as, Olalla and Latorre, Ana and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pirmohamed, Munir and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Antona, Cristina and Siest, G{\'e}rard and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and LLerena, Adri{\'a}n} } @article {445, title = {Serum metabolomic profiling facilitates the non-invasive identification of metabolic biomarkers associated with the onset and progression of non-small cell lung cancer.}, journal = {Oncotarget}, volume = {7}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Mar 15}, pages = {12904-16}, abstract = {

Lung cancer (LC) is responsible for most cancer deaths. One of the main factors contributing to the lethality of this disease is the fact that a large proportion of patients are diagnosed at advanced stages when a clinical intervention is unlikely to succeed. In this study, we evaluated the potential of metabolomics by 1H-NMR to facilitate the identification of accurate and reliable biomarkers to support the early diagnosis and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).We found that the metabolic profile of NSCLC patients, compared with healthy individuals, is characterized by statistically significant changes in the concentration of 18 metabolites representing different amino acids, organic acids and alcohols, as well as different lipids and molecules involved in lipid metabolism. Furthermore, the analysis of the differences between the metabolic profiles of NSCLC patients at different stages of the disease revealed the existence of 17 metabolites involved in metabolic changes associated with disease progression.Our results underscore the potential of metabolomics profiling to uncover pathophysiological mechanisms that could be useful to objectively discriminate NSCLC patients from healthy individuals, as well as between different stages of the disease.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Biomarkers, Tumor, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Disease Progression, Female, Humans, Lung Neoplasms, Male, metabolomics, Middle Aged, Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy}, issn = {1949-2553}, doi = {10.18632/oncotarget.7354}, author = {Puchades-Carrasco, Leonor and Jantus-Lewintre, Eloisa and P{\'e}rez-Rambla, Clara and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Lucas, Rut and Calabuig, Silvia and Blasco, Ana and Dopazo, Joaquin and Camps, Carlos and Pineda-Lucena, Antonio} } @article {558, title = {Whole exome sequencing of Rett syndrome-like patients reveals the mutational diversity of the clinical phenotype.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {135}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 12}, pages = {1343-1354}, abstract = {

Classical Rett syndrome (RTT) is a neurodevelopmental disorder where most of cases carry MECP2 mutations. Atypical RTT variants involve mutations in CDKL5 and FOXG1. However, a subset of RTT patients remains that do not carry any mutation in the described genes. Whole exome sequencing was carried out in a cohort of 21 female probands with clinical features overlapping with those of RTT, but without mutations in the customarily studied genes. Candidates were functionally validated by assessing the appearance of a neurological phenotype in Caenorhabditis elegans upon disruption of the corresponding ortholog gene. We detected pathogenic variants that accounted for the RTT-like phenotype in 14 (66.6~\%) patients. Five patients were carriers of mutations in genes already known to be associated with other syndromic neurodevelopmental disorders. We determined that the other patients harbored mutations in genes that have not previously been linked to RTT or other neurodevelopmental syndromes, such as the ankyrin repeat containing protein ANKRD31 or the neuronal acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha-5 (CHRNA5). Furthermore, worm assays demonstrated that mutations in the studied candidate genes caused locomotion defects. Our findings indicate that mutations in a variety of genes contribute to the development of RTT-like phenotypes.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Carrier Proteins, Cell Cycle Proteins, Child, Child, Preschool, DNA Mutational Analysis, Exome, Female, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Genetic Variation, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Humans, Methyl-CpG-Binding Protein 2, mutation, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases, Receptors, Nicotinic, Rett Syndrome}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-016-1721-3}, author = {Lucariello, Mario and Vidal, Enrique and Vidal, Silvia and Saez, Mauricio and Roa, Laura and Huertas, Dori and Pineda, Merc{\`e} and Dalf{\'o}, Esther and Dopazo, Joaquin and Jurado, Paola and Armstrong, Judith and Esteller, Manel} } @article {1129, title = {Babelomics 5.0: functional interpretation for new generations of genomic data.}, journal = {Nucleic acids research}, volume = {43}, number = {W1}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 20}, pages = {W117-W121}, abstract = {Babelomics has been running for more than one decade offering a user-friendly interface for the functional analysis of gene expression and genomic data. Here we present its fifth release, which includes support for Next Generation Sequencing data including gene expression (RNA-seq), exome or genome resequencing. Babelomics has simplified its interface, being now more intuitive. Improved visualization options, such as a genome viewer as well as an interactive network viewer, have been implemented. New technical enhancements at both, client and server sides, makes the user experience faster and more dynamic. Babelomics offers user-friendly access to a full range of methods that cover: (i) primary data analysis, (ii) a variety of tests for different experimental designs and (iii) different enrichment and network analysis algorithms for the interpretation of the results of such tests in the proper functional context. In addition to the public server, local copies of Babelomics can be downloaded and installed. Babelomics is freely available at: http://www.babelomics.org.}, keywords = {babelomics, data integration, gene set analysis, interactome, network analysis, NGS, RNA-seq, Systems biology, transcriptomics}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkv384}, url = {http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/43/W1/W117}, author = {Alonso, Roberto and Salavert, Francisco and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Bleda, Marta and Garc{\'\i}a-Alonso, Luz and Sanchis-Juan, Alba and Perez-Gil, Daniel and Marin-Garcia, Pablo and S{\'a}nchez, Rub{\'e}n and Cubuk, Cankut and Hidalgo, Marta R and Amadoz, Alicia and Hernansaiz-Ballesteros, Rosa D and Alem{\'a}n, Alejandro and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Montaner, David and Medina, Ignacio and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {1132, title = {Combining tumor genome simulation with crowdsourcing to benchmark somatic single-nucleotide-variant detection.}, journal = {Nature methods}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 May 18}, abstract = {The detection of somatic mutations from cancer genome sequences is key to understanding the genetic basis of disease progression, patient survival and response to therapy. Benchmarking is needed for tool assessment and improvement but is complicated by a lack of gold standards, by extensive resource requirements and by difficulties in sharing personal genomic information. To resolve these issues, we launched the ICGC-TCGA DREAM Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge, a crowdsourced benchmark of somatic mutation detection algorithms. Here we report the BAMSurgeon tool for simulating cancer genomes and the results of 248 analyses of three in silico tumors created with it. Different algorithms exhibit characteristic error profiles, and, intriguingly, false positives show a trinucleotide profile very similar to one found in human tumors. Although the three simulated tumors differ in sequence contamination (deviation from normal cell sequence) and in subclonality, an ensemble of pipelines outperforms the best individual pipeline in all cases. BAMSurgeon is available at https://github.com/adamewing/bamsurgeon/.}, keywords = {cancer, NGS, variant calling}, issn = {1548-7105}, doi = {10.1038/nmeth.3407}, url = {http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmeth.3407.html}, author = {Ewing, Adam D and Houlahan, Kathleen E and Hu, Yin and Ellrott, Kyle and Caloian, Cristian and Yamaguchi, Takafumi N and Bare, J Christopher and P{\textquoteright}ng, Christine and Waggott, Daryl and Sabelnykova, Veronica Y and Kellen, Michael R and Norman, Thea C and Haussler, David and Friend, Stephen H and Stolovitzky, Gustavo and Margolin, Adam A and Stuart, Joshua M and Boutros, Paul C}, editor = {ICGC-TCGA DREAM Somatic Mutation Calling Challenge participants and Liu Xi and Ninad Dewal and Yu Fan and Wenyi Wang and David Wheeler and Andreas Wilm and Grace Hui Ting and Chenhao Li and Denis Bertrand and Niranjan Nagarajan and Qing-Rong Chen and Chih-Hao Hsu and Ying Hu and Chunhua Yan and Warren Kibbe and Daoud Meerzaman and Kristian Cibulskis and Mara Rosenberg and Louis Bergelson and Adam Kiezun and Amie Radenbaugh and Anne-Sophie Sertier and Anthony Ferrari and Laurie Tonton and Kunal Bhutani and Nancy F Hansen and Difei Wang and Lei Song and Zhongwu Lai and Liao, Yang and Shi, Wei and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Cheryl C K Lau and Justin Guinney} } @article {456, title = {The EGR2 gene is involved in axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.}, journal = {Eur J Neurol}, volume = {22}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Dec}, pages = {1548-55}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A three-generation family affected by axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) was investigated with the aim of discovering genetic defects and to further characterize the phenotype.

METHODS: The clinical, nerve conduction studies and muscle magnetic resonance images of the patients were reviewed. A whole exome sequencing was performed and the changes were investigated by genetic studies, in silico analysis and luciferase reporter assays.

RESULTS: A novel c.1226G>A change (p.R409Q) in the EGR2 gene was identified. Patients presented with a typical, late-onset axonal CMT phenotype with variable severity that was confirmed in the ancillary tests. The in silico studies showed that the residue R409 is an evolutionary conserved amino acid. The p.R409Q mutation, which is predicted as probably damaging, would alter the conformation of the protein slightly and would cause a decrease of gene expression.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of an EGR2 mutation presenting as an axonal CMT phenotype with variable severity. This study broadens the phenotype of the EGR2-related neuropathies and suggests that the genetic testing of patients suffering from axonal CMT should include the EGR2 gene.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Axons, Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, Early Growth Response Protein 2, Exome, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, mutation, Pedigree, Phenotype, Severity of Illness Index, Young Adult}, issn = {1468-1331}, doi = {10.1111/ene.12782}, author = {Sevilla, T and Sivera, R and Mart{\'\i}nez-Rubio, D and Lupo, V and Chumillas, M J and Calpena, E and Dopazo, J and V{\'\i}lchez, J J and Palau, F and Espin{\'o}s, C} } @article {461, title = {Family-based genome-wide association study in Patagonia confirms the association of the DMD locus and cleft lip and palate.}, journal = {Eur J Oral Sci}, volume = {123}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Oct}, pages = {381-384}, abstract = {

The etiology of cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL{\textpm}P) is complex and heterogeneous, and multiple genetic and environmental factors are involved. Some candidate genes reported to be associated with oral clefts are located on the X chromosome. At least three genes causing X-linked syndromes [midline 1 (MID1), oral-facial-digital syndrome 1 (OFD1), and dystrophin (DMD)] were previously found to be associated with isolated CL{\textpm}P. We attempted to confirm the role of X-linked genes in the etiology of isolated CL{\textpm}P in a South American population through a family-based genome-wide scan. We studied 27 affected children and their mothers, from 26 families, in a Patagonian population with a high prevalence of CL{\textpm}P. We conducted an exploratory analysis of the X chromosome to identify candidate regions associated with CL{\textpm}P. Four genomic segments were identified, two of which showed a statistically significant association with CL{\textpm}P. One is an 11-kb region of Xp21.1 containing the DMD gene, and the other is an intergenic region (8.7~kb; Xp11.4). Our results are consistent with recent data on the involvement of the DMD gene in the etiology of CL{\textpm}P. The MID1 and OFD1 genes were not included in the four potential CL{\textpm}P-associated X-chromosome genomic segments.

}, issn = {1600-0722}, doi = {10.1111/eos.12212}, author = {Fonseca, Renata F and de Carvalho, Fl{\'a}via M and Poletta, Fernando A and Montaner, David and Dopazo, Joaquin and Mereb, Juan C and Moreira, Miguel A M and Seuanez, Hector N and Vieira, Alexandre R and Castilla, Eduardo E and Orioli, I{\^e}da M} } @article {460, title = {A Pan-Cancer Catalogue of Cancer Driver Protein Interaction Interfaces.}, journal = {PLoS Comput Biol}, volume = {11}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Oct}, pages = {e1004518}, abstract = {

Despite their importance in maintaining the integrity of all cellular pathways, the role of mutations on protein-protein interaction (PPI) interfaces as cancer drivers has not been systematically studied. Here we analyzed the mutation patterns of the PPI interfaces from 10,028 proteins in a pan-cancer cohort of 5,989 tumors from 23 projects of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to find interfaces enriched in somatic missense mutations. To that end we use e-Driver, an algorithm to analyze the mutation distribution of specific protein functional regions. We identified 103 PPI interfaces enriched in somatic cancer mutations. 32 of these interfaces are found in proteins coded by known cancer driver genes. The remaining 71 interfaces are found in proteins that have not been previously identified as cancer drivers even that, in most cases, there is an extensive literature suggesting they play an important role in cancer. Finally, we integrate these findings with clinical information to show how tumors apparently driven by the same gene have different behaviors, including patient outcomes, depending on which specific interfaces are mutated.

}, keywords = {Animals, Base Sequence, Biomarkers, Tumor, Catalogs as Topic, Chromosome Mapping, Computer Simulation, DNA Mutational Analysis, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Models, Genetic, Molecular Sequence Data, mutation, Neoplasm Proteins, Neoplasms, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Protein Interaction Mapping, Signal Transduction}, issn = {1553-7358}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004518}, author = {Porta-Pardo, Eduard and Garc{\'\i}a-Alonso, Luz and Hrabe, Thomas and Dopazo, Joaquin and Godzik, Adam} } @article {1149, title = {A Parallel and Sensitive Software Tool for Methylation Analysis on Multicore Platforms.}, journal = {Bioinformatics (Oxford, England)}, volume = {31}, number = {19}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jun 10}, pages = {3130-3138}, abstract = {MOTIVATION: DNA methylation analysis suffers from very long processing time, since the advent of Next-Generation Sequencers (NGS) has shifted the bottleneck of genomic studies from the sequencers that obtain the DNA samples to the software that performs the analysis of these samples. The existing software for methylation analysis does not seem to scale efficiently neither with the size of the dataset nor with the length of the reads to be analyzed. Since it is expected that the sequencers will provide longer and longer reads in the near future, efficient and scalable methylation software should be developed. RESULTS: We present a new software tool, called HPG-Methyl, which efficiently maps bisulfite sequencing reads on DNA, analyzing DNA methylation. The strategy used by this software consists of leveraging the speed of the Burrows-Wheeler Transform to map a large number of DNA fragments (reads) rapidly, as well as the accuracy of the Smith-Waterman algorithm, which is exclusively employed to deal with the most ambiguous and shortest reads. Experimental results on platforms with Intel multicore processors show that HPGMethyl significantly outperforms in both execution time and sensitivity state-of-the-art software such as Bismark, BS-Seeker or BSMAP, particularly for long bisulfite reads. AVAILABILITY: Software in the form of C libraries and functions, together with instructions to compile and execute this software. Available by sftp to anonymous@clariano.uv.es (password "anonymous"). CONTACT: Juan.Orduna@uv.es.}, keywords = {BS-seq, HPC, methylation, NGS}, issn = {1367-4811}, doi = {10.1093/bioinformatics/btv357}, url = {http://bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/19/3130.long}, author = {T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and P{\'e}rez, Mariano and Ordu{\~n}a, Juan M and Duato, Jos{\'e} and Medina, Ignacio and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo} } @article {468, title = {PTMcode v2: a resource for functional associations of post-translational modifications within and between proteins.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {43}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan}, pages = {D494-502}, abstract = {

The post-translational regulation of proteins is mainly driven by two molecular events, their modification by several types of moieties and their interaction with other proteins. These two processes are interdependent and together are responsible for the function of the protein in a particular cell state. Several databases focus on the prediction and compilation of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and no less on the collection and analysis of protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), however, there are no resources that concentrate on describing the regulatory role of PTMs in PPIs. We developed several methods based on residue co-evolution and proximity to predict the functional associations of pairs of PTMs that we apply to modifications in the same protein and between two interacting proteins. In order to make data available for understudied organisms, PTMcode v2 (http://ptmcode.embl.de) includes a new strategy to propagate PTMs from validated modified sites through orthologous proteins. The second release of PTMcode covers 19 eukaryotic species from which we collected more than 300,000 experimentally verified PTMs (>1,300,000 propagated) of 69 types extracting the post-translational regulation of >100,000 proteins and >100,000 interactions. In total, we report 8 million associations of PTMs regulating single proteins and over 9.4 million interplays tuning PPIs.

}, keywords = {Databases, Protein, Internet, Protein Interaction Mapping, Protein Processing, Post-Translational}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gku1081}, author = {Minguez, Pablo and Letunic, Ivica and Parca, Luca and Garc{\'\i}a-Alonso, Luz and Dopazo, Joaquin and Huerta-Cepas, Jaime and Bork, Peer} } @article {1127, title = {Whole Exome Sequencing Reveals ZNF408 as a New Gene Associated With Autosomal Recessive Retinitis Pigmentosa with Vitreal Alterations.}, journal = {Human molecular genetics}, volume = {24}, number = {14}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 16}, pages = {4037-4048}, abstract = {Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a group of progressive inherited retinal dystrophies that cause visual impairment as a result of photoreceptor cell death. RP is heterogeneous, both clinically and genetically making difficult to establish precise genotype-phenotype correlations. In a Spanish family with autosomal recessive RP (arRP), homozygosity mapping and whole exome sequencing led to the identification of a homozygous mutation (c.358_359delGT; p.Ala122Leufs*2) in the ZNF408 gene. A screening performed in 217 additional unrelated families revealed another homozygous mutation (c.1621C>T; p.Arg541Cys) in an isolated RP case. ZNF408 encodes a transcription factor that harbors ten predicted C2H2-type fingers thought to be implicated in DNA binding. To elucidate the ZNF408 role in the retina and the pathogenesis of these mutations we have performed different functional studies. By immunohistochemical analysis in healthy human retina, we identified that ZNF408 is expressed in both cone and rod photoreceptors, in a specific type of amacrine and ganglion cells, and in retinal blood vessels. ZNF408 revealed a cytoplasmic localization and a nuclear distribution in areas corresponding with the euchromatin fraction. Immunolocalization studies showed a partial mislocalization of the p.Arg541Cys mutant protein retaining part of the WT protein in the cytoplasm. Our study demonstrates that ZNF408, previously associated with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), is a new gene causing arRP with vitreous condensations supporting the evidence that this protein plays additional functions into the human retina.}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddv140}, url = {http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/04/16/hmg.ddv140.abstract}, author = {Avila-Fernandez, Almudena and Perez-Carro, Raquel and Corton, Marta and Lopez-Molina, Maria Isabel and Campello, Laura and Garanto, Alex and Fernadez-Sanchez, Laura and Duijkers, Lonneke and Lopez-Martinez, Miguel Angel and Riveiro-Alvarez, Rosa and da Silva, Luciana Rodrigues Jacy and Sanchez-Alcudia, Roc{\'\i}o and Martin-Garrido, Esther and Reyes, Noelia and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dopazo, Joaquin and Garcia-Sandoval, Blanca and Collin, Rob W and Cuenca, Nicolas and Ayuso, Carmen} } @article {463, title = {Whole-exome sequencing reveals ZNF408 as a new gene associated with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa with vitreal alterations.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {24}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jul 15}, pages = {4037-48}, abstract = {

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of progressive inherited retinal dystrophies that cause visual impairment as a result of photoreceptor cell death. RP is heterogeneous, both clinically and genetically making difficult to establish precise genotype-phenotype correlations. In a Spanish family with autosomal recessive RP (arRP), homozygosity mapping and whole-exome sequencing led to the identification of a homozygous mutation (c.358_359delGT; p.Ala122Leufs*2) in the ZNF408 gene. A screening performed in 217 additional unrelated families revealed another homozygous mutation (c.1621C>T; p.Arg541Cys) in an isolated RP case. ZNF408 encodes a transcription factor that harbors 10 predicted C2H2-type fingers thought to be implicated in DNA binding. To elucidate the ZNF408 role in the retina and the pathogenesis of these mutations we have performed different functional studies. By immunohistochemical analysis in healthy human retina, we identified that ZNF408 is expressed in both cone and rod photoreceptors, in a specific type of amacrine and ganglion cells, and in retinal blood vessels. ZNF408 revealed a cytoplasmic localization and a nuclear distribution in areas corresponding with the euchromatin fraction. Immunolocalization studies showed a partial mislocalization of the p.Arg541Cys mutant protein retaining part of the WT protein in the cytoplasm. Our study demonstrates that ZNF408, previously associated with Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), is a new gene causing arRP with vitreous condensations supporting the evidence that this protein plays additional functions into the human retina.

}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Chlorocebus aethiops, Chromosome Mapping, COS Cells, DNA-Binding Proteins, Exome, Genome-Wide Association Study, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing, Homozygote, Humans, Molecular Sequence Data, Mutant Proteins, Pedigree, Retina, Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells, Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells, Retinitis pigmentosa, Transcription Factors}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddv140}, author = {Avila-Fernandez, Almudena and Perez-Carro, Raquel and Corton, Marta and Lopez-Molina, Maria Isabel and Campello, Laura and Garanto, Alejandro and Fernandez-Sanchez, Laura and Duijkers, Lonneke and Lopez-Martinez, Miguel Angel and Riveiro-Alvarez, Rosa and da Silva, Luciana Rodrigues Jacy and Sanchez-Alcudia, Roc{\'\i}o and Martin-Garrido, Esther and Reyes, Noelia and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dopazo, Joaquin and Garcia-Sandoval, Blanca and Collin, Rob W J and Cuenca, Nicolas and Ayuso, Carmen} } @article {493, title = {The Activation of the Sox2 RR2 Pluripotency Transcriptional Reporter in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines is Dynamic and Labels Cells with Higher Tumorigenic Potential.}, journal = {Front Oncol}, volume = {4}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {308}, abstract = {

The striking similarity displayed at the mechanistic level between tumorigenesis and the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells and the fact that genes and pathways relevant for embryonic development are reactivated during tumor progression highlights the link between pluripotency and cancer. Based on these observations, we tested whether it is possible to use a pluripotency-associated transcriptional reporter, whose activation is driven by the SRR2 enhancer from the Sox2 gene promoter (named S4+ reporter), to isolate cancer stem cells (CSCs) from breast cancer cell lines. The S4+ pluripotency transcriptional reporter allows the isolation of cells with enhanced tumorigenic potential and its activation was switched on and off in the cell lines studied, reflecting a plastic cellular process. Microarray analysis comparing the populations in which the reporter construct is active versus inactive showed that positive cells expressed higher mRNA levels of cytokines (IL-8, IL-6, TNF) and genes (such as ATF3, SNAI2, and KLF6) previously related with the CSC phenotype in breast cancer.

}, issn = {2234-943X}, doi = {10.3389/fonc.2014.00308}, author = {Iglesias, Juan Manuel and Leis, Olatz and P{\'e}rez Ruiz, Est{\'\i}baliz and Gumuzio Barrie, Juan and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Aduriz, Ariane and Beloqui, Izaskun and Hernandez-Garcia, Susana and Lopez-Mato, Maria Paz and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pandiella, Atanasio and Menendez, Javier A and Martin, Angel Garcia} } @article {1087, title = {Assessing technical performance in differential gene expression experiments with external spike-in RNA control ratio mixtures.}, journal = {Nature communications}, volume = {5}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {5125}, abstract = {There is a critical need for standard approaches to assess, report and compare the technical performance of genome-scale differential gene expression experiments. Here we assess technical performance with a proposed standard {\textquoteright}dashboard{\textquoteright} of metrics derived from analysis of external spike-in RNA control ratio mixtures. These control ratio mixtures with defined abundance ratios enable assessment of diagnostic performance of differentially expressed transcript lists, limit of detection of ratio (LODR) estimates and expression ratio variability and measurement bias. The performance metrics suite is applicable to analysis of a typical experiment, and here we also apply these metrics to evaluate technical performance among laboratories. An interlaboratory study using identical samples shared among 12 laboratories with three different measurement processes demonstrates generally consistent diagnostic power across 11 laboratories. Ratio measurement variability and bias are also comparable among laboratories for the same measurement process. We observe different biases for measurement processes using different mRNA-enrichment protocols.}, keywords = {RNA-seq}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms6125}, url = {http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140925/ncomms6125/full/ncomms6125.html}, author = {Munro, Sarah A and Lund, Steven P and Pine, P Scott and Binder, Hans and Clevert, Djork-Arn{\'e} and Ana Conesa and Dopazo, Joaquin and Fasold, Mario and Hochreiter, Sepp and Hong, Huixiao and Jafari, Nadereh and Kreil, David P and Labaj, Pawe{\l} P and Li, Sheng and Liao, Yang and Lin, Simon M and Meehan, Joseph and Mason, Christopher E and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier and Setterquist, Robert A and Shi, Leming and Shi, Wei and Smyth, Gordon K and Stralis-Pavese, Nancy and Su, Zhenqiang and Tong, Weida and Wang, Charles and Wang, Jian and Xu, Joshua and Ye, Zhan and Yang, Yong and Yu, Ying and Salit, Marc} } @article {1042, title = {Combined genetic and high-throughput strategies for molecular diagnosis of inherited retinal dystrophies.}, journal = {PloS one}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e88410}, abstract = {Most diagnostic laboratories are confronted with the increasing demand for molecular diagnosis from patients and families and the ever-increasing genetic heterogeneity of visual disorders. Concerning Retinal Dystrophies (RD), almost 200 causative genes have been reported to date, and most families carry private mutations. We aimed to approach RD genetic diagnosis using all the available genetic information to prioritize candidates for mutational screening, and then restrict the number of cases to be analyzed by massive sequencing. We constructed and optimized a comprehensive cosegregation RD-chip based on SNP genotyping and haplotype analysis. The RD-chip allows to genotype 768 selected SNPs (closely linked to 100 RD causative genes) in a single cost-, time-effective step. Full diagnosis was attained in 17/36 Spanish pedigrees, yielding 12 new and 12 previously reported mutations in 9 RD genes. The most frequently mutated genes were USH2A and CRB1. Notably, RD3-up to now only associated to Leber Congenital Amaurosis- was identified as causative of Retinitis Pigmentosa. The main assets of the RD-chip are: i) the robustness of the genetic information that underscores the most probable candidates, ii) the invaluable clues in cases of shared haplotypes, which are indicative of a common founder effect, and iii) the detection of extended haplotypes over closely mapping genes, which substantiates cosegregation, although the assumptions in which the genetic analysis is based could exceptionally lead astray. The combination of the genetic approach with whole exome sequencing (WES) greatly increases the diagnosis efficiency, and revealed novel mutations in USH2A and GUCY2D. Overall, the RD-chip diagnosis efficiency ranges from 16\% in dominant, to 80\% in consanguineous recessive pedigrees, with an average of 47\%, well within the upper range of massive sequencing approaches, highlighting the validity of this time- and cost-effective approach whilst high-throughput methodologies become amenable for routine diagnosis in medium sized labs.}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0088410}, url = {http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088410}, author = {de Castro-Mir{\'o}, Marta and Pomares, Esther and Lor{\'e}s-Motta, Laura and Tonda, Raul and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Marfany, Gemma and Gonz{\`a}lez-Duarte, Roser} } @article {1083, title = {A New Overgrowth Syndrome is Due to Mutations in RNF125.}, journal = {Human mutation}, volume = {35}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Sep 5}, pages = {1436{\textendash}1441}, abstract = {Overgrowth syndromes (OGS) are a group of disorders in which all parameters of growth and physical development are above the mean for age and sex. We evaluated a series of 270 families from the Spanish Overgrowth Syndrome Registry with no known overgrowth syndrome. We identified one de novo deletion and three missense mutations in RNF125 in six patients from 4 families with overgrowth, macrocephaly, intellectual disability, mild hydrocephaly, hypoglycaemia and inflammatory diseases resembling Sj{\"o}gren syndrome. RNF125 encodes an E3 ubiquitin ligase and is a novel gene of OGS. Our studies of the RNF125 pathway point to upregulation of RIG-I-IPS1-MDA5 and/or disruption of the PI3K-AKT and interferon signaling pathways as the putative final effectors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.}, keywords = {NGS, prioritization, Rare Disease}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.22689}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/humu.22689/abstract}, author = {Tenorio, Jair and Mansilla, Alicia and Valencia, Mar{\'\i}a and Mart{\'\i}nez-Glez, V{\'\i}ctor and Romanelli, Valeria and Arias, Pedro and Castrej{\'o}n, Nerea and Poletta, Fernando and Guill{\'e}n-Navarro, Encarna and Gordo, Gema and Mansilla, Elena and Garc{\'\i}a-Santiago, F{\'e} and Gonz{\'a}lez-Casado, Isabel and Vallesp{\'\i}n, Elena and Palomares, Mar{\'\i}a and Mori, Mar{\'\i}a A and Santos-Simarro, Fernando and Garc{\'\i}a-Mi{\~n}aur, Sixto and Fern{\'a}ndez, Luis and Mena, Roc{\'\i}o and Benito-Sanz, Sara and Del Pozo, Angela and Silla, Juan Carlos and Iba{\~n}ez, Kristina and L{\'o}pez-Granados, Eduardo and Mart{\'\i}n-Trujillo, Alex and Montaner, David and Heath, Karen E and Campos-Barros, Angel and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Nevado, Juli{\'a}n and Monk, David and Ruiz-P{\'e}rez, V{\'\i}ctor L and Lapunzina, Pablo} } @article {1066, title = {A novel locus for a hereditary recurrent neuropathy on chromosome 21q21.}, journal = {Neuromuscular disorders : NMD}, volume = {24}, number = {8}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 May 9}, pages = {660-5}, abstract = {Hereditary recurrent neuropathies are uncommon. Disorders with a known molecular basis falling within this group include hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies (HNPP) due to the deletion of the PMP22 gene or to mutations in this same gene, and hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy (HNA) caused by mutations in the SEPT9 gene. We report a three-generation family presenting a hereditary recurrent neuropathy without pathological changes in either PMP22 or SEPT9 genes. We performed a genome-wide mapping, which yielded a locus of 12.4Mb on chromosome 21q21. The constructed haplotype fully segregated with the disease and we found significant evidence of linkage. After mutational screening of genes located within this locus, encoding for proteins and microRNAs, as well as analysis of large deletions/insertions, we identified 71 benign polymorphisms. Our findings suggest a novel genetic locus for a recurrent hereditary neuropathy of which the molecular defect remains elusive. Our results further underscore the clinical and genetic heterogeneity of this group of neuropathies.}, issn = {1873-2364}, doi = {10.1016/j.nmd.2014.04.004}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960896614001060$\#$}, author = {Calpena, E and Mart{\'\i}nez-Rubio, D and Arpa, J and Garc{\'\i}a-Pe{\~n}as, J J and Montaner, D. and Dopazo, J. and Palau, F and Espin{\'o}s, C} } @article {491, title = {Pathway network inference from gene expression data.}, journal = {BMC Syst Biol}, volume = {8 Suppl 2}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {S7}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The development of high-throughput omics technologies enabled genome-wide measurements of the activity of cellular elements and provides the analytical resources for the progress of the Systems Biology discipline. Analysis and interpretation of gene expression data has evolved from the gene to the pathway and interaction level, i.e. from the detection of differentially expressed genes, to the establishment of gene interaction networks and the identification of enriched functional categories. Still, the understanding of biological systems requires a further level of analysis that addresses the characterization of the interaction between functional modules.

RESULTS: We present a novel computational methodology to study the functional interconnections among the molecular elements of a biological system. The PANA approach uses high-throughput genomics measurements and a functional annotation scheme to extract an activity profile from each functional block -or pathway- followed by machine-learning methods to infer the relationships between these functional profiles. The result is a global, interconnected network of pathways that represents the functional cross-talk within the molecular system. We have applied this approach to describe the functional transcriptional connections during the yeast cell cycle and to identify pathways that change their connectivity in a disease condition using an Alzheimer example.

CONCLUSIONS: PANA is a useful tool to deepen in our understanding of the functional interdependences that operate within complex biological systems. We show the approach is algorithmically consistent and the inferred network is well supported by the available functional data. The method allows the dissection of the molecular basis of the functional connections and we describe the different regulatory mechanisms that explain the network{\textquoteright}s topology obtained for the yeast cell cycle data.

}, keywords = {Alzheimer Disease, Cell Cycle, DNA Replication, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Regulatory Networks, Gluconeogenesis, Glycolysis, Oxidative Phosphorylation, Proteolysis, Purines, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Systems biology, Ubiquitin}, issn = {1752-0509}, doi = {10.1186/1752-0509-8-S2-S7}, author = {Ponzoni, Ignacio and Nueda, Mar{\'\i}a and Tarazona, Sonia and G{\"o}tz, Stefan and Montaner, David and Dussaut, Julieta and Dopazo, Joaquin and Conesa, Ana} } @article {484, title = {Two novel mutations in the BCKDK (branched-chain keto-acid dehydrogenase kinase) gene are responsible for a neurobehavioral deficit in two pediatric unrelated patients.}, journal = {Hum Mutat}, volume = {35}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr}, pages = {470-7}, abstract = {

Inactivating mutations in the BCKDK gene, which codes for the kinase responsible for the negative regulation of the branched-chain Ī±-keto acid dehydrogenase complex (BCKD), have recently been associated with a form of autism in three families. In this work, two novel exonic BCKDK mutations, c.520C>G/p.R174G and c.1166T>C/p.L389P, were identified at the homozygous state in two unrelated children with persistently reduced body fluid levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), developmental delay, microcephaly, and neurobehavioral abnormalities. Functional analysis of the mutations confirmed the missense character of the c.1166T>C change and showed a splicing defect r.[520c>g;521_543del]/p.R174Gfs1*, for c.520C>G due to the presence of a new donor splice site. Mutation p.L389P showed total loss of kinase activity. Moreover, patient-derived fibroblasts showed undetectable (p.R174Gfs1*) or barely detectable (p.L389P) levels of BCKDK protein and its phosphorylated substrate (phospho-E1Ī±), resulting in increased BCKD activity and the very rapid BCAA catabolism manifested by the patients{\textquoteright} clinical phenotype. Based on these results, a protein-rich diet plus oral BCAA supplementation was implemented in the patient homozygous for p.R174Gfs1*. This treatment normalized plasma BCAA levels and improved growth, developmental and behavioral variables. Our results demonstrate that BCKDK mutations can result in neurobehavioral deficits in humans and support the rationale for dietary intervention.

}, keywords = {Amino Acids, Branched-Chain, Developmental Disabilities, Fibroblasts, Humans, Male, Mutation, Missense, Nervous System Diseases, Pediatrics, Protein Kinases}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.22513}, author = {Garc{\'\i}a-Cazorla, Angels and Oyarzabal, Alfonso and Fort, Joana and Robles, Concepci{\'o}n and Castej{\'o}n, Esperanza and Ruiz-Sala, Pedro and Bodoy, Susanna and Merinero, Bego{\~n}a and Lopez-Sala, Anna and Dopazo, Joaquin and Nunes, Virginia and Ugarte, Magdalena and Artuch, Rafael and Palac{\'\i}n, Manuel and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Pombo, Pilar and Alcaide, Patricia and Navarrete, Rosa and Sanz, Paloma and Font-Llitj{\'o}s, Mariona and Vilaseca, Ma Antonia and Ormaizabal, Aida and Pristoupilova, Anna and Agull{\'o}, Sergi Beltran} } @article {1041, title = {Two Novel Mutations in the BCKDK Gene (Branched-Chain Keto-Acid Dehydrogenase Kinase) are Responsible of a Neurobehavioral Deficit in two Pediatric Unrelated Patients.}, journal = {Human mutation}, volume = {35}, number = {4}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jan 21}, pages = {470-7}, abstract = {Inactivating mutations in the BCKDK gene, which codes for the kinase responsible for the negative regulation of the branched-chain keto-acid dehydrogenase complex (BCKD), have recently been associated with a form of autism in three families. In this work, two novel exonic BCKDK mutations, c.520C>G/p.R174G and c.1166T>C/p.L389P, were identified at the homozygous state in two unrelated children with persistently reduced body fluid levels of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), developmental delay, microcephaly and neurobehavioral abnormalities. Functional analysis of the mutations confirmed the missense character of the c.1166T>C change and showed a splicing defect r.[520c>g;521_543del]/p.R174Gfs1*, for c.520C>G due to the presence of a new donor splice site. Mutation p.L389P showed total loss of kinase activity. Moreover, patient-derived fibroblasts showed undetectable (p.R174Gfs1*) or barely detectable (p.L389P) levels of BCKDK protein and its phosphorylated substrate (phospho-E1Ī±), resulting in increased BCKD activity and the very rapid BCAA catabolism manifested by the patients{\textquoteright} clinical phenotype. Based on these results, a protein-rich diet plus oral BCAA supplementation was implemented in the patient homozygous for p.R174Gfs1*. This treatment normalized plasma BCAA levels and improved growth, developmental and behavioral variables. Our results demonstrate that BCKDK mutations can result in neurobehavioral deficits in humans and support the rationale for dietary intervention. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.22513}, url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/humu.22513/abstract}, author = {Garc{\'\i}a-Cazorla, Angels and Oyarzabal, Alfonso and Fort, Joana and Robles, Concepci{\'o}n and Castej{\'o}n, Esperanza and Ruiz-Sala, Pedro and Bodoy, Susanna and Merinero, Bego{\~n}a and Lopez-Sala, Anna and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Nunes, Virginia and Ugarte, Magdalena and Artuch, Rafael and Palac{\'\i}n, Manuel and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Pombo, Pilar} } @article {21919703, title = {Assessing Differential Expression Measurements by Highly Parallel Pyrosequencing and DNA Microarrays: A Comparative Study.}, journal = {Omics : a journal of integrative biology}, year = {2013}, month = {2011 Sep 15}, abstract = {

Abstract To explore the feasibility of pyrosequencing for quantitative differential gene expression analysis we have performed a comparative study of the results of the sequencing experiments to those obtained by a conventional DNA microarray platform. A conclusion from our analysis is that, over a threshold of 35 normalized reads per gene, the measurements of gene expression display a good correlation with the references. The observed concordance between pyrosequencing and DNA microarray platforms beyond the threshold was of 0.8, measured as a Pearson{\textquoteright}s correlation coefficient. In differential gene expression the initial aim is the quantification the differences among transcripts when comparing experimental conditions. Thus, even in a scenario of low coverage the concordance in the measurements is quite acceptable. On the other hand, the comparatively longer read size obtained by pyrosequencing allows detecting unconventional splicing forms.

}, doi = {10.1089/omi.2011.0065}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3545353/}, author = {Ari{\~n}o, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Casamayor, Antonio and P{\'e}rez, Juli{\'a}n Perez and Pedrola, Laia and Alvarez-Tejado, Miguel and Marb{\`a}, Martina and Santoyo, Javier and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo} } @article {1047, title = {Capturing the biological impact of CDKN2A and MC1R genes as an early predisposing event in melanoma and non melanoma skin cancer.}, journal = {Oncotarget}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Dec 16}, abstract = {Germline mutations in CDKN2A and/or red hair color variants in MC1R genes are associated with an increased susceptibility to develop cutaneous melanoma or non melanoma skin cancer. We studied the impact of the CDKN2A germinal mutation p.G101W and MC1R variants on gene expression and transcription profiles associated with skin cancer. To this end we set-up primary skin cell co-cultures from siblings of melanoma prone-families that were later analyzed using the expression array approach. As a result, we found that 1535 transcripts were deregulated in CDKN2A mutated cells, with over-expression of immunity-related genes (HLA-DPB1, CLEC2B, IFI44, IFI44L, IFI27, IFIT1, IFIT2, SP110 and IFNK) and down-regulation of genes playing a role in the Notch signaling pathway. 3570 transcripts were deregulated in MC1R variant carriers. In particular, genes related to oxidative stress and DNA damage pathways were up-regulated as well as genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson{\textquoteright}s, Alzheimer and Huntington. Finally, we observed that the expression signatures indentified in phenotypically normal cells carrying CDKN2A mutations or MC1R variants are maintained in skin cancer tumors (melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma). These results indicate that transcriptome deregulation represents an early event critical for skin cancer development.}, issn = {1949-2553}, url = {http://www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget/index.php?journal=oncotarget\&page=article\&op=view\&path\%5B\%5D=1444\&path\%5B\%5D=1824}, author = {Puig-Butille, Joan Anton and Escamez, Maria Jos{\'e} and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Tell-Marti, Gemma and Fabra, Angels and Mart{\'\i}nez-Santamar{\'\i}a, Luc{\'\i}a and Badenas, Celia and Aguilera, Paula and Pevida, Marta and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Del Rio, Marcela and Puig, Susana} } @article {503, title = {Defining the genomic signature of totipotency and pluripotency during early human development.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e62135}, abstract = {

The genetic mechanisms governing human pre-implantation embryo development and the in vitro counterparts, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), still remain incomplete. Previous global genome studies demonstrated that totipotent blastomeres from day-3 human embryos and pluripotent inner cell masses (ICMs) from blastocysts, display unique and differing transcriptomes. Nevertheless, comparative gene expression analysis has revealed that no significant differences exist between hESCs derived from blastomeres versus those obtained from ICMs, suggesting that pluripotent hESCs involve a new developmental progression. To understand early human stages evolution, we developed an undifferentiation network signature (UNS) and applied it to a differential gene expression profile between single blastomeres from day-3 embryos, ICMs and hESCs. This allowed us to establish a unique signature composed of highly interconnected genes characteristic of totipotency (61 genes), in vivo pluripotency (20 genes), and in vitro pluripotency (107 genes), and which are also proprietary according to functional analysis. This systems biology approach has led to an improved understanding of the molecular and signaling processes governing human pre-implantation embryo development, as well as enabling us to comprehend how hESCs might adapt to in vitro culture conditions.

}, keywords = {Blastocyst Inner Cell Mass, Blastomeres, Cell Differentiation, Embryonic Development, Embryonic Stem Cells, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Regulatory Networks, Genome, Human, Humans, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Pluripotent Stem Cells, Totipotent Stem Cells}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0062135}, author = {Galan, Amparo and Diaz-Gimeno, Patricia and Poo, Maria Eugenia and Valbuena, Diana and Sanchez, Eva and Ruiz, Veronica and Dopazo, Joaquin and Montaner, David and Conesa, Ana and Simon, Carlos} } @article {505, title = {Mammosphere formation in breast carcinoma cell lines depends upon expression of E-cadherin.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e77281}, abstract = {

Tumors are heterogeneous at the cellular level where the ability to maintain tumor growth resides in discrete cell populations. Floating sphere-forming assays are broadly used to test stem cell activity in tissues, tumors and cell lines. Spheroids are originated from a small population of cells with stem cell features able to grow in suspension culture and behaving as tumorigenic in mice. We tested the ability of eleven common breast cancer cell lines representing the major breast cancer subtypes to grow as mammospheres, measuring the ability to maintain cell viability upon serial non-adherent passage. Only MCF7, T47D, BT474, MDA-MB-436 and JIMT1 were successfully propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures, measured as the increase in the number of viable cells upon serial non-adherent passages. Other cell lines tested (SKBR3, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-435) formed cell clumps that can be disaggregated mechanically, but cell viability drops dramatically on their second passage. HCC1937 and HCC1569 cells formed typical mammospheres, although they could not be propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures. All the sphere forming lines but MDA-MB-436 express E-cadherin on their surface. Knock down of E-cadherin expression in MCF-7 cells abrogated its ability to grow as mammospheres, while re-expression of E-cadherin in SKBR3 cells allow them to form mammospheres. Therefore, the mammosphere assay is suitable to reveal stem like features in breast cancer cell lines that express E-cadherin.

}, keywords = {Breast Neoplasms, Cadherins, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Proliferation, Cluster Analysis, Female, gene expression, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Gene Knockdown Techniques, Humans, MCF-7 Cells, Neoplastic Stem Cells, Spheroids, Cellular, Tumor Cells, Cultured}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0077281}, author = {Manuel Iglesias, Juan and Beloqui, Izaskun and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Leis, Olatz and Vazquez-Martin, Alejandro and Eguiara, Arrate and Cufi, Silvia and Pavon, Andres and Menendez, Javier A and Dopazo, Joaquin and Martin, Angel G} } @article {1022, title = {Mammosphere Formation in Breast Carcinoma Cell Lines Depends upon Expression of E-cadherin}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013/10/04}, pages = {e77281 -}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, abstract = {

Tumors are heterogeneous at the cellular level where the ability to maintain tumor growth resides in discrete cell populations. Floating sphere-forming assays are broadly used to test stem cell activity in tissues, tumors and cell lines. Spheroids are originated from a small population of cells with stem cell features able to grow in suspension culture and behaving as tumorigenic in mice. We tested the ability of eleven common breast cancer cell lines representing the major breast cancer subtypes to grow as mammospheres, measuring the ability to maintain cell viability upon serial non-adherent passage. Only MCF7, T47D, BT474, MDA-MB-436 and JIMT1 were successfully propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures, measured as the increase in the number of viable cells upon serial non-adherent passages. Other cell lines tested (SKBR3, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-435) formed cell clumps that can be disaggregated mechanically, but cell viability drops dramatically on their second passage. HCC1937 and HCC1569 cells formed typical mammospheres, although they could not be propagated as long-term mammosphere cultures. All the sphere forming lines but MDA-MB-436 express E-cadherin on their surface. Knock down of E-cadherin expression in MCF-7 cells abrogated its ability to grow as mammospheres, while re-expression of E-cadherin in SKBR3 cells allow them to form mammospheres. Therefore, the mammosphere assay is suitable to reveal stem like features in breast cancer cell lines that express E-cadherin.

}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371\%2Fjournal.pone.0077281}, author = {Manuel Iglesias, Juan and Beloqui, Izaskun and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Leis, Olatz and Vazquez-Martin, Alejandro and Eguiara, Arrate and Cufi, Silvia and Pavon, Andres and Menendez, Javier A. and Dopazo, Joaquin and Martin, Angel G.} } @article {501, title = {Role of CPI-17 in restoring skin homoeostasis in cutaneous field of cancerization: effects of topical application of a film-forming medical device containing photolyase and UV filters.}, journal = {Exp Dermatol}, volume = {22}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jul}, pages = {494-6}, abstract = {

Cutaneous field of cancerization (CFC) is caused in part by the carcinogenic effect of the cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers CPD and 6-4 photoproducts (6-4PPs). Photoreactivation is carried out by photolyases which specifically recognize and repair both photoproducts. The study evaluates the molecular effects of topical application of a film-forming medical device containing photolyase and UV filters on the precancerous field in AK from seven patients. Skin improvement after treatment was confirmed in all patients by histopathological and molecular assessment. A gene set analysis showed that skin recovery was associated with biological processes involved in tissue homoeostasis and cell maintenance. The CFC response was associated with over-expression of the CPI-17 gene, and a dependence on the initial expression level was observed (P~=~0.001). Low CPI-17 levels were directly associated with pro-inflammatory genes such as TNF (P~=~0.012) and IL-1B (P~=~0.07). Our results suggest a role for CPI-17 in restoring skin homoeostasis in CFC lesions.

}, keywords = {Administration, Topical, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Biopsy, Deoxyribodipyrimidine Photo-Lyase, Female, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Homeostasis, Humans, Inflammation, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Liposomes, Male, Middle Aged, Muscle Proteins, Phenotype, Phosphoprotein Phosphatases, Reactive Oxygen Species, Skin, Skin Neoplasms, Ultraviolet Rays}, issn = {1600-0625}, doi = {10.1111/exd.12177}, author = {Puig-Butille, Joan Anton and Malvehy, Josep and Potrony, Miriam and Trullas, Carles and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Dopazo, Joaquin and Puig, Susana} } @article {931, title = {Development, Characterization and Experimental Validation of a Cultivated Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) Gene Expression Oligonucleotide Microarray.}, journal = {PloS one}, volume = {7}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {e45899}, abstract = {Oligonucleotide-based microarrays with accurate gene coverage represent a key strategy for transcriptional studies in orphan species such as sunflower, H. annuus L., which lacks full genome sequences. The goal of this study was the development and functional annotation of a comprehensive sunflower unigene collection and the design and validation of a custom sunflower oligonucleotide-based microarray. A large scale EST (>130,000 ESTs) curation, assembly and sequence annotation was performed using Blast2GO (www.blast2go.de). The EST assembly comprises 41,013 putative transcripts (12,924 contigs and 28,089 singletons). The resulting Sunflower Unigen Resource (SUR version 1.0) was used to design an oligonucleotide-based Agilent microarray for cultivated sunflower. This microarray includes a total of 42,326 features: 1,417 Agilent controls, 74 control probes for sunflower replicated 10 times (740 controls) and 40,169 different non-control probes. Microarray performance was validated using a model experiment examining the induction of senescence by water deficit. Pre-processing and differential expression analysis of Agilent microarrays was performed using the Bioconductor limma package. The analyses based on p-values calculated by eBayes (p<0.01) allowed the detection of 558 differentially expressed genes between water stress and control conditions; from these, ten genes were further validated by qPCR. Over-represented ontologies were identified using FatiScan in the Babelomics suite. This work generated a curated and trustable sunflower unigene collection, and a custom, validated sunflower oligonucleotide-based microarray using Agilent technology. Both the curated unigene collection and the validated oligonucleotide microarray provide key resources for sunflower genome analysis, transcriptional studies, and molecular breeding for crop improvement.}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0045899}, url = {http://www.plosone.org/article/info\%3Adoi\%2F10.1371\%2Fjournal.pone.0045899}, author = {Fernandez, Paula and Soria, Marcelo and Blesa, David and Dirienzo, Julio and Moschen, Sebasti{\'a}n and Rivarola, M{\'a}ximo and Clavijo, Bernardo Jose and Gonzalez, Sergio and Peluffo, Lucila and Pr{\'\i}ncipi, Dario and Dosio, Guillermo and Aguirrezabal, Luis and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Ana Conesa and Hopp, Esteban and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Heinz, Ruth Amelia and Paniego, Norma} } @article {913, title = {Expression profiling shows differential molecular pathways and provides potential new diagnostic biomarkers for colorectal serrated adenocarcinoma.}, journal = {International journal of cancer. Journal international du cancer}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Jun 14}, abstract = {Serrated adenocarcinoma (SAC) is a recently recognized colorectal cancer (CRC) subtype accounting for 7.5-8.7\% of CRCs. It has been shown that SAC has a poorer prognosis and has different molecular and immunohistochemical features compared to conventional carcinoma (CC) but, to date, only one previous study has analysed its mRNA expression profile by microarray. Using a different microarray platform, we have studied the molecular signature of 11 SACs and compared it with that of 15 matched CC with the aim of discerning the functions which characterize SAC biology and validating, at the mRNA and protein level, the most differentially expressed genes which were also tested using a validation set of 70 SACs and 70 CCs to assess their diagnostic and prognostic values. Microarray data showed a higher representation of morphogenesis-, hypoxia-, cytoskeleton- and vesicle transport-related functions and also an over-expression of fascin1 (actin-bundling protein associated with invasion) and the antiapoptotic gene hippocalcin in SAC all of which were validated both by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. Fascin1 expression was statistically associated with KRAS mutation with 88.6\% sensitivity and 85.7\% specificity for SAC diagnosis and the positivity of fascin1 or hippocalcin was highly suggestive of SAC diagnosis (sensitivity=100\%). Evaluation of these markers in CRCs showing histological and molecular characteristics of high-level microsatellite instability (MSI-H) also helped to distinguish SACs from MSI-H CRCs. Molecular profiling demonstrates that SAC shows activation of distinct signalling pathways and that immunohistochemical fascin1 and hippocalcin expression can be reliably used for its differentiation from other CRC subtypes. {\textcopyright} 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.}, issn = {1097-0215}, doi = {10.1002/ijc.27674}, author = {Conesa-Zamora, Pablo and Garc{\'\i}a-Solano, Jos{\'e} and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Del Carmen Turpin, Mar{\'\i}a and Trujillo-Santos, Javier and Torres-Moreno, Daniel and Oviedo-Ram{\'\i}rez, Isabel and Carbonell-Mu{\~n}oz, Rosa and Mu{\~n}oz-Delgado, Encarnaci{\'o}n and Rodriguez-Braun, Edith and Ana Conesa and P{\'e}rez-Guillermo, Miguel} } @article {950, title = {Identification of yeast genes that confer resistance to chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) using chemogenomics.}, journal = {BMC genomics}, volume = {13}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {267}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), a deacetylated derivative of chitin, is an abundant, and renewable natural polymer. COS has higher antimicrobial properties than chitosan and is presumed to act by disrupting/permeabilizing the cell membranes of bacteria, yeast and fungi. COS is relatively non-toxic to mammals. By identifying the molecular and genetic targets of COS, we hope to gain a better understanding of the antifungal mode of action of COS. RESULTS: Three different chemogenomic fitness assays, haploinsufficiency (HIP), homozygous deletion (HOP), and multicopy suppression (MSP) profiling were combined with a transcriptomic analysis to gain insight in to the mode of action and mechanisms of resistance to chitosan oligosaccharides. The fitness assays identified 39 yeast deletion strains sensitive to COS and 21 suppressors of COS sensitivity. The genes identified are involved in processes such as RNA biology (transcription, translation and regulatory mechanisms), membrane functions (e.g. signalling, transport and targeting), membrane structural components, cell division, and proteasome processes. The transcriptomes of control wild type and 5 suppressor strains overexpressing ARL1, BCK2, ERG24, MSG5, or RBA50, were analyzed in the presence and absence of COS. Some of the up-regulated transcripts in the suppressor overexpressing strains exposed to COS included genes involved in transcription, cell cycle, stress response and the Ras signal transduction pathway. Down-regulated transcripts included those encoding protein folding components and respiratory chain proteins. The COS-induced transcriptional response is distinct from previously described environmental stress responses (i.e. thermal, salt, osmotic and oxidative stress) and pre-treatment with these well characterized environmental stressors provided little or any resistance to COS. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of the ARL1 gene, a member of the Ras superfamily that regulates membrane trafficking, provides protection against COS-induced cell membrane permeability and damage. We found that the ARL1 COS-resistant over-expression strain was as sensitive to Amphotericin B, Fluconazole and Terbinafine as the wild type cells and that when COS and Fluconazole are used in combination they act in a synergistic fashion. The gene targets of COS identified in this study indicate that COS{\textquoteright}s mechanism of action is different from other commonly studied fungicides that target membranes, suggesting that COS may be an effective fungicide for drug-resistant fungal pathogens.}, issn = {1471-2164}, doi = {10.1186/1471-2164-13-267}, author = {Jaime, Mar{\'\i}a D L A and Lopez-Llorca, Luis Vicente and Ana Conesa and Lee, Anna Y and Proctor, Michael and Heisler, Lawrence E and Gebbia, Marinella and Giaever, Guri and Westwood, J Timothy and Nislow, Corey} } @article {521, title = {The protease MT1-MMP drives a combinatorial proteolytic program in activated endothelial cells.}, journal = {FASEB J}, volume = {26}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Nov}, pages = {4481-94}, abstract = {

The mechanism by which proteolytic events translate into biological responses is not well understood. To explore the link of pericellular proteolysis to events relevant to capillary sprouting within the inflammatory context, we aimed at the identification of the collection of substrates of the protease MT1-MMP in endothelial tip cells induced by inflammatory stimuli. We applied quantitative proteomics to endothelial cells (ECs) derived from wild-type and MT1-MMP-null mice to identify the substrate repertoire of this protease in TNF-Ī±-activated ECs. Bioinformatics analysis revealed a combinatorial MT1-MMP proteolytic program, in which combined rather than single substrate processing would determine biological decisions by activated ECs, including chemotaxis, cell motility and adhesion, and vasculature development. MT1-MMP-deficient ECs inefficiently processed several of these substrates (TSP1, CYR61, NID1, and SEM3C), validating the model. This novel concept of MT1-MMP-driven combinatorial proteolysis in angiogenesis might be extendable to proteolytic actions in other cellular contexts.

}, keywords = {Animals, Blotting, Western, Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques, Computational Biology, Endothelial Cells, Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic, Inflammation, Matrix Metalloproteinase 14, Mice, Protein Array Analysis, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, RNA Interference, RNA, Small Interfering, Transcriptome, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha}, issn = {1530-6860}, doi = {10.1096/fj.12-205906}, author = {Koziol, Agnieszka and Gonzalo, Pilar and Mota, Alba and Poll{\'a}n, Angela and Lorenzo, Cristina and Colom{\'e}, Nuria and Montaner, David and Dopazo, Joaquin and Arribas, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Canals, Francesc and Arroyo, Alicia G} } @article {939, title = {Select your SNPs (SYSNPs): a web tool for automatic and massive selection of SNPs.}, journal = {International journal of data mining and bioinformatics}, volume = {6}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {324-34}, abstract = {Association studies are the choice approach in the discovery of the genomic basis of complex traits. To carry out such analysis, researchers frequently need to (1) select optimally informative sets of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate regions and (2) annotate the results of associations found by means of genome-wide SNP arrays. These are complex tasks, since many criteria have to be considered, including the SNPs{\textquoteright} functional properties, technological information and haplotype frequencies in given populations. SYSNPs implements algorithms that allow for efficient and simultaneous consideration of all the relevant criteria to obtain sets of SNPs that properly cover arbitrarily large lists of genes or genomic regions. Complementarily, SYSNPs allows for comprehensive functional annotation of SNPs linked to any given marker SNP. SYSNPs dramatically reduces the effort needed for SNP selection from days of searching various databases to a few minutes using a simple browser.}, issn = {1748-5673}, url = {http://inderscience.metapress.com/content/f76740x8071u513n/}, author = {Lorente-Galdos, Bel{\'e}n and Medina, Ignacio and Morcillo-Suarez, Carlos and Heredia, Txema and Carre{\~n}o-Torres, Angel and Sangr{\'o}s, Ricardo and Alegre, Josep and Pita, Guillermo and Vellalta, Gemma and Malats, Nuria and Pisano, David G and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Navarro, Arcadi} } @article {1028, title = {Transdifferentiation of MALME-3M and MCF-7 Cells toward Adipocyte-like Cells is Dependent on Clathrin-mediated Endocytosis.}, journal = {SpringerPlus}, volume = {1}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {44}, abstract = {ABSTRACT: Enforced cell transdifferentiation of human cancer cells is a promising alternative to conventional chemotherapy. We previously identified albumin-associated lipid- and, more specifically, saturated fatty acid-induced transdifferentiation programs in human cancer cells (HCCLs). In this study, we further characterized the adipocyte-like cells, resulting from the transdifferentiation of human cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MALME-3M, and proposed a common mechanistic approach for these transdifferentiating programs. We showed the loss of pigmentation in MALME-3M cells treated with albumin-associated lipids, based on electron microscopic analysis, and the overexpression of perilipin 2 (PLIN2) by western blotting in MALME-3M and MCF-7 cells treated with unsaturated fatty acids. Comparing the gene expression profiles of naive melanoma MALME-3M cells and albumin-associated lipid-treated cells, based on RNA sequencing, we confirmed the transcriptional upregulation of some key adipogenic gene markers and also an alternative splicing of the adipogenic master regulator PPARG, that is probably related to the reported up regulated expression of the protein. Most importantly, these results also showed the upregulation of genes responsible for Clathrin (CLTC) and other adaptor-related proteins. An increase in CLTC expression in the transdifferentiated cells was confirmed by western blotting. Inactivation of CLTC by chlorpromazine (CHP), an inhibitor of CTLC mediated endocytosis (CME), and gene silencing by siRNAs, partially reversed the accumulation of neutral lipids observed in the transdifferentiated cells. These findings give a deeper insight into the phenotypic changes observed in HCCL to adipocyte-like transdifferentiation and point towards CME as a key pathway in distinct transdifferentiation programs. DISCLOSURES: Simon C and Aguilar-Gallardo C are co-inventors of the International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2011/004941 entitled "Methods for tumor treatment and adipogenesis differentiation".}, issn = {2193-1801}, doi = {10.1186/2193-1801-1-44}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3725915/}, author = {Carcel-Trullols, Jaime and Aguilar-Gallardo, Crist{\'o}bal and Garc{\'\i}a-Alcalde, Fernando and Pardo-Cea, Miguel Angel and Dopazo, Joaquin and Ana Conesa and Simon, Carlos} } @article {21266330, title = {Differential Lipid Partitioning Between Adipocytes and Tissue Macrophages Modulates Macrophage Lipotoxicity and M2/M1 Polarization in Obese Mice.}, journal = {Diabetes}, volume = {60}, number = {3}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jan 24}, pages = {797-809}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE Obesity-associated insulin resistance is characterized by a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation that is associated with the accumulation of M1 proinflammatory macrophages in adipose tissue. Although different evidence explains the mechanisms linking the expansion of adipose tissue and adipose tissue macrophage (ATM) polarization, in the current study we investigated the concept of lipid-induced toxicity as the pathogenic link that could explain the trigger of this response. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We addressed this question using isolated ATMs and adipocytes from genetic and diet-induced murine models of obesity. Through transcriptomic and lipidomic analysis, we created a model integrating transcript and lipid species networks simultaneously occurring in adipocytes and ATMs and their reversibility by thiazolidinedione treatment. RESULTS We show that polarization of ATMs is associated with lipid accumulation and the consequent formation of foam cell-like cells in adipose tissue. Our study reveals that early stages of adipose tissue expansion are characterized by M2-polarized ATMs and that progressive lipid accumulation within ATMs heralds the M1 polarization, a macrophage phenotype associated with severe obesity and insulin resistance. Furthermore, rosiglitazone treatment, which promotes redistribution of lipids toward adipocytes and extends the M2 ATM polarization state, prevents the lipid alterations associated with M1 ATM polarization. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that the M1 ATM polarization in obesity might be a macrophage-specific manifestation of a more general lipotoxic pathogenic mechanism. This indicates that strategies to optimize fat deposition and repartitioning toward adipocytes might improve insulin sensitivity by preventing ATM lipotoxicity and M1 polarization.

}, author = {Prieur, Xavier and Mok, Crystal Y L and Velagapudi, Vidya R and N{\'u}{\~n}ez, Vanessa and Fuentes, Luc{\'\i}a and Montaner, David and Ishikawa, Ko and Camacho, Alberto and Barbarroja, Nuria and O{\textquoteright}Rahilly, Stephen and Sethi, Jaswinder and Dopazo, Joaquin and Oresic, Matej and Ricote, Mercedes and Vidal-Puig, Antonio} } @article {22039362, title = {Discovery of an ebolavirus-like filovirus in europe.}, journal = {PLoS pathogens}, volume = {7}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Oct}, pages = {e1002304}, abstract = {

Filoviruses, amongst the most lethal of primate pathogens, have only been reported as natural infections in sub-Saharan Africa and the Philippines. Infections of bats with the ebolaviruses and marburgviruses do not appear to be associated with disease. Here we report identification in dead insectivorous bats of a genetically distinct filovirus, provisionally named Lloviu virus, after the site of detection, Cueva del Lloviu, in Spain.

}, author = {Negredo, Ana and Palacios, Gustavo and V{\'a}zquez-Mor{\'o}n, Sonia and Gonz{\'a}lez, F{\'e}lix and Dopazo, Hern{\'a}n and Molero, Francisca and Juste, Javier and Quetglas, Juan and Savji, Nazir and de la Cruz Mart{\'\i}nez, Maria and Herrera, Jesus Enrique and Pizarro, Manuel and Hutchison, Stephen K and Echevarr{\'\i}a, Juan E and Lipkin, W Ian and Tenorio, Antonio} } @article {21824869, title = {Genome-wide heterogeneity of nucleotide substitution model fit.}, journal = {Genome biology and evolution}, volume = {3}, year = {2011}, month = {2011}, pages = {896-908}, abstract = {

At a genomic scale, the patterns that have shaped molecular evolution are believed to be largely heterogeneous. Consequently, comparative analyses should use appropriate probabilistic substitution models that capture the main features under which different genomic regions have evolved. While efforts have concentrated in the development and understanding of model selection techniques, no descriptions of overall relative substitution model fit at the genome level have been reported. Here, we provide a characterization of best-fit substitution models across three genomic data sets including coding regions from mammals, vertebrates, and Drosophila (24,000 alignments). According to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), 82 of 88 models considered were selected as best-fit models at least in one occasion, although with very different frequencies. Most parameter estimates also varied broadly among genes. Patterns found for vertebrates and Drosophila were quite similar and often more complex than those found in mammals. Phylogenetic trees derived from models in the 95\% confidence interval set showed much less variance and were significantly closer to the tree estimated under the best-fit model than trees derived from models outside this interval. Although alternative criteria selected simpler models than the AIC, they suggested similar patterns. All together our results show that at a genomic scale, different gene alignments for the same set of taxa are best explained by a large variety of different substitution models and that model choice has implications on different parameter estimates including the inferred phylogenetic trees. After taking into account the differences related to sample size, our results suggest a noticeable diversity in the underlying evolutionary process. All together, we conclude that the use of model selection techniques is important to obtain consistent phylogenetic estimates from real data at a genomic scale.

}, author = {Arbiza, Leonardo and Patricio, Mateus and Dopazo, Hern{\'a}n and Posada, David} } @article {535, title = {Large-scale transcriptional profiling and functional assays reveal important roles for Rho-GTPase signalling and SCL during haematopoietic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {20}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Dec 15}, pages = {4932-46}, abstract = {

Understanding the transcriptional cues that direct differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human-induced pluripotent stem cells to defined and functional cell types is essential for future clinical applications. In this study, we have compared transcriptional profiles of haematopoietic progenitors derived from hESCs at various developmental stages of a feeder- and serum-free differentiation method and show that the largest transcriptional changes occur during the first 4 days of differentiation. Data mining on the basis of molecular function revealed Rho-GTPase signalling as a key regulator of differentiation. Inhibition of this pathway resulted in a significant reduction in the numbers of emerging haematopoietic progenitors throughout the differentiation window, thereby uncovering a previously unappreciated role for Rho-GTPase signalling during human haematopoietic development. Our analysis indicated that SCL was the 11th most upregulated transcript during the first 4 days of the hESC differentiation process. Overexpression of SCL in hESCs promoted differentiation to meso-endodermal lineages, the emergence of haematopoietic and erythro-megakaryocytic progenitors and accelerated erythroid differentiation. Importantly, intrasplenic transplantation of SCL-overexpressing hESC-derived haematopoietic cells enhanced recovery from induced acute anaemia without significant cell engraftment, suggesting a paracrine-mediated effect.

}, keywords = {Acute Disease, Anemia, Hemolytic, Animals, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors, Cell Differentiation, Cell Line, Cell Lineage, Cluster Analysis, Embryonic Stem Cells, Erythroid Cells, Flow Cytometry, Gene Expression Profiling, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Humans, Mice, Myeloid Cells, Paracrine Communication, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, rho GTP-Binding Proteins, Signal Transduction, Stem Cell Transplantation, T-Cell Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Protein 1, Transcriptome}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddr431}, author = {Yung, Sun and Ledran, Maria and Moreno-Gimeno, Inmaculada and Conesa, Ana and Montaner, David and Dopazo, Joaquin and Dimmick, Ian and Slater, Nicholas J and Marenah, Lamin and Real, Pedro J and Paraskevopoulou, Iliana and Bisbal, Viviana and Burks, Deborah and Santibanez-Koref, Mauro and Moreno, Ruben and Mountford, Joanne and Menendez, Pablo and Armstrong, Lyle and Lako, Majlinda} } @article {21190976, title = {Modeling human endometrial decidualization from the interaction between proteome and secretome.}, journal = {The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism}, volume = {96}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Mar}, pages = {706-16}, abstract = {

Decidualization of the human endometrium, which involves morphological and biochemical modifications of the endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), is a prerequisite for adequate trophoblast invasion and placenta formation.

}, author = {Garrido-Gomez, Tamara and Dominguez, Francisco and Lopez, Juan Antonio and Camafeita, Emilio and Qui{\~n}onero, Alicia and Martinez-Conejero, Jose Antonio and Pellicer, Antonio and Ana Conesa and Simon, Carlos} } @article {536, title = {Mutation screening of multiple genes in Spanish patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa by targeted resequencing.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {6}, year = {2011}, month = {2011}, pages = {e27894}, abstract = {

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a heterogeneous group of inherited retinal dystrophies characterised ultimately by the loss of photoreceptor cells. RP is the leading cause of visual loss in individuals younger than 60 years, with a prevalence of about 1 in 4000. The molecular genetic diagnosis of autosomal recessive RP (arRP) is challenging due to the large genetic and clinical heterogeneity. Traditional methods for sequencing arRP genes are often laborious and not easily available and a screening technique that enables the rapid detection of the genetic cause would be very helpful in the clinical practice. The goal of this study was to develop and apply microarray-based resequencing technology capable of detecting both known and novel mutations on a single high-throughput platform. Hence, the coding regions and exon/intron boundaries of 16 arRP genes were resequenced using microarrays in 102 Spanish patients with clinical diagnosis of arRP. All the detected variations were confirmed by direct sequencing and potential pathogenicity was assessed by functional predictions and frequency in controls. For validation purposes 4 positive controls for variants consisting of previously identified changes were hybridized on the array. As a result of the screening, we detected 44 variants, of which 15 are very likely pathogenic detected in 14 arRP families (14\%). Finally, the design of this array can easily be transformed in an equivalent diagnostic system based on targeted enrichment followed by next generation sequencing.

}, keywords = {Alleles, DNA Mutational Analysis, Exons, Genetic Variation, Genome, Hispanic or Latino, Humans, Introns, Language, mutation, Mutation, Missense, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Reproducibility of Results, Retinitis pigmentosa, United States}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0027894}, author = {Gonz{\'a}lez-del Pozo, Mar{\'\i}a and Borrego, Salud and Barrag{\'a}n, Isabel and Pieras, Juan I and Santoyo, Javier and Matamala, Nerea and Naranjo, Bel{\'e}n and Dopazo, Joaquin and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo} } @article {539, title = {Phylemon 2.0: a suite of web-tools for molecular evolution, phylogenetics, phylogenomics and hypotheses testing.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {39}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jul}, pages = {W470-4}, abstract = {

Phylemon 2.0 is a new release of the suite of web tools for molecular evolution, phylogenetics, phylogenomics and hypotheses testing. It has been designed as a response to the increasing demand of molecular sequence analyses for experts and non-expert users. Phylemon 2.0 has several unique features that differentiates it from other similar web resources: (i) it offers an integrated environment that enables evolutionary analyses, format conversion, file storage and edition of results; (ii) it suggests further analyses, thereby guiding the users through the web server; and (iii) it allows users to design and save phylogenetic pipelines to be used over multiple genes (phylogenomics). Altogether, Phylemon 2.0 integrates a suite of 30 tools covering sequence alignment reconstruction and trimming; tree reconstruction, visualization and manipulation; and evolutionary hypotheses testing.

}, keywords = {Evolution, Molecular, Genomics, Internet, Phylogeny, Sequence Alignment, Software}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkr408}, author = {S{\'a}nchez, Rub{\'e}n and Serra, Fran{\c c}ois and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Medina, Ignacio and Carbonell, Jos{\'e} and Pulido, Luis and De Maria, Alejandro and Capella-Gut{\'\i}errez, Salvador and Huerta-Cepas, Jaime and Gabald{\'o}n, Toni and Dopazo, Joaquin and Dopazo, Hern{\'a}n} } @article {21412950, title = {Phylogenetic and in silico structural analysis of the Parkinson disease-related kinase PINK1.}, journal = {Human mutation}, volume = {32}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Apr}, pages = {369-78}, abstract = {

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and is characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Mutations in PINK1 were shown to cause recessive familial PD, and today are proposed to be associated with the disease via mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative damage. The PINK1 gene comprises eight exons, which encode a ubiquitously expressed 581 amino acid protein that contains an N-terminal mitochondrial targeting domain and a serine/threonine protein kinase. To better understand the relationship between PINK1 and PD we have first analyzed the evolutionary history of the gene showing its late emergence in evolution. In addition, we have modeled the three-dimensional structure of PINK1 and found some evidences that help to explain the effect of some PD-related mutations in this protein{\textquoteright}s function.

}, doi = {10.1002/humu.21444}, author = {Cardona, Fernando and S{\'a}nchez-Mut, Jose Vicente and Dopazo, Hern{\'a}n and P{\'e}rez-Tur, Jordi} } @article {21749979, title = {SUS1 introns are required for efficient mRNA nuclear export in yeast.}, journal = {Nucleic acids research}, volume = {39}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Oct 1}, pages = {8599-611}, abstract = {

Efficient coupling between mRNA synthesis and export is essential for gene expression. Sus1/ENY2, a component of the SAGA and TREX-2 complexes, is involved in both transcription and mRNA export. While most yeast genes lack introns, we previously reported that yeast SUS1 bears two. Here we show that this feature is evolutionarily conserved and critical for Sus1 function. We determine that while SUS1 splicing is inefficient, it responds to cellular conditions, and intronic mutations either promoting or blocking splicing lead to defects in mRNA export and cell growth. Consistent with this, we find that an intron-less SUS1 only partially rescues sus1\Δ phenotypes. Remarkably, splicing of each SUS1 intron is also affected by the presence of the other and by SUS1 exonic sequences. Moreover, by following SUS1 RNA and protein levels we establish that nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) pathway and the splicing factor Mud2 both play a role in SUS1 expression. Our data (and those of the accompanying work by Hossain et al.) provide evidence of the involvement of splicing, translation, and decay in the regulation of early events in mRNP biogenesis; and imply the additional requirement for a balance in splicing isoforms from a single gene.

}, author = {Cuenca-Bono, Bernardo and Garc{\'\i}a-Molinero, Varinia and Pascual-Garc{\'\i}a, Pau and Dopazo, Hern{\'a}n and Llopis, Ana and Vilardell, Josep and Rodr{\'\i}guez-Navarro, Susana} } @article {20478823, title = {Babelomics: an integrative platform for the analysis of transcriptomics, proteomics and genomic data with advanced functional profiling.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Research}, volume = {38}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 May 16}, pages = {W210-W213. Featured in NAR}, chapter = {Featured in NAR}, abstract = {

Babelomics is a response to the growing necessity of integrating and analyzing different types of genomic data in an environment that allows an easy functional interpretation of the results. Babelomics includes a complete suite of methods for the analysis of gene expression data that include normalization (covering most commercial platforms), pre-processing, differential gene expression (case-controls, multiclass, survival or continuous values), predictors, clustering; large-scale genotyping assays (case controls and TDTs, and allows population stratification analysis and correction). All these genomic data analysis facilities are integrated and connected to multiple options for the functional interpretation of the experiments. Different methods of functional enrichment or gene set enrichment can be used to understand the functional basis of the experiment analyzed. Many sources of biological information, which include functional (GO, KEGG, Biocarta, Reactome, etc.), regulatory (Transfac, Jaspar, ORegAnno, miRNAs, etc.), text-mining or protein-protein interaction modules can be used for this purpose. Finally a tool for the de novo functional annotation of sequences has been included in the system. This provides support for the functional analysis of non-model species. Mirrors of Babelomics or command line execution of their individual components are now possible. Babelomics is available at http://www.babelomics.org.

}, keywords = {babelomics, gene expression, genotyping, gepas, GSA, GWAS}, url = {http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/suppl_2/W210.full}, author = {Medina, Ignacio and Carbonell, Jos{\'e} and Pulido, Luis and Madeira, Sara C and Goetz, Stefan and Ana Conesa and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Pascual-Montano, Alberto and Nogales-Cadenas, Ruben and Santoyo, Javier and Garc{\'\i}a, Francisco and Marb{\`a}, Martina and Montaner, David and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo} } @article {20028698, title = {Changes in the pattern of DNA methylation associate with twin discordance in systemic lupus erythematosus.}, journal = {Genome research}, volume = {20}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Feb}, pages = {170-9}, abstract = {

Monozygotic (MZ) twins are partially concordant for most complex diseases, including autoimmune disorders. Whereas phenotypic concordance can be used to study heritability, discordance suggests the role of non-genetic factors. In autoimmune diseases, environmentally driven epigenetic changes are thought to contribute to their etiology. Here we report the first high-throughput and candidate sequence analyses of DNA methylation to investigate discordance for autoimmune disease in twins. We used a cohort of MZ twins discordant for three diseases whose clinical signs often overlap: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis, and dermatomyositis. Only MZ twins discordant for SLE featured widespread changes in the DNA methylation status of a significant number of genes. Gene ontology analysis revealed enrichment in categories associated with immune function. Individual analysis confirmed the existence of DNA methylation and expression changes in genes relevant to SLE pathogenesis. These changes occurred in parallel with a global decrease in the 5-methylcytosine content that was concomitantly accompanied with changes in DNA methylation and expression levels of ribosomal RNA genes, although no changes in repetitive sequences were found. Our findings not only identify potentially relevant DNA methylation markers for the clinical characterization of SLE patients but also support the notion that epigenetic changes may be critical in the clinical manifestations of autoimmune disease.

}, author = {Javierre, Biola M and Fernandez, Agustin F and Richter, Julia and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Martin-Subero, J Ignacio and Rodriguez-Ubreva, Javier and Berdasco, Maria and Fraga, Mario F and O{\textquoteright}Hanlon, Terrance P and Rider, Lisa G and Jacinto, Filipe V and Lopez-Longo, F Javier and Dopazo, Joaquin and Forn, Marta and Peinado, Miguel A and Carre{\~n}o, Luis and Sawalha, Amr H and Harley, John B and Siebert, Reiner and Esteller, Manel and Miller, Frederick W and Ballestar, Esteban} } @article {549, title = {Exploring the link between germline and somatic genetic alterations in breast carcinogenesis.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Nov 22}, pages = {e14078}, abstract = {

Recent genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified candidate genes contributing to cancer risk through low-penetrance mutations. Many of these genes were unexpected and, intriguingly, included well-known players in carcinogenesis at the somatic level. To assess the hypothesis of a germline-somatic link in carcinogenesis, we evaluated the distribution of somatic gene labels within the ordered results of a breast cancer risk GWAS. This analysis suggested frequent influence on risk of genetic variation in loci encoding for "driver kinases" (i.e., kinases encoded by genes that showed higher somatic mutation rates than expected by chance and, therefore, whose deregulation may contribute to cancer development and/or progression). Assessment of these predictions using a population-based case-control study in Poland replicated the association for rs3732568 in EPHB1 (odds ratio (OR)ā€Š=ā€Š0.79; 95\% confidence interval (CI): 0.63-0.98; P(trend)ā€Š=ā€Š0.031). Analyses by early age at diagnosis and by estrogen receptor Ī± (ERĪ±) tumor status indicated potential associations for rs6852678 in CDKL2 (ORā€Š=ā€Š0.32, 95\% CI: 0.10-1.00; P(recessive)ā€Š=ā€Š0.044) and rs10878640 in DYRK2 (ORā€Š=ā€Š2.39, 95\% CI: 1.32-4.30; P(dominant)ā€Š=ā€Š0.003), and for rs12765929, rs9836340, rs4707795 in BMPR1A, EPHA3 and EPHA7, respectively (ERĪ± tumor status P(interaction)<0.05). The identification of three novel candidates as EPH receptor genes might indicate a link between perturbed compartmentalization of early neoplastic lesions and breast cancer risk and progression. Together, these data may lay the foundations for replication in additional populations and could potentially increase our knowledge of the underlying molecular mechanisms of breast carcinogenesis.

}, keywords = {Adult, Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors, Type I, Breast, Breast Neoplasms, Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases, Case-Control Studies, Cyclin-Dependent Kinases, Disease Progression, Estrogen Receptor alpha, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Germ-Line Mutation, Humans, Odds Ratio, Poland, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases, Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Receptor, EphA3, Receptor, EphA7, Receptor, EphB1, Risk Factors}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0014078}, author = {Bonifaci, N{\'u}ria and G{\'o}rski, Bohdan and Masoj{\'c}, Bartlomiej and Woko{\l}orczyk, Dominika and Jakubowska, Anna and D{\k e}bniak, Tadeusz and Berenguer, Antoni and Serra Musach, Jordi and Brunet, Joan and Dopazo, Joaquin and Narod, Steven A and Lubi{\'n}ski, Jan and L{\'a}zaro, Conxi and Cybulski, Cezary and Pujana, Miguel Angel} } @article {20164864, title = {Fine-scale evolution: genomic, phenotypic and ecological differentiation in two coexisting Salinibacter ruber strains.}, journal = {The ISME journal}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Feb 18}, abstract = {

Genomic and metagenomic data indicate a high degree of genomic variation within microbial populations, although the ecological and evolutive meaning of this microdiversity remains unknown. Microevolution analyses, including genomic and experimental approaches, are so far very scarce for non-pathogenic bacteria. In this study, we compare the genomes, metabolomes and selected ecological traits of the strains M8 and M31 of the hyperhalophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber that contain ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and intergenic regions that are identical in sequence and were simultaneously isolated from a Mediterranean solar saltern. Comparative analyses indicate that S. ruber genomes present a mosaic structure with conserved and hypervariable regions (HVRs). The HVRs or genomic islands, are enriched in transposases, genes related to surface properties, strain-specific genes and highly divergent orthologous. However, the many indels outside the HVRs indicate that genome plasticity extends beyond them. Overall, 10\% of the genes encoded in the M8 genome are absent from M31 and could stem from recent acquisitions. S. ruber genomes also harbor 34 genes located outside HVRs that are transcribed during standard growth and probably derive from lateral gene transfers with Archaea preceding the M8/M31 divergence. Metabolomic analyses, phage susceptibility and competition experiments indicate that these genomic differences cannot be considered neutral from an ecological perspective. The results point to the avoidance of competition by micro-niche adaptation and response to viral predation as putative major forces that drive microevolution within these Salinibacter strains. In addition, this work highlights the extent of bacterial functional diversity and environmental adaptation, beyond the resolution of the 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacers regions.The ISME Journal advance online publication, 18 February 2010; doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.6.

}, author = {Pe{\~n}a, Arantxa and Teeling, Hanno and Huerta-Cepas, Jaime and Santos, Fernando and Yarza, Pablo and Brito-Echeverr{\'\i}a, Jocelyn and Lucio, Marianna and Schmitt-Kopplin, Philippe and Meseguer, Inmaculada and Schenowitz, Chantal and Dossat, Carole and Barbe, Valerie and Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo and Rossell{\'o}-Mora, Ramon and Sch{\"u}ler, Margarete and Gl{\"o}ckner, Frank Oliver and Amann, Rudolf and Gabald{\'o}n, Toni and Ant{\'o}n, Josefa} } @article {553, title = {Functional genomics of 5- to 8-cell stage human embryos by blastomere single-cell cDNA analysis.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {5}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Oct 26}, pages = {e13615}, abstract = {

Blastomere fate and embryonic genome activation (EGA) during human embryonic development are unsolved areas of high scientific and clinical interest. Forty-nine blastomeres from 5- to 8-cell human embryos have been investigated following an efficient single-cell cDNA amplification protocol to provide a template for high-density microarray analysis. The previously described markers, characteristic of Inner Cell Mass (ICM) (n = 120), stemness (n = 190) and Trophectoderm (TE) (n = 45), were analyzed, and a housekeeping pattern of 46 genes was established. All the human blastomeres from the 5- to 8-cell stage embryo displayed a common gene expression pattern corresponding to ICM markers (e.g., DDX3, FOXD3, LEFTY1, MYC, NANOG, POU5F1), stemness (e.g., POU5F1, DNMT3B, GABRB3, SOX2, ZFP42, TERT), and TE markers (e.g., GATA6, EOMES, CDX2, LHCGR). The EGA profile was also investigated between the 5-6- and 8-cell stage embryos, and compared to the blastocyst stage. Known genes (n = 92) such as depleted maternal transcripts (e.g., CCNA1, CCNB1, DPPA2) and embryo-specific activation (e.g., POU5F1, CDH1, DPPA4), as well as novel genes, were confirmed. In summary, the global single-cell cDNA amplification microarray analysis of the 5- to 8-cell stage human embryos reveals that blastomere fate is not committed to ICM or TE. Finally, new EGA features in human embryogenesis are presented.

}, keywords = {Blastomeres, DNA, Complementary, Gene Expression Profiling, Genomics, Humans, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0013615}, author = {Galan, Amparo and Montaner, David and P{\'o}o, M Eugenia and Valbuena, Diana and Ruiz, Veronica and Aguilar, Crist{\'o}bal and Dopazo, Joaquin and Simon, Carlos} } @inbook {19882272, title = {Functional profiling methods in cancer.}, booktitle = {Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)}, volume = {576}, year = {2010}, month = {2010}, pages = {363-74}, abstract = {

The introduction of new high-throughput methodologies such as DNA microarrays constitutes a major breakthrough in cancer research. The unprecedented amount of data produced by such technologies has opened new avenues for interrogating living systems although, at the same time, it has demanded of the development of new data analytical methods as well as new strategies for testing hypotheses. A history of early successful applications in cancer boosted the use of microarrays and fostered further applications in other fields. Keeping the pace with these technologies, bioinformatics offers new solutions for data analysis and, what is more important, permits the formulation of a new class of hypotheses inspired in systems biology, more oriented to pathways or, in general, to modules of functionally related genes. Although these analytical methodologies are new, some options are already available and are discussed in this chapter.

}, author = {Joaqu{\'\i}n Dopazo}, editor = {Gr{\"u}tzmann, Robert and Pilarsky, Christian} } @article {572, title = {Hypoxia promotes efficient differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to functional endothelium.}, journal = {Stem Cells}, volume = {28}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Mar 31}, pages = {407-18}, abstract = {

Early development of mammalian embryos occurs in an environment of relative hypoxia. Nevertheless, human embryonic stem cells (hESC), which are derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst, are routinely cultured under the same atmospheric conditions (21\% O(2)) as somatic cells. We hypothesized that O(2) levels modulate gene expression and differentiation potential of hESC, and thus, we performed gene profiling of hESC maintained under normoxic or hypoxic (1\% or 5\% O(2)) conditions. Our analysis revealed that hypoxia downregulates expression of pluripotency markers in hESC but increases significantly the expression of genes associated with angio- and vasculogenesis including vascular endothelial growth factor and angiopoitein-like proteins. Consequently, we were able to efficiently differentiate hESC to functional endothelial cells (EC) by varying O(2) levels; after 24 hours at 5\% O(2), more than 50\% of cells were CD34+. Transplantation of resulting endothelial-like cells improved both systolic function and fractional shortening in a rodent model of myocardial infarction. Moreover, analysis of the infarcted zone revealed that transplanted EC reduced the area of fibrous scar tissue by 50\%. Thus, use of hypoxic conditions to specify the endothelial lineage suggests a novel strategy for cellular therapies aimed at repair of damaged vasculature in pathologies such as cerebral ischemia and myocardial infarction.

}, keywords = {Angiopoietin-1, Animals, biomarkers, Cell Culture Techniques, Cell Differentiation, Cell Hypoxia, Cell Transplantation, Cells, Cultured, Down-Regulation, Embryonic Stem Cells, Endothelial Cells, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Male, Myocardial Infarction, Neovascularization, Physiologic, Oxygen, Pluripotent Stem Cells, Rats, Rats, Nude, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A}, issn = {1549-4918}, doi = {10.1002/stem.295}, author = {Prado-Lopez, Sonia and Conesa, Ana and Armi{\~n}{\'a}n, Ana and Mart{\'\i}nez-Losa, Magdalena and Escobedo-Lucea, Carmen and Gandia, Carolina and Tarazona, Sonia and Melguizo, Dario and Blesa, David and Montaner, David and Sanz-Gonz{\'a}lez, Silvia and Sep{\'u}lveda, Pilar and G{\"o}tz, Stefan and O{\textquoteright}Connor, Jos{\'e} Enrique and Moreno, Ruben and Dopazo, Joaquin and Burks, Deborah J and Stojkovic, Miodrag} } @article {20361057, title = {Initial genomics of the human nucleolus.}, journal = {PLoS genetics}, volume = {6}, year = {2010}, month = {2010}, pages = {e1000889}, abstract = {

We report for the first time the genomics of a nuclear compartment of the eukaryotic cell. 454 sequencing and microarray analysis revealed the pattern of nucleolus-associated chromatin domains (NADs) in the linear human genome and identified different gene families and certain satellite repeats as the major building blocks of NADs, which constitute about 4\% of the genome. Bioinformatic evaluation showed that NAD-localized genes take part in specific biological processes, like the response to other organisms, odor perception, and tissue development. 3D FISH and immunofluorescence experiments illustrated the spatial distribution of NAD-specific chromatin within interphase nuclei and its alteration upon transcriptional changes. Altogether, our findings describe the nature of DNA sequences associated with the human nucleolus and provide insights into the function of the nucleolus in genome organization and establishment of nuclear architecture.

}, keywords = {NGS, nucleolus}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1000889}, url = {http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info\%3Adoi\%2F10.1371\%2Fjournal.pgen.1000889}, author = {N{\'e}meth, Attila and Ana Conesa and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier and Medina, Ignacio and Montaner, David and P{\'e}terfia, B{\'a}lint and Solovei, Irina and Cremer, Thomas and Dopazo, Joaquin and L{\"a}ngst, Gernot} } @article {20676074, title = {The MicroArray Quality Control (MAQC)-II study of common practices for the development and validation of microarray-based predictive models.}, journal = {Nature biotechnology}, volume = {28}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Aug}, pages = {827-38}, abstract = {

Gene expression data from microarrays are being applied to predict preclinical and clinical endpoints, but the reliability of these predictions has not been established. In the MAQC-II project, 36 independent teams analyzed six microarray data sets to generate predictive models for classifying a sample with respect to one of 13 endpoints indicative of lung or liver toxicity in rodents, or of breast cancer, multiple myeloma or neuroblastoma in humans. In total, \>30,000 models were built using many combinations of analytical methods. The teams generated predictive models without knowing the biological meaning of some of the endpoints and, to mimic clinical reality, tested the models on data that had not been used for training. We found that model performance depended largely on the endpoint and team proficiency and that different approaches generated models of similar performance. The conclusions and recommendations from MAQC-II should be useful for regulatory agencies, study committees and independent investigators that evaluate methods for global gene expression analysis.

}, url = {http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n8/full/nbt.1665.html}, author = {Shi, Leming and Campbell, Gregory and Jones, Wendell D and Campagne, Fabien and Wen, Zhining and Walker, Stephen J and Su, Zhenqiang and Chu, Tzu-Ming and Goodsaid, Federico M and Pusztai, Lajos and Shaughnessy, John D and Oberthuer, Andr{\'e} and Thomas, Russell S and Paules, Richard S and Fielden, Mark and Barlogie, Bart and Chen, Weijie and Du, Pan and Fischer, Matthias and Furlanello, Cesare and Gallas, Brandon D and Ge, Xijin and Megherbi, Dalila B and Symmans, W Fraser and Wang, May D and Zhang, John and Bitter, Hans and Brors, Benedikt and Bushel, Pierre R and Bylesjo, Max and Chen, Minjun and Cheng, Jie and Cheng, Jing and Chou, Jeff and Davison, Timothy S and Delorenzi, Mauro and Deng, Youping and Devanarayan, Viswanath and Dix, David J and Dopazo, Joaquin and Dorff, Kevin C and Elloumi, Fathi and Fan, Jianqing and Fan, Shicai and Fan, Xiaohui and Fang, Hong and Gonzaludo, Nina and Hess, Kenneth R and Hong, Huixiao and Huan, Jun and Irizarry, Rafael A and Judson, Richard and Juraeva, Dilafruz and Lababidi, Samir and Lambert, Christophe G and Li, Li and Li, Yanen and Li, Zhen and Lin, Simon M and Liu, Guozhen and Lobenhofer, Edward K and Luo, Jun and Luo, Wen and McCall, Matthew N and Nikolsky, Yuri and Pennello, Gene A and Perkins, Roger G and Philip, Reena and Popovici, Vlad and Price, Nathan D and Qian, Feng and Scherer, Andreas and Shi, Tieliu and Shi, Weiwei and Sung, Jaeyun and Thierry-Mieg, Danielle and Thierry-Mieg, Jean and Thodima, Venkata and Trygg, Johan and Vishnuvajjala, Lakshmi and Wang, Sue Jane and Wu, Jianping and Wu, Yichao and Xie, Qian and Yousef, Waleed A and Zhang, Liang and Zhang, Xuegong and Zhong, Sheng and Zhou, Yiming and Zhu, Sheng and Arasappan, Dhivya and Bao, Wenjun and Lucas, Anne Bergstrom and Berthold, Frank and Brennan, Richard J and Buness, Andreas and Catalano, Jennifer G and Chang, Chang and Chen, Rong and Cheng, Yiyu and Cui, Jian and Czika, Wendy and Demichelis, Francesca and Deng, Xutao and Dosymbekov, Damir and Eils, Roland and Feng, Yang and Fostel, Jennifer and Fulmer-Smentek, Stephanie and Fuscoe, James C and Gatto, Laurent and Ge, Weigong and Goldstein, Darlene R and Guo, Li and Halbert, Donald N and Han, Jing and Harris, Stephen C and Hatzis, Christos and Herman, Damir and Huang, Jianping and Jensen, Roderick V and Jiang, Rui and Johnson, Charles D and Jurman, Giuseppe and Kahlert, Yvonne and Khuder, Sadik A and Kohl, Matthias and Li, Jianying and Li, Li and Li, Menglong and Li, Quan-Zhen and Li, Shao and Li, Zhiguang and Liu, Jie and Liu, Ying and Liu, Zhichao and Meng, Lu and Madera, Manuel and Martinez-Murillo, Francisco and Medina, Ignacio and Meehan, Joseph and Miclaus, Kelci and Moffitt, Richard A and Montaner, David and Mukherjee, Piali and Mulligan, George J and Neville, Padraic and Nikolskaya, Tatiana and Ning, Baitang and Page, Grier P and Parker, Joel and Parry, R Mitchell and Peng, Xuejun and Peterson, Ron L and Phan, John H and Quanz, Brian and Ren, Yi and Riccadonna, Samantha and Roter, Alan H and Samuelson, Frank W and Schumacher, Martin M and Shambaugh, Joseph D and Shi, Qiang and Shippy, Richard and Si, Shengzhu and Smalter, Aaron and Sotiriou, Christos and Soukup, Mat and Staedtler, Frank and Steiner, Guido and Stokes, Todd H and Sun, Qinglan and Tan, Pei-Yi and Tang, Rong and Tezak, Zivana and Thorn, Brett and Tsyganova, Marina and Turpaz, Yaron and Vega, Silvia C and Visintainer, Roberto and von Frese, Juergen and Wang, Charles and Wang, Eric and Wang, Junwei and Wang, Wei and Westermann, Frank and Willey, James C and Woods, Matthew and Wu, Shujian and Xiao, Nianqing and Xu, Joshua and Xu, Lei and Yang, Lun and Zeng, Xiao and Zhang, Jialu and Zhang, Li and Zhang, Min and Zhao, Chen and Puri, Raj K and Scherf, Uwe and Tong, Weida and Wolfinger, Russell D} } @article {575, title = {Mutation spectrum of EYS in Spanish patients with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa.}, journal = {Hum Mutat}, volume = {31}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Nov}, pages = {E1772-800}, abstract = {

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a heterogeneous group of inherited retinal dystrophies characterised ultimately by the loss of photoreceptor cells. We have recently identified a new gene(EYS) encoding an ortholog of Drosophila space maker (spam) as a commonly mutated gene in autosomal recessive RP. In the present study, we report the identification of 73 sequence variations in EYS, of which 28 are novel. Of these, 42.9\% (12/28) are very likely pathogenic, 17.9\% (5/28)are possibly pathogenic, whereas 39.3\% (11/28) are SNPs. In addition, we have detected 3 pathogenic changes previously reported in other populations. We are also presenting the characterisation of EYS homologues in different species, and a detailed analysis of the EYS domains, with the identification of an interesting novel feature: a putative coiled-coil domain.Majority of the mutations in the arRP patients have been found within the domain structures of EYS. The minimum observed prevalence of distinct EYS mutations in our group of patients is of 15.9\% (15/94), confirming a major involvement of EYS in the pathogenesis of arRP in the Spanish population. Along with the detection of three recurrent mutations in Caucasian population, our hypothesis of EYS being the first prevalent gene in arRP has been reinforced in the present study.

}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Case-Control Studies, DNA Mutational Analysis, Drosophila Proteins, Evolution, Molecular, Eye Proteins, Female, Genes, Recessive, Genetic Variation, Humans, Male, Molecular Sequence Data, mutation, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Retinitis pigmentosa, Spain, Structural Homology, Protein}, issn = {1098-1004}, doi = {10.1002/humu.21334}, author = {Barrag{\'a}n, Isabel and Borrego, Salud and Pieras, Juan Ignacio and Gonz{\'a}lez-del Pozo, Mar{\'\i}a and Santoyo, Javier and Ayuso, Carmen and Baiget, Montserrat and Mill{\'a}n, Jos{\'e} M and Mena, Marcela and Abd El-Aziz, Mai M and Audo, Isabelle and Zeitz, Christina and Littink, Karin W and Dopazo, Joaquin and Bhattacharya, Shomi S and Anti{\v n}olo, Guillermo} } @article {581, title = {Functional signatures identified in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma profiles.}, journal = {Leuk Lymphoma}, volume = {50}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Oct}, pages = {1699-708}, abstract = {

Gene-expression profiling in B-cell lymphomas has provided crucial data on specific lymphoma types, which can contribute to the identification of essential lymphoma survival genes and pathways. In this study, the gene-expression profiling data of all major B-cell lymphoma types were analyzed by unsupervised clustering. The transcriptome classification so obtained, was explored using gene set enrichment analysis generating a heatmap for B-cell lymphoma that identifies common lymphoma survival mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets, recognizing sets of coregulated genes and functional pathways expressed in different lymphoma types. Some of the most relevant signatures (stroma, cell cycle, B-cell receptor (BCR)) are shared by multiple lymphoma types or subclasses. A specific attention was paid to the analysis of BCR and coregulated pathways, defining molecular heterogeneity within multiple B-cell lymphoma types.

}, keywords = {Adult, Cluster Analysis, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic, Genetic Heterogeneity, Humans, Lymphoma, B-Cell, Neoplasm Proteins, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, RNA, Messenger, RNA, Neoplasm, Transcription, Genetic}, issn = {1029-2403}, doi = {10.1080/10428190903189035}, author = {Aggarwal, Mohit and S{\'a}nchez-Beato, Margarita and G{\'o}mez-L{\'o}pez, Gonzalo and Al-Shahrour, F{\'a}tima and Mart{\'\i}nez, Nerea and Rodr{\'\i}guez, Antonia and Ruiz-Ballesteros, Elena and Camacho, Francisca I and P{\'e}rez-Rosado, Alberto and de la Cueva, Paloma and Artiga, Mar{\'\i}a J and Pisano, David G and Kimby, Eva and Dopazo, Joaquin and Villuendas, Raquel and Piris, Miguel A} } @article {IgnacioMedina07012009, title = {Gene set-based analysis of polymorphisms: finding pathways or biological processes associated to traits in genome-wide association studies}, journal = {Nucl. Acids Res.}, volume = {37}, number = {suppl_2}, year = {2009}, pages = {W340-344}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies have become a popular strategy to find associations of genes to traits of interest. Despite the high-resolution available today to carry out genotyping studies, the success of its application in real studies has been limited by the testing strategy used. As an alternative to brute force solutions involving the use of very large cohorts, we propose the use of the Gene Set Analysis (GSA), a different analysis strategy based on testing the association of modules of functionally related genes. We show here how the Gene Set-based Analysis of Polymorphisms (GeSBAP), which is a simple implementation of the GSA strategy for the analysis of genome-wide association studies, provides a significant increase in the power testing for this type of studies. GeSBAP is freely available at http://bioinfo.cipf.es/gesbap/

}, keywords = {babelomics, gene set, GESBAP, pathway-based analysis, SNP}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkp481}, url = {http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/37/suppl_2/W340}, author = {Medina, Ignacio and Montaner, David and Bonifaci, N{\'u}ria and Pujana, Miguel Angel and Carbonell, Jos{\'e} and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {583, title = {Gene set-based analysis of polymorphisms: finding pathways or biological processes associated to traits in genome-wide association studies.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {37}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Jul}, pages = {W340-4}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies have become a popular strategy to find associations of genes to traits of interest. Despite the high-resolution available today to carry out genotyping studies, the success of its application in real studies has been limited by the testing strategy used. As an alternative to brute force solutions involving the use of very large cohorts, we propose the use of the Gene Set Analysis (GSA), a different analysis strategy based on testing the association of modules of functionally related genes. We show here how the Gene Set-based Analysis of Polymorphisms (GeSBAP), which is a simple implementation of the GSA strategy for the analysis of genome-wide association studies, provides a significant increase in the power testing for this type of studies. GeSBAP is freely available at http://bioinfo.cipf.es/gesbap/.

}, keywords = {Biological Phenomena, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Genes, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Software, User-Computer Interface}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkp481}, author = {Medina, Ignacio and Montaner, David and Bonifaci, N{\'u}ria and Pujana, Miguel Angel and Carbonell, Jos{\'e} and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Al-Shahrour, F{\'a}tima and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {19381286, title = {A kernel for open source drug discovery in tropical diseases}, journal = {PLoS Negl Trop Dis}, volume = {3}, number = {4}, year = {2009}, note = {Orti, Leticia Carbajo, Rodrigo J Pieper, Ursula Eswar, Narayanan Maurer, Stephen M Rai, Arti K Taylor, Ginger Todd, Matthew H Pineda-Lucena, Antonio Sali, Andrej Marti-Renom, Marc A United States PLoS neglected tropical diseases PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2009;3(4):e418. Epub 2009 Apr 21.}, pages = {e418}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Conventional patent-based drug development incentives work badly for the developing world, where commercial markets are usually small to non-existent. For this reason, the past decade has seen extensive experimentation with alternative R\&D institutions ranging from private-public partnerships to development prizes. Despite extensive discussion, however, one of the most promising avenues-open source drug discovery-has remained elusive. We argue that the stumbling block has been the absence of a critical mass of preexisting work that volunteers can improve through a series of granular contributions. Historically, open source software collaborations have almost never succeeded without such "kernels". METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: HERE, WE USE A COMPUTATIONAL PIPELINE FOR: (i) comparative structure modeling of target proteins, (ii) predicting the localization of ligand binding sites on their surfaces, and (iii) assessing the similarity of the predicted ligands to known drugs. Our kernel currently contains 143 and 297 protein targets from ten pathogen genomes that are predicted to bind a known drug or a molecule similar to a known drug, respectively. The kernel provides a source of potential drug targets and drug candidates around which an online open source community can nucleate. Using NMR spectroscopy, we have experimentally tested our predictions for two of these targets, confirming one and invalidating the other. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The TDI kernel, which is being offered under the Creative Commons attribution share-alike license for free and unrestricted use, can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.tropicaldisease.org. We hope that the kernel will facilitate collaborative efforts towards the discovery of new drugs against parasites that cause tropical diseases.}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=19381286}, author = {Orti, L. and Carbajo, R. J. and Pieper, U. and Eswar, N. and Maurer, S. M. and Rai, A. K. and Taylor, G. and Todd, M. H. and Pineda-Lucena, A. and Sali, A. and M. A. Marti-Renom} } @article {19352362, title = {A kernel for the Tropical Disease Initiative}, journal = {Nat Biotechnol}, volume = {27}, number = {4}, year = {2009}, note = {

Orti, Leticia Carbajo, Rodrigo J Pieper, Ursula Eswar, Narayanan Maurer, Stephen M Rai, Arti K Taylor, Ginger Todd, Matthew H Pineda-Lucena, Antonio Sali, Andrej Marti-Renom, Marc A P01 AI035707/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States P01 GM71790/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States U54 GM074945/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Nature biotechnology Nat Biotechnol. 2009 Apr;27(4):320-1.

}, pages = {320-1}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=19352362}, author = {Orti, L. and Carbajo, R. J. and Pieper, U. and Eswar, N. and Maurer, S. M. and Rai, A. K. and Taylor, G. and Todd, M. H. and Pineda-Lucena, A. and Sali, A. and M. A. Marti-Renom} } @article {18948282, title = {MODBASE, a database of annotated comparative protein structure models and associated resources}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {37}, number = {Database issue}, year = {2009}, note = {Pieper, Ursula Eswar, Narayanan Webb, Ben M Eramian, David Kelly, Libusha Barkan, David T Carter, Hannah Mankoo, Parminder Karchin, Rachel Marti-Renom, Marc A Davis, Fred P Sali, Andrej GM08284/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States P01 GM71790/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States U01 GM61390/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States U54 GM074929/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States U54 GM074945/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, Non-P.H.S. England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2009 Jan;37(Database issue):D347-54. Epub 2008 Oct 23.}, pages = {D347-54}, abstract = {MODBASE (http://salilab.org/modbase) is a database of annotated comparative protein structure models. The models are calculated by MODPIPE, an automated modeling pipeline that relies primarily on MODELLER for fold assignment, sequence-structure alignment, model building and model assessment (http:/salilab.org/modeller). MODBASE currently contains 5,152,695 reliable models for domains in 1,593,209 unique protein sequences; only models based on statistically significant alignments and/or models assessed to have the correct fold are included. MODBASE also allows users to calculate comparative models on demand, through an interface to the MODWEB modeling server (http://salilab.org/modweb). Other resources integrated with MODBASE include databases of multiple protein structure alignments (DBAli), structurally defined ligand binding sites (LIGBASE), predicted ligand binding sites (AnnoLyze), structurally defined binary domain interfaces (PIBASE) and annotated single nucleotide polymorphisms and somatic mutations found in human proteins (LS-SNP, LS-Mut). MODBASE models are also available through the Protein Model Portal (http://www.proteinmodelportal.org/).}, keywords = {*Databases, Molecular Mutation Polymorphism, Protein Genomics Humans Ligands *Models, Protein User-Computer Interface, Single Nucleotide Protein Folding Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs *Protein Structure, Tertiary Proteins/genetics *Structural Homology}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18948282}, author = {Pieper, U. and Eswar, N. and Webb, B. M. and Eramian, D. and Kelly, L. and Barkan, D. T. and Carter, H. and Mankoo, P. and Karchin, R. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Davis, F. P. and Sali, A.} } @article { PubMed_19441879, title = {Modeling and managing experimental data using FuGE.}, journal = {OMICS}, volume = {13}, number = {3}, year = {2009}, pages = {239-51}, issn = {1557-8100}, author = {Andrew R Jones and Allyson L Lister and Leandro Hermida and Peter Wilkinson and Martin Eisenacher and Khalid Belhajjame and Frank Gibson and Phil Lord and Matthew Pocock and Heiko Rosenfelder and Santoyo-L{\'o}pez, Javier and Anil Wipat and Norman W Paton} } @conference {585, title = {Peripheral blood cells transcriptome to study new biomarkers for myocardial infarction follow up}, year = {2009}, month = {06}, author = {Silbiger, Vivian and Luchessi, Andr{\'e} and Hirata, Rosario and Carracedo, {\'A}ngel and Bri{\'o}n, Maria and Lima Neto, Lidio and P. Pastorelli, C and Dopazo, Joaquin and Montaner, David and Garcia, F and P. Sampaio, M and P. Pereira, M and S. Santos, E and Armaganijan, Dikran and Hirata, Mario} } @article {19094230, title = {Biological processes, properties and molecular wiring diagrams of candidate low-penetrance breast cancer susceptibility genes}, journal = {BMC Med Genomics}, volume = {1}, year = {2008}, note = {

Bonifaci, Nuria Berenguer, Antoni Diez, Javier Reina, Oscar Medina, Ignacio Dopazo, Joaquin Moreno, Victor Pujana, Miguel Angel England BMC medical genomics BMC Med Genomics. 2008 Dec 18;1:62.

}, pages = {62}, abstract = {

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Recent advances in whole-genome association studies (WGASs) for human cancer risk are beginning to provide the part lists of low-penetrance susceptibility genes. However, statistical analysis in these studies is complicated by the vast number of genetic variants examined and the weak effects observed, as a result of which constraints must be incorporated into the study design and analytical approach. In this scenario, biological attributes beyond the adjusted statistics generally receive little attention and, more importantly, the fundamental biological characteristics of low-penetrance susceptibility genes have yet to be determined. METHODS: We applied an integrative approach for identifying candidate low-penetrance breast cancer susceptibility genes, their characteristics and molecular networks through the analysis of diverse sources of biological evidence. RESULTS: First, examination of the distribution of Gene Ontology terms in ordered WGAS results identified asymmetrical distribution of Cell Communication and Cell Death processes linked to risk. Second, analysis of 11 different types of molecular or functional relationships in genomic and proteomic data sets defined the \"omic\" properties of candidate genes: i/ differential expression in tumors relative to normal tissue; ii/ somatic genomic copy number changes correlating with gene expression levels; iii/ differentially expressed across age at diagnosis; and iv/ expression changes after BRCA1 perturbation. Finally, network modeling of the effects of variants on germline gene expression showed higher connectivity than expected by chance between novel candidates and with known susceptibility genes, which supports functional relationships and provides mechanistic hypotheses of risk. CONCLUSION: This study proposes that cell communication and cell death are major biological processes perturbed in risk of breast cancer conferred by low-penetrance variants, and defines the common omic properties, molecular interactions and possible functional effects of candidate genes and proteins.

}, keywords = {gene set, GWAS, SNP}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=19094230}, author = {Bonifaci, N. and Berenguer, A. and Diez, J. and Reina, O. and Medina, Ignacio and Dopazo, J. and Moreno, V. and Pujana, M. A.} } @article {17597009, title = {CLEAR-test: combining inference for differential expression and variability in microarray data analysis}, journal = {J Biomed Inform}, volume = {41}, number = {1}, year = {2008}, note = {

Valls, Joan Grau, Monica Sole, Xavier Hernandez, Pilar Montaner, David Dopazo, Joaquin Peinado, Miguel A Capella, Gabriel Moreno, Victor Pujana, Miguel Angel Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Journal of biomedical informatics J Biomed Inform. 2008 Feb;41(1):33-45. Epub 2007 May 17.

}, pages = {33-45}, abstract = {

A common goal of microarray experiments is to detect genes that are differentially expressed under distinct experimental conditions. Several statistical tests have been proposed to determine whether the observed changes in gene expression are significant. The t-test assigns a score to each gene on the basis of changes in its expression relative to its estimated variability, in such a way that genes with a higher score (in absolute values) are more likely to be significant. Most variants of the t-test use the complete set of genes to influence the variance estimate for each single gene. However, no inference is made in terms of the variability itself. Here, we highlight the problem of low observed variances in the t-test, when genes with relatively small changes are declared differentially expressed. Alternatively, the z-test could be used although, unlike the t-test, it can declare differentially expressed genes with high observed variances. To overcome this, we propose to combine the z-test, which focuses on large changes, with a chi(2) test to evaluate variability. We call this procedure CLEAR-test and we provide a combined p-value that offers a compromise between both aspects. Analysis of three publicly available microarray datasets reveals the greater performance of the CLEAR-test relative to the t-test and alternative methods. Finally, empirical and simulated data analyses demonstrate the greater reproducibility and statistical power of the CLEAR-test and z-test with respect to current alternative methods. In addition, the CLEAR-test improves the z-test by capturing reproducible genes with high variability.

}, keywords = {*Algorithms Artificial Intelligence *Data Interpretation, Statistical Gene Expression Profiling/*methods Gene Expression Regulation/*physiology Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/*methods Proteome/*metabolism Signal Transduction/*physiology}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17597009}, author = {Valls, J. and Grau, M. and Sole, X. and Hernandez, P. and Montaner, D. and Dopazo, J. and Peinado, M. A. and Capella, G. and Moreno, V. and Pujana, M. A.} } @article {18697870, title = {Controlled ovarian stimulation induces a functional genomic delay of the endometrium with potential clinical implications}, journal = {J Clin Endocrinol Metab}, volume = {93}, number = {11}, year = {2008}, note = {

Horcajadas, Jose A Minguez, Pablo Dopazo, Joaquin Esteban, Francisco J Dominguez, Francisco Giudice, Linda C Pellicer, Antonio Simon, Carlos Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Nov;93(11):4500-10. Epub 2008 Aug 12.

}, pages = {4500-10}, abstract = {

CONTEXT: Controlled ovarian stimulation induces morphological, biochemical, and functional genomic modifications of the human endometrium during the window of implantation. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to compare the gene expression profile of the human endometrium in natural vs. controlled ovarian stimulation cycles throughout the early-mid secretory transition using microarray technology. METHOD: Microarray data from 49 endometrial biopsies obtained from LH+1 to LH+9 (n=25) in natural cycles and from human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) +1 to hCG+9 in controlled ovarian stimulation cycles (n=24) were analyzed using different methods, such as clustering, profiling of biological processes, and selection of differentially expressed genes, as implemented in Gene Expression Pattern Analysis Suite and Babelomics programs. RESULTS: Endometria from natural cycles followed different genomic patterns compared with controlled ovarian stimulation cycles in the transition from the pre-receptive (days LH/hCG+1 until LH/hCG+5) to the receptive phase (day LH+7/hCG+7). Specifically, we have demonstrated the existence of a 2-d delay in the activation/repression of two clusters composed by 218 and 133 genes, respectively, on day hCG+7 vs. LH+7. Many of these delayed genes belong to the class window of implantation genes affecting basic biological processes in the receptive endometrium. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that gene expression profiling of the endometrium is different between natural and controlled ovarian stimulation cycles in the receptive phase. Identification of these differentially regulated genes can be used to understand the different developmental profiles of receptive endometrium during controlled ovarian stimulation and to search for the best controlled ovarian stimulation treatment in terms of minimal endometrial impact.

}, keywords = {Algorithms Chorionic Gonadotropin/genetics Endometrium/cytology/pathology/*physiology/physiopathology Female Gene Expression Regulation Genome, Human Glutathione Peroxidase/genetics Humans Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Proteins/genetics Luteal Phase/physiology Luteinizing Hormone/genetics Menstrual Cycle Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Ovulation Induction/*methods RNA/genetics/isola}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18697870}, author = {Horcajadas, J. A. and Minguez, P. and Dopazo, J. and Esteban, F. J. and Dominguez, F. and Giudice, L. C. and Pellicer, A. and Simon, C.} } @inbook {472, title = {The core of a minimal gene set: insights from natural reduced genomes}, booktitle = {Protocells: Bridging nonliving and living matter}, year = {2008}, pages = {347-366}, publisher = {The MIT Press}, organization = {The MIT Press}, address = {USA}, author = {Gabald{\'o}n, T. and Gil, R. and Peret{\'o}, J. and Latorre, A. and Moya, A.} } @article {18652888, title = {Direct functional assessment of the composite phenotype through multivariate projection strategies}, journal = {Genomics}, volume = {92}, number = {6}, year = {2008}, note = {

Conesa, Ana Bro, Rasmus Garcia-Garcia, Francisco Prats, Jose Manuel Gotz, Stefan Kjeldahl, Karin Montaner, David Dopazo, Joaquin Evaluation Studies Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Genomics Genomics. 2008 Dec;92(6):373-83. Epub 2008 Sep 13.

}, pages = {373-83}, abstract = {

We present a novel approach for the analysis of transcriptomics data that integrates functional annotation of gene sets with expression values in a multivariate fashion, and directly assesses the relation of functional features to a multivariate space of response phenotypical variables. Multivariate projection methods are used to obtain new correlated variables for a set of genes that share a given function. These new functional variables are then related to the response variables of interest. The analysis of the principal directions of the multivariate regression allows for the identification of gene function features correlated with the phenotype. Two different transcriptomics studies are used to illustrate the statistical and interpretative aspects of the methodology. We demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over equivalent approaches.

}, keywords = {Breast Neoplasms/genetics Computational Biology/*methods Databases, Genetic Female Gene Expression Profiling/*statistics \& numerical data Humans Mathematical Computing Multivariate Analysis Phenotype}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18652888}, author = {A. Conesa and Bro, R. and Garcia-Garcia, F. and Prats, J. M. and Gotz, S. and Kjeldahl, K. and Montaner, D. and Dopazo, J.} } @article {590, title = {Direct functional assessment of the composite phenotype through multivariate projection strategies.}, journal = {Genomics}, volume = {92}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 Dec}, pages = {373-83}, abstract = {

We present a novel approach for the analysis of transcriptomics data that integrates functional annotation of gene sets with expression values in a multivariate fashion, and directly assesses the relation of functional features to a multivariate space of response phenotypical variables. Multivariate projection methods are used to obtain new correlated variables for a set of genes that share a given function. These new functional variables are then related to the response variables of interest. The analysis of the principal directions of the multivariate regression allows for the identification of gene function features correlated with the phenotype. Two different transcriptomics studies are used to illustrate the statistical and interpretative aspects of the methodology. We demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over equivalent approaches.

}, keywords = {Breast Neoplasms, Computational Biology, Databases, Genetic, Female, Gene Expression Profiling, Humans, Mathematical Computing, Multivariate Analysis, Phenotype}, issn = {1089-8646}, doi = {10.1016/j.ygeno.2008.05.015}, author = {Conesa, Ana and Bro, Rasmus and Garcia-Garcia, Francisco and Prats, Jos{\'e} Manuel and G{\"o}tz, Stefan and Kjeldahl, Karin and Montaner, David and Dopazo, Joaquin} } @article {18397517, title = {Evolutionary potentials: structure specific knowledge-based potentials exploiting the evolutionary record of sequence homologs}, journal = {Genome Biol}, volume = {9}, number = {4}, year = {2008}, note = {Journal article Genome biology Genome Biol. 2008 Apr 8;9(4):R68.}, pages = {R68}, abstract = {ABSTRACT: We introduce a new type of knowledge-based potentials for protein structure prediction, called {\textquoteright}evolutionary potentials{\textquoteright}, which are derived using a single experimental protein structure and all three-dimensional models of its homologous sequences. The new potentials have been benchmarked against other knowledge-based potentials, resulting in a significant increase in accuracy for model assessment. In contrast to standard knowledge-based potentials, we propose that evolutionary potentials capture key determinants of thermodynamic stability and specific sequence constraints required for fast folding.}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18397517}, author = {Panjkovich, A. and Melo, F. and M. A. Marti-Renom} } @article {595, title = {Interoperability with Moby 1.0--it{\textquoteright}s better than sharing your toothbrush!}, journal = {Brief Bioinform}, volume = {9}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 May}, pages = {220-31}, abstract = {

The BioMoby project was initiated in 2001 from within the model organism database community. It aimed to standardize methodologies to facilitate information exchange and access to analytical resources, using a consensus driven approach. Six years later, the BioMoby development community is pleased to announce the release of the 1.0 version of the interoperability framework, registry Application Programming Interface and supporting Perl and Java code-bases. Together, these provide interoperable access to over 1400 bioinformatics resources worldwide through the BioMoby platform, and this number continues to grow. Here we highlight and discuss the features of BioMoby that make it distinct from other Semantic Web Service and interoperability initiatives, and that have been instrumental to its deployment and use by a wide community of bioinformatics service providers. The standard, client software, and supporting code libraries are all freely available at http://www.biomoby.org/.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology, Database Management Systems, Databases, Factual, Information Storage and Retrieval, Internet, Programming Languages, Systems Integration}, issn = {1477-4054}, doi = {10.1093/bib/bbn003}, author = {Wilkinson, Mark D and Senger, Martin and Kawas, Edward and Bruskiewich, Richard and Gouzy, Jerome and Noirot, Celine and Bardou, Philippe and Ng, Ambrose and Haase, Dirk and Saiz, Enrique de Andres and Wang, Dennis and Gibbons, Frank and Gordon, Paul M K and Sensen, Christoph W and Carrasco, Jose Manuel Rodriguez and Fern{\'a}ndez, Jos{\'e} M and Shen, Lixin and Links, Matthew and Ng, Michael and Opushneva, Nina and Neerincx, Pieter B T and Leunissen, Jack A M and Ernst, Rebecca and Twigger, Simon and Usadel, Bjorn and Good, Benjamin and Wong, Yan and Stein, Lincoln and Crosby, William and Karlsson, Johan and Royo, Romina and P{\'a}rraga, Iv{\'a}n and Ram{\'\i}rez, Sergio and Gelpi, Josep Lluis and Trelles, Oswaldo and Pisano, David G and Jimenez, Natalia and Kerhornou, Arnaud and Rosset, Roman and Zamacola, Leire and T{\'a}rraga, Joaqu{\'\i}n and Huerta-Cepas, Jaime and Carazo, Jose Mar{\'\i}a and Dopazo, Joaquin and Guig{\'o}, Roderic and Navarro, Arcadi and Orozco, Modesto and Valencia, Alfonso and Claros, M Gonzalo and P{\'e}rez, Antonio J and Aldana, Jose and Rojano, M Mar and Fernandez-Santa Cruz, Raul and Navas, Ismael and Schiltz, Gary and Farmer, Andrew and Gessler, Damian and Schoof, Heiko and Groscurth, Andreas} } @article {18238804, title = {Interoperability with Moby 1.0{\textendash}it{\textquoteright}s better than sharing your toothbrush!}, journal = {Brief Bioinform}, volume = {9}, number = {3}, year = {2008}, note = {

BioMoby Consortium Wilkinson, Mark D Senger, Martin Kawas, Edward Bruskiewich, Richard Gouzy, Jerome Noirot, Celine Bardou, Philippe Ng, Ambrose Haase, Dirk Saiz, Enrique de Andres Wang, Dennis Gibbons, Frank Gordon, Paul M K Sensen, Christoph W Carrasco, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Fernandez, Jose M Shen, Lixin Links, Matthew Ng, Michael Opushneva, Nina Neerincx, Pieter B T Leunissen, Jack A M Ernst, Rebecca Twigger, Simon Usadel, Bjorn Good, Benjamin Wong, Yan Stein, Lincoln Crosby, William Karlsson, Johan Royo, Romina Parraga, Ivan Ramirez, Sergio Gelpi, Josep Lluis Trelles, Oswaldo Pisano, David G Jimenez, Natalia Kerhornou, Arnaud Rosset, Roman Zamacola, Leire Tarraga, Joaquin Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Carazo, Jose Maria Dopazo, Joaquin Guigo, Roderic Navarro, Arcadi Orozco, Modesto Valencia, Alfonso Claros, M Gonzalo Perez, Antonio J Aldana, Jose Rojano, M Mar Fernandez-Santa Cruz, Raul Navas, Ismael Schiltz, Gary Farmer, Andrew Gessler, Damian Schoof, Heiko Groscurth, Andreas Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Review England Briefings in bioinformatics Brief Bioinform. 2008 May;9(3):220-31. Epub 2008 Jan 31.

}, pages = {220-31}, abstract = {

The BioMoby project was initiated in 2001 from within the model organism database community. It aimed to standardize methodologies to facilitate information exchange and access to analytical resources, using a consensus driven approach. Six years later, the BioMoby development community is pleased to announce the release of the 1.0 version of the interoperability framework, registry Application Programming Interface and supporting Perl and Java code-bases. Together, these provide interoperable access to over 1400 bioinformatics resources worldwide through the BioMoby platform, and this number continues to grow. Here we highlight and discuss the features of BioMoby that make it distinct from other Semantic Web Service and interoperability initiatives, and that have been instrumental to its deployment and use by a wide community of bioinformatics service providers. The standard, client software, and supporting code libraries are all freely available at http://www.biomoby.org/.

}, keywords = {Computational Biology/*methods *Database Management Systems *Databases, Factual Information Storage and Retrieval/*methods *Internet *Programming Languages Systems Integration}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18238804}, author = {Wilkinson, M. D. and Senger, M. and Kawas, E. and Bruskiewich, R. and Gouzy, J. and Noirot, C. and Bardou, P. and Ng, A. and Haase, D. and Saiz Ede, A. and Wang, D. and Gibbons, F. and Gordon, P. M. and Sensen, C. W. and Carrasco, J. M. and Fernandez, J. M. and Shen, L. and Links, M. and Ng, M. and Opushneva, N. and Neerincx, P. B. and Leunissen, J. A. and Ernst, R. and Twigger, S. and Usadel, B. and Good, B. and Wong, Y. and Stein, L. and Crosby, W. and Karlsson, J. and Royo, R. and Parraga, I. and Ramirez, S. and Gelpi, J. L. and Trelles, O. and Pisano, D. G. and Jimenez, N. and Kerhornou, A. and Rosset, R. and Zamacola, L. and Tarraga, J. and Huerta-Cepas, J. and Carazo, J. M. and Dopazo, J. and R. Guigo and Navarro, A. and Orozco, M. and Valencia, A. and Claros, M. G. and Perez, A. J. and Aldana, J. and Rojano, M. M. and Fernandez-Santa Cruz, R. and Navas, I. and Schiltz, G. and Farmer, A. and Gessler, D. and Schoof, H. and Groscurth, A.} } @article {599, title = {SNP and haplotype mapping for genetic analysis in the rat.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {40}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 May}, pages = {560-6}, abstract = {

The laboratory rat is one of the most extensively studied model organisms. Inbred laboratory rat strains originated from limited Rattus norvegicus founder populations, and the inherited genetic variation provides an excellent resource for the correlation of genotype to phenotype. Here, we report a survey of genetic variation based on almost 3 million newly identified SNPs. We obtained accurate and complete genotypes for a subset of 20,238 SNPs across 167 distinct inbred rat strains, two rat recombinant inbred panels and an F2 intercross. Using 81\% of these SNPs, we constructed high-density genetic maps, creating a large dataset of fully characterized SNPs for disease gene mapping. Our data characterize the population structure and illustrate the degree of linkage disequilibrium. We provide a detailed SNP map and demonstrate its utility for mapping of quantitative trait loci. This community resource is openly available and augments the genetic tools for this workhorse of physiological studies.

}, keywords = {Animals, Chromosome Mapping, Databases, Genetic, Genome, Haplotypes, Linkage Disequilibrium, Phylogeny, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Rats, Rats, Inbred Strains, Recombination, Genetic}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.124}, author = {Saar, Kathrin and Beck, Alfred and Bihoreau, Marie-Th{\'e}r{\`e}se and Birney, Ewan and Brocklebank, Denise and Chen, Yuan and Cuppen, Edwin and Demonchy, Stephanie and Dopazo, Joaquin and Flicek, Paul and Foglio, Mario and Fujiyama, Asao and Gut, Ivo G and Gauguier, Dominique and Guig{\'o}, Roderic and Guryev, Victor and Heinig, Matthias and Hummel, Oliver and Jahn, Niels and Klages, Sven and Kren, Vladimir and Kube, Michael and Kuhl, Heiner and Kuramoto, Takashi and Kuroki, Yoko and Lechner, Doris and Lee, Young-Ae and Lopez-Bigas, Nuria and Lathrop, G Mark and Mashimo, Tomoji and Medina, Ignacio and Mott, Richard and Patone, Giannino and Perrier-Cornet, Jeanne-Antide and Platzer, Matthias and Pravenec, Michal and Reinhardt, Richard and Sakaki, Yoshiyuki and Schilhabel, Markus and Schulz, Herbert and Serikawa, Tadao and Shikhagaie, Medya and Tatsumoto, Shouji and Taudien, Stefan and Toyoda, Atsushi and Voigt, Birger and Zelenika, Diana and Zimdahl, Heike and Hubner, Norbert} } @article {18443594, title = {SNP and haplotype mapping for genetic analysis in the rat}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {40}, number = {5}, year = {2008}, note = {

STAR Consortium Saar, Kathrin Beck, Alfred Bihoreau, Marie-Therese Birney, Ewan Brocklebank, Denise Chen, Yuan Cuppen, Edwin Demonchy, Stephanie Dopazo, Joaquin Flicek, Paul Foglio, Mario Fujiyama, Asao Gut, Ivo G Gauguier, Dominique Guigo, Roderic Guryev, Victor Heinig, Matthias Hummel, Oliver Jahn, Niels Klages, Sven Kren, Vladimir Kube, Michael Kuhl, Heiner Kuramoto, Takashi Kuroki, Yoko Lechner, Doris Lee, Young-Ae Lopez-Bigas, Nuria Lathrop, G Mark Mashimo, Tomoji Medina, Ignacio Mott, Richard Patone, Giannino Perrier-Cornet, Jeanne-Antide Platzer, Matthias Pravenec, Michal Reinhardt, Richard Sakaki, Yoshiyuki Schilhabel, Markus Schulz, Herbert Serikawa, Tadao Shikhagaie, Medya Tatsumoto, Shouji Taudien, Stefan Toyoda, Atsushi Voigt, Birger Zelenika, Diana Zimdahl, Heike Hubner, Norbert 057733/Z/99/A/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom 066780/Z/01/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Technical Report United States Nature genetics Nat Genet. 2008 May;40(5):560-6.

}, pages = {560-6}, abstract = {

The laboratory rat is one of the most extensively studied model organisms. Inbred laboratory rat strains originated from limited Rattus norvegicus founder populations, and the inherited genetic variation provides an excellent resource for the correlation of genotype to phenotype. Here, we report a survey of genetic variation based on almost 3 million newly identified SNPs. We obtained accurate and complete genotypes for a subset of 20,238 SNPs across 167 distinct inbred rat strains, two rat recombinant inbred panels and an F2 intercross. Using 81\% of these SNPs, we constructed high-density genetic maps, creating a large dataset of fully characterized SNPs for disease gene mapping. Our data characterize the population structure and illustrate the degree of linkage disequilibrium. We provide a detailed SNP map and demonstrate its utility for mapping of quantitative trait loci. This community resource is openly available and augments the genetic tools for this workhorse of physiological studies.

}, keywords = {Animals Chromosome Mapping *Databases, Genetic, Genetic Genome *Haplotypes Linkage Disequilibrium Phylogeny *Polymorphism, Inbred Strains/*genetics Recombination, Single Nucleotide *Quantitative Trait Loci Rats/*genetics Rats}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18443594}, author = {K. Saar and A. Beck and M. T. Bihoreau and E. Birney and D. Brocklebank and Y. Chen and E. Cuppen and S. Demonchy and Dopazo, J. and P. Flicek and M. Foglio and A. Fujiyama and I. G. Gut and D. Gauguier and R. Guigo and V. Guryev and M. Heinig and O. Hummel and N. Jahn and S. Klages and V. Kren and M. Kube and H. Kuhl and Kuramoto, T. and Kuroki, Y. and Lechner, D. and Lee, Y. A. and Lopez-Bigas, N. and Lathrop, G. M. and Mashimo, T. and Medina, Ignacio and Mott, R. and Patone, G. and Perrier-Cornet, J. A. and Platzer, M. and Pravenec, M. and Reinhardt, R. and Sakaki, Y. and Schilhabel, M. and Schulz, H. and Serikawa, T. and Shikhagaie, M. and Tatsumoto, S. and Taudien, S. and Toyoda, A. and Voigt, B. and Zelenika, D. and Zimdahl, H. and Hubner, N.} } @article {18552980, title = {Time course profiling of the retinal transcriptome after optic nerve transection and optic nerve crush}, journal = {Mol Vis}, volume = {14}, year = {2008}, note = {Agudo, Marta Perez-Marin, Maria Cruz Lonngren, Ulrika Sobrado, Paloma Conesa, Ana Canovas, Isabel Salinas-Navarro, Manuel Miralles-Imperial, Jaime Hallbook, Finn Vidal-Sanz, Manuel Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Molecular vision Mol Vis. 2008 Jun 3;14:1050-63.}, pages = {1050-63}, abstract = {PURPOSE: A time-course analysis of gene regulation in the adult rat retina after intraorbital nerve crush (IONC) and intraorbital nerve transection (IONT). METHODS: RNA was extracted from adult rat retinas undergoing either IONT or IONC at increasing times post-lesion. Affymetrix RAE230.2 arrays were hybridized and analyzed. Statistically regulated genes were annotated and functionally clustered. Arrays were validated by means of quantative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) on ten regulated genes at two times post-lesion. Western blotting and immunohistofluorescence for four pro-apoptotic proteins were performed on naive and injured retinas. Finally, custom signaling maps for IONT- and IONC-induced death response were generated (MetaCore, Genego Inc.). RESULTS: Here we show that over time, 3,219 sequences were regulated after IONT and 1,996 after IONC. Out of the total of regulated sequences, 1,078 were commonly regulated by both injuries. Interestingly, while IONT mainly triggers a gene upregulation-sustained over time, IONC causes a transitory downregulation. Functional clustering identified the regulation of high interest biologic processes, most importantly cell death wherein apoptosis was the most significant cluster. Ten death-related genes upregulated by both injuries were used for array validation by means of qRT-PCR. In addition, western blotting and immunohistofluorescence of total and active Caspase 3 (Casp3), tumor necrosis factor receptor type 1 associated death domain (TRADD), tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 1a (TNFR1a), and c-fos were performed to confirm their protein regulation and expression pattern in naive and injured retinas. These analyses demonstrated that for these genes, protein regulation followed transcriptional regulation and that these pro-apoptotic proteins were expressed by retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). MetaCore-based death-signaling maps show that several apoptotic cascades were regulated in the retina following optic nerve injury and highlight the similarities and differences between IONT and IONC in cell death profiling. CONCLUSIONS: This comprehensive time course retinal transcriptome study comparing IONT and IONC lesions provides a unique valuable tool to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying optic nerve injury and to design neuroprotective protocols.}, keywords = {Animals Cell Death Cluster Analysis Female *Gene Expression Profiling Gene Expression Regulation *Nerve Crush Optic Nerve/*metabolism/*pathology Optic Nerve Injuries/*genetics Rats Rats, Sprague-Dawley Reproducibility of Results Retina/*metabolism/*pathology Time Factors}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18552980}, author = {Agudo, M. and Perez-Marin, M. C. and Lonngren, U. and Sobrado, P. and A. Conesa and Canovas, I. and Salinas-Navarro, M. and Miralles-Imperial, J. and Hallbook, F. and Vidal-Sanz, M.} } @article {18539377, title = {Transcriptome analysis provides new insights into liver changes induced in the rat upon dietary administration of the food additives butylated hydroxytoluene, curcumin, propyl gallate and thiabendazole}, journal = {Food Chem Toxicol}, volume = {46}, number = {8}, year = {2008}, note = {Stierum, Rob Conesa, Ana Heijne, Wilbert Ommen, Ben van Junker, Karin Scott, Mary P Price, Roger J Meredith, Clive Lake, Brian G Groten, John Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association Food Chem Toxicol. 2008 Aug;46(8):2616-28. Epub 2008 Apr 25.}, pages = {2616-28}, abstract = {Transcriptomics was performed to gain insight into mechanisms of food additives butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), curcumin (CC), propyl gallate (PG), and thiabendazole (TB), additives for which interactions in the liver can not be excluded. Additives were administered in diets for 28 days to Sprague-Dawley rats and cDNA microarray experiments were performed on hepatic RNA. BHT induced changes in the expression of 10 genes, including phase I (CYP2B1/2; CYP3A9; CYP2C6) and phase II metabolism (GST mu2). The CYP2B1/2 and GST expression findings were confirmed by real time RT-PCR, western blotting, and increased GST activity towards DCNB. CC altered the expression of 12 genes. Three out of these were related to peroxisomes (phytanoyl-CoA dioxygenase, enoyl-CoA hydratase; CYP4A3). Increased cyanide insensitive palmitoyl-CoA oxidation was observed, suggesting that CC is a weak peroxisome proliferator. TB changed the expression of 12 genes, including CYP1A2. In line, CYP1A2 protein expression was increased. The expression level of five genes, associated with p53 was found to change upon TB treatment, including p53 itself, GADD45alpha, DN-7, protein kinase C beta and serum albumin. These array experiments led to the novel finding that TB is capable of inducing p53 at the protein level, at least at the highest dose levels employed above the current NOAEL. The expression of eight genes changed upon PG administration. This study shows the value of gene expression profiling in food toxicology in terms of generating novel hypotheses on the mechanisms of action of food additives in relation to pathology.}, keywords = {Animals Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases/metabolism Body Weight/drug effects Butylated Hydroxytoluene/toxicity Curcumin/toxicity Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2/metabolism Cytochrome P-450 CYP2B1/metabolism DNA, Complementary/biosynthesis/genetics Data Interpretation, Sprague-Dawley Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Steroid Hydroxylases/metabolism Thiabendazole/toxicity, Statistical *Diet Food Additives/*toxicity Gene Expression/drug effects *Gene Expression Profiling Glutathione Transferase/metabolism Liver/*drug effects Male Organ Size/drug effects Oxidation-Reduction Palmitoyl Coenzyme A/metabolism Propyl Gallate/toxi}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18539377}, author = {Stierum, R. and A. Conesa and Heijne, W. and Ommen, B. and Junker, K. and Scott, M. P. and Price, R. J. and Meredith, C. and Lake, B. G. and Groten, J.} } @article {17570147, title = {The AnnoLite and AnnoLyze programs for comparative annotation of protein structures}, journal = {BMC Bioinformatics}, volume = {8 Suppl 4}, year = {2007}, note = {Marti-Renom, Marc A Rossi, Andrea Al-Shahrour, Fatima Davis, Fred P Pieper, Ursula Dopazo, Joaquin Sali, Andrej Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England BMC bioinformatics BMC Bioinformatics. 2007 May 22;8 Suppl 4:S4.}, pages = {S4}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Advances in structural biology, including structural genomics, have resulted in a rapid increase in the number of experimentally determined protein structures. However, about half of the structures deposited by the structural genomics consortia have little or no information about their biological function. Therefore, there is a need for tools for automatically and comprehensively annotating the function of protein structures. We aim to provide such tools by applying comparative protein structure annotation that relies on detectable relationships between protein structures to transfer functional annotations. Here we introduce two programs, AnnoLite and AnnoLyze, which use the structural alignments deposited in the DBAli database. DESCRIPTION: AnnoLite predicts the SCOP, CATH, EC, InterPro, PfamA, and GO terms with an average sensitivity of 90\% and average precision of 80\%. AnnoLyze predicts ligand binding site and domain interaction patches with an average sensitivity of 70\% and average precision of 30\%, correctly localizing binding sites for small molecules in 95\% of its predictions. CONCLUSION: The AnnoLite and AnnoLyze programs for comparative annotation of protein structures can reliably and automatically annotate new protein structures. The programs are fully accessible via the Internet as part of the DBAli suite of tools at http://salilab.org/DBAli/.}, keywords = {*Algorithms Amino Acid Sequence Confidence Intervals Data Interpretation, Amino Acid *Software Structure-Activity Relationship, Protein Information Storage and Retrieval/methods Molecular Sequence Data Proteins/*chemistry/classification/*metabolism Sensitivity and Specificity Sequence Alignment/*methods Sequence Analysis, Protein/*methods Sequence Homology, Statistical *Databases}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17570147}, author = {M. A. Marti-Renom and Rossi, A. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Davis, F. P. and Pieper, U. and Dopazo, J. and Sali, A.} } @article {17909067, title = {Association study of 69 genes in the ret pathway identifies low-penetrance loci in sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma}, journal = {Cancer Res}, volume = {67}, number = {19}, year = {2007}, note = {Ruiz-Llorente, Sergio Montero-Conde, Cristina Milne, Roger L Moya, Christian M Cebrian, Arancha Leton, Rocio Cascon, Alberto Mercadillo, Fatima Landa, Inigo Borrego, Salud Perez de Nanclares, Guiomar Alvarez-Escola, Cristina Diaz-Perez, Jose Angel Carracedo, Angel Urioste, Miguel Gonzalez-Neira, Anna Benitez, Javier Santisteban, Pilar Dopazo, Joaquin Ponder, Bruce A Robledo, Mercedes Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Clinical Group Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Cancer research Cancer Res. 2007 Oct 1;67(19):9561-7.}, pages = {9561-7}, abstract = {To date, few association studies have been done to better understand the genetic basis for the development of sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma (sMTC). To identify additional low-penetrance genes, we have done a two-stage case-control study in two European populations using high-throughput genotyping. We selected 417 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) belonging to 69 genes either related to RET signaling pathway/functions or involved in key processes for cancer development. TagSNPs and functional variants were included where possible. These SNPs were initially studied in the largest known series of sMTC cases (n = 266) and controls (n = 422), all of Spanish origin. In stage II, an independent British series of 155 sMTC patients and 531 controls was included to validate the previous results. Associations were assessed by an exhaustive analysis of individual SNPs but also considering gene- and linkage disequilibrium-based haplotypes. This strategy allowed us to identify seven low-penetrance genes, six of them (STAT1, AURKA, BCL2, CDKN2B, CDK6, and COMT) consistently associated with sMTC risk in the two case-control series and a seventh (HRAS) with individual SNPs and haplotypes associated with sMTC in the Spanish data set. The potential role of CDKN2B was confirmed by a functional assay showing a role of a SNP (rs7044859) in the promoter region in altering the binding of the transcription factor HNF1. These results highlight the utility of association studies using homogeneous series of cases for better understanding complex diseases.}, keywords = {80 and over Carcinoma, Adolescent Adult Aged Aged, Genetic, Genetic Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret/*genetics/metabolism Signal Transduction Thyroid Neoplasms/*genetics/metabolism Transcription, Medullary/*genetics/metabolism Case-Control Studies Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p15/biosynthesis/genetics Female Genetic Predisposition to Disease Germ-Line Mutation Haplotypes Humans Male Middle Aged Penetrance Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Promoter Regions}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17909067}, author = {Ruiz-Llorente, S. and Montero-Conde, C. and Milne, R. L. and Moya, C. M. and Cebrian, A. and Leton, R. and Cascon, A. and Mercadillo, F. and Landa, I. and Borrego, S. and Perez de Nanclares, G. and Alvarez-Escola, C. and Diaz-Perez, J. A. and Carracedo, A. and Urioste, M. and Gonzalez-Neira, A. and Benitez, J. and Santisteban, P. and Dopazo, J. and Ponder, B. A. and M. Robledo} } @article {603, title = {DBAli tools: mining the protein structure space.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {35}, year = {2007}, month = {2007 Jul}, pages = {W393-7}, abstract = {

The DBAli tools use a comprehensive set of structural alignments in the DBAli database to leverage the structural information deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). These tools include (i) the DBAlit program that allows users to input the 3D coordinates of a protein structure for comparison by MAMMOTH against all chains in the PDB; (ii) the AnnoLite and AnnoLyze programs that annotate a target structure based on its stored relationships to other structures; (iii) the ModClus program that clusters structures by sequence and structure similarities; (iv) the ModDom program that identifies domains as recurrent structural fragments and (v) an implementation of the COMPARER method in the SALIGN command in MODELLER that creates a multiple structure alignment for a set of related protein structures. Thus, the DBAli tools, which are freely accessible via the World Wide Web at http://salilab.org/DBAli/, allow users to mine the protein structure space by establishing relationships between protein structures and their functions.

}, keywords = {Algorithms, Amino Acid Sequence, Computational Biology, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Databases, Protein, Internet, Molecular Sequence Data, Protein Conformation, Proteins, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Sequence Alignment, Sequence Analysis, Protein, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Software, Structure-Activity Relationship}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkm236}, author = {Marti-Renom, Marc A and Pieper, Ursula and Madhusudhan, M S and Rossi, Andrea and Eswar, Narayanan and Davis, Fred P and Al-Shahrour, F{\'a}tima and Dopazo, Joaquin and Sali, Andrej} } @article {17478513, title = {DBAli tools: mining the protein structure space}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {35}, number = {Web Server issue}, year = {2007}, note = {Marti-Renom, Marc A Pieper, Ursula Madhusudhan, M S Rossi, Andrea Eswar, Narayanan Davis, Fred P Al-Shahrour, Fatima Dopazo, Joaquin Sali, Andrej GM 62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States GM074929/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States GM54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States GM71790/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2007 Jul;35(Web Server issue):W393-7. Epub 2007 May 3.}, pages = {W393-7}, abstract = {The DBAli tools use a comprehensive set of structural alignments in the DBAli database to leverage the structural information deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). These tools include (i) the DBAlit program that allows users to input the 3D coordinates of a protein structure for comparison by MAMMOTH against all chains in the PDB; (ii) the AnnoLite and AnnoLyze programs that annotate a target structure based on its stored relationships to other structures; (iii) the ModClus program that clusters structures by sequence and structure similarities; (iv) the ModDom program that identifies domains as recurrent structural fragments and (v) an implementation of the COMPARER method in the SALIGN command in MODELLER that creates a multiple structure alignment for a set of related protein structures. Thus, the DBAli tools, which are freely accessible via the World Wide Web at http://salilab.org/DBAli/, allow users to mine the protein structure space by establishing relationships between protein structures and their functions.}, keywords = {*Algorithms Amino Acid Sequence Computational Biology/*methods Data Interpretation, Amino Acid *Software Structure-Activity Relationship, Protein Internet Molecular Sequence Data Protein Conformation Proteins/*chemistry/classification/*metabolism Pseudomonas aeruginosa/*metabolism Sequence Alignment/*methods Sequence Analysis, Protein/*methods Sequence Homology, Statistical *Databases}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17478513}, author = {M. A. Marti-Renom and Pieper, U. and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Rossi, A. and Eswar, N. and Davis, F. P. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Dopazo, J. and Sali, A.} } @article {604, title = {Evidence for systems-level molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis.}, journal = {BMC Genomics}, volume = {8}, year = {2007}, month = {2007 Jun 20}, pages = {185}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Cancer arises from the consecutive acquisition of genetic alterations. Increasing evidence suggests that as a consequence of these alterations, molecular interactions are reprogrammed in the context of highly connected and regulated cellular networks. Coordinated reprogramming would allow the cell to acquire the capabilities for malignant growth.

RESULTS: Here, we determine the coordinated function of cancer gene products (i.e., proteins encoded by differentially expressed genes in tumors relative to healthy tissue counterparts, hereafter referred to as "CGPs") defined as their topological properties and organization in the interactome network. We show that CGPs are central to information exchange and propagation and that they are specifically organized to promote tumorigenesis. Centrality is identified by both local (degree) and global (betweenness and closeness) measures, and systematically appears in down-regulated CGPs. Up-regulated CGPs do not consistently exhibit centrality, but both types of cancer products determine the overall integrity of the network structure. In addition to centrality, down-regulated CGPs show topological association that correlates with common biological processes and pathways involved in tumorigenesis.

CONCLUSION: Given the current limited coverage of the human interactome, this study proposes that tumorigenesis takes place in a specific and organized way at the molecular systems-level and suggests a model that comprises the precise down-regulation of groups of topologically-associated proteins involved in particular functions, orchestrated with the up-regulation of specific proteins.

}, keywords = {Cell Transformation, Neoplastic, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Male, Models, Biological, Models, Genetic, Models, Statistical, Neoplasm Proteins, Neoplasms, Prostatic Neoplasms, Protein Interaction Mapping, RNA, Messenger, Signal Transduction, Systems biology}, issn = {1471-2164}, doi = {10.1186/1471-2164-8-185}, author = {Hern{\'a}ndez, Pilar and Huerta-Cepas, Jaime and Montaner, David and Al-Shahrour, F{\'a}tima and Valls, Joan and G{\'o}mez, Laia and Capell{\`a}, Gabriel and Dopazo, Joaquin and Pujana, Miguel Angel} } @article {17584915, title = {Evidence for systems-level molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis}, journal = {BMC Genomics}, volume = {8}, year = {2007}, note = {Hernandez, Pilar Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Montaner, David Al-Shahrour, Fatima Valls, Joan Gomez, Laia Capella, Gabriel Dopazo, Joaquin Pujana, Miguel Angel Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England BMC genomics BMC Genomics. 2007 Jun 20;8:185.}, pages = {185}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: Cancer arises from the consecutive acquisition of genetic alterations. Increasing evidence suggests that as a consequence of these alterations, molecular interactions are reprogrammed in the context of highly connected and regulated cellular networks. Coordinated reprogramming would allow the cell to acquire the capabilities for malignant growth. RESULTS: Here, we determine the coordinated function of cancer gene products (i.e., proteins encoded by differentially expressed genes in tumors relative to healthy tissue counterparts, hereafter referred to as "CGPs") defined as their topological properties and organization in the interactome network. We show that CGPs are central to information exchange and propagation and that they are specifically organized to promote tumorigenesis. Centrality is identified by both local (degree) and global (betweenness and closeness) measures, and systematically appears in down-regulated CGPs. Up-regulated CGPs do not consistently exhibit centrality, but both types of cancer products determine the overall integrity of the network structure. In addition to centrality, down-regulated CGPs show topological association that correlates with common biological processes and pathways involved in tumorigenesis. CONCLUSION: Given the current limited coverage of the human interactome, this study proposes that tumorigenesis takes place in a specific and organized way at the molecular systems-level and suggests a model that comprises the precise down-regulation of groups of topologically-associated proteins involved in particular functions, orchestrated with the up-regulation of specific proteins.}, keywords = {*Cell Transformation, Biological Models, Genetic Models, Messenger/metabolism Signal Transduction Systems Biology, Neoplastic *Gene Expression Profiling *Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic Humans Male Models, Statistical Neoplasm Proteins/*physiology Neoplasms/etiology/*genetics Prostatic Neoplasms/genetics Protein Interaction Mapping RNA}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17584915}, author = {Hernandez, P. and Huerta-Cepas, J. and Montaner, D. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Valls, J. and Gomez, L. and Capella, G. and Dopazo, J. and Pujana, M. A.} } @article {17135190, title = {PeroxisomeDB: a database for the peroxisomal proteome, functional genomics and disease}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {35}, number = {Database issue}, year = {2007}, note = {Schluter, Agatha Fourcade, Stephane Domenech-Estevez, Enric Gabaldon, Toni Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Berthommier, Guillaume Ripp, Raymond Wanders, Ronald J A Poch, Olivier Pujol, Aurora Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2007 Jan;35(Database issue):D815-22. Epub 2006 Nov 28.}, pages = {D815-22}, abstract = {Peroxisomes are essential organelles of eukaryotic origin, ubiquitously distributed in cells and organisms, playing key roles in lipid and antioxidant metabolism. Loss or malfunction of peroxisomes causes more than 20 fatal inherited conditions. We have created a peroxisomal database (http://www.peroxisomeDB.org) that includes the complete peroxisomal proteome of Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, by gathering, updating and integrating the available genetic and functional information on peroxisomal genes. PeroxisomeDB is structured in interrelated sections {\textquoteright}Genes{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteright}Functions{\textquoteright}, {\textquoteright}Metabolic pathways{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteright}Diseases{\textquoteright}, that include hyperlinks to selected features of NCBI, ENSEMBL and UCSC databases. We have designed graphical depictions of the main peroxisomal metabolic routes and have included updated flow charts for diagnosis. Precomputed BLAST, PSI-BLAST, multiple sequence alignment (MUSCLE) and phylogenetic trees are provided to assist in direct multispecies comparison to study evolutionary conserved functions and pathways. Highlights of the PeroxisomeDB include new tools developed for facilitating (i) identification of novel peroxisomal proteins, by means of identifying proteins carrying peroxisome targeting signal (PTS) motifs, (ii) detection of peroxisomes in silico, particularly useful for screening the deluge of newly sequenced genomes. PeroxisomeDB should contribute to the systematic characterization of the peroxisomal proteome and facilitate system biology approaches on the organelle.}, keywords = {Animals *Databases, Protein Genomics Humans Internet Mice Peroxisomal Disorders/*genetics Peroxisomes/*metabolism Protein Sorting Signals Proteome/chemistry/*genetics/*physiology Rats Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/genetics/physiology Software User-Computer Interface}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17135190}, author = {Schluter, A. and Fourcade, S. and Domenech-Estevez, E. and Gabald{\'o}n, T. and Huerta-Cepas, J. and Berthommier, G. and Ripp, R. and Wanders, R. J. and Poch, O. and Pujol, A.} } @article {17510022, title = {Structural analyses of a hypothetical minimal metabolism}, journal = {Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci}, volume = {362}, number = {1486}, year = {2007}, note = {Gabaldon, Toni Pereto, Juli Montero, Francisco Gil, Rosario Latorre, Amparo Moya, Andres Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 Oct 29;362(1486):1751-62.}, pages = {1751-62}, abstract = {By integrating data from comparative genomics and large-scale deletion studies, we previously proposed a minimal gene set comprising 206 protein-coding genes. To evaluate the consistency of the metabolism encoded by such a minimal genome, we have carried out a series of computational analyses. Firstly, the topology of the minimal metabolism was compared with that of the reconstructed networks from natural bacterial genomes. Secondly, the robustness of the metabolic network was evaluated by simulated mutagenesis and, finally, the stoichiometric consistency was assessed by automatically deriving the steady-state solutions from the reaction set. The results indicated that the proposed minimal metabolism presents stoichiometric consistency and that it is organized as a complex power-law network with topological parameters falling within the expected range for a natural metabolism of its size. The robustness analyses revealed that most random mutations do not alter the topology of the network significantly, but do cause significant damage by preventing the synthesis of several compounds or compromising the stoichiometric consistency of the metabolism. The implications that these results have on the origins of metabolic complexity and the theoretical design of an artificial minimal cell are discussed.}, keywords = {*Cell Physiological Phenomena Cells/*metabolism Cluster Analysis *Computer Simulation *Metabolic Networks and Pathways *Models, Biological Models, Statistical}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17510022}, author = {Gabald{\'o}n, T. and Peret{\'o}, J. and Montero, F. and Gil, R. and Latorre, A. and Moya, A.} } @article {17617431, title = {Transcriptional response of Citrus aurantifolia to infection by Citrus tristeza virus}, journal = {Virology}, volume = {367}, number = {2}, year = {2007}, note = {Gandia, Monica Conesa, Ana Ancillo, Gema Gadea, Jose Forment, Javier Pallas, Vicente Flores, Ricardo Duran-Vila, Nuria Moreno, Pedro Guerri, Jose Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Virology Virology. 2007 Oct 25;367(2):298-306. Epub 2007 Jul 9.}, pages = {298-306}, abstract = {Changes in gene expression of Mexican lime plants in response to infection with a severe (T305) or a mild (T385) isolate of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) were analyzed using a cDNA microarray containing 12,672 probes to 6875 different citrus genes. Statistically significant (P<0.01) expression changes of 334 genes were detected in response to infection with isolate T305, whereas infection with T385 induced no significant change. Induced genes included 145 without significant similarity with known sequences and 189 that were classified in seven functional categories. Genes related with response to stress and defense were the main category and included 28\% of the genes induced. Selected transcription changes detected by microarray analysis were confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Changes detected in the transcriptome upon infecting lime with T305 may be associated either with symptom expression, with a strain-specific defense mechanism, or with a general response to stress.}, keywords = {Citrus/*genetics/physiology/virology Closterovirus/genetics/*physiology Genes, Genetic, Plant Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction *Transcription}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=17617431}, author = {Gandia, M. and A. Conesa and Ancillo, G. and J. Gadea and J. Forment and Pallas, V. and Flores, R. and Duran-Vila, N. and Moreno, P. and Guerri, J.} } @article {18428767, title = {Comparative protein structure modeling using Modeller}, journal = {Curr Protoc Bioinformatics}, volume = {Chapter 5}, year = {2006}, note = {Eswar, Narayanan Webb, Ben Marti-Renom, Marc A Madhusudhan, M S Eramian, David Shen, Min-Yi Pieper, Ursula Sali, Andrej P01 A135707/PHS HHS/United States P01 GM71790/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States U54 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Current protocols in bioinformatics / editoral board, Andreas D. Baxevanis ... [et al.] Curr Protoc Bioinformatics. 2006 Oct;Chapter 5:Unit 5.6.}, pages = {Unit 5 6}, abstract = {Functional characterization of a protein sequence is one of the most frequent problems in biology. This task is usually facilitated by accurate three-dimensional (3-D) structure of the studied protein. In the absence of an experimentally determined structure, comparative or homology modeling can sometimes provide a useful 3-D model for a protein that is related to at least one known protein structure. Comparative modeling predicts the 3-D structure of a given protein sequence (target) based primarily on its alignment to one or more proteins of known structure (templates). The prediction process consists of fold assignment, target-template alignment, model building, and model evaluation. This unit describes how to calculate comparative models using the program MODELLER and discusses all four steps of comparative modeling, frequently observed errors, and some applications. Modeling lactate dehydrogenase from Trichomonas vaginalis (TvLDH) is described as an example. The download and installation of the MODELLER software is also described.}, keywords = {Algorithms Amino Acid Sequence Computer Simulation Crystallography/*methods *Models, Chemical *Models, Molecular Molecular Sequence Data Protein Conformation Protein Folding Proteins/*chemistry/*ultrastructure Sequence Analysis, Protein/*methods *Software}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=18428767}, author = {Eswar, N. and Webb, B. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Eramian, D. and Shen, M. Y. and Pieper, U. and Sali, A.} } @article {16381869, title = {MODBASE: a database of annotated comparative protein structure models and associated resources}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {34}, number = {Database issue}, year = {2006}, note = {Pieper, Ursula Eswar, Narayanan Davis, Fred P Braberg, Hannes Madhusudhan, M S Rossi, Andrea Marti-Renom, Marc Karchin, Rachel Webb, Ben M Eramian, David Shen, Min-Yi Kelly, Libusha Melo, Francisco Sali, Andrej GM 08284/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States P50 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM 54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R33 CA84699/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States U54 GM074945/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2006 Jan 1;34(Database issue):D291-5.}, pages = {D291-5}, abstract = {MODBASE (http://salilab.org/modbase) is a database of annotated comparative protein structure models for all available protein sequences that can be matched to at least one known protein structure. The models are calculated by MODPIPE, an automated modeling pipeline that relies on MODELLER for fold assignment, sequence-structure alignment, model building and model assessment (http:/salilab.org/modeller). MODBASE is updated regularly to reflect the growth in protein sequence and structure databases, and improvements in the software for calculating the models. MODBASE currently contains 3 094 524 reliable models for domains in 1 094 750 out of 1 817 889 unique protein sequences in the UniProt database (July 5, 2005); only models based on statistically significant alignments and models assessed to have the correct fold despite insignificant alignments are included. MODBASE also allows users to generate comparative models for proteins of interest with the automated modeling server MODWEB (http://salilab.org/modweb). Our other resources integrated with MODBASE include comprehensive databases of multiple protein structure alignments (DBAli, http://salilab.org/dbali), structurally defined ligand binding sites and structurally defined binary domain interfaces (PIBASE, http://salilab.org/pibase) as well as predictions of ligand binding sites, interactions between yeast proteins, and functional consequences of human nsSNPs (LS-SNP, http://salilab.org/LS-SNP).}, keywords = {Binding Sites *Databases, Molecular Polymorphism, Protein Humans Internet Ligands *Models, Protein Systems Integration User-Computer Interface, Single Nucleotide Protein Structure, Tertiary Proteins/*chemistry/genetics/metabolism Software *Structural Homology}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=16381869}, author = {Pieper, U. and Eswar, N. and Davis, F. P. and Braberg, H. and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Rossi, A. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Karchin, R. and Webb, B. M. and Eramian, D. and Shen, M. Y. and Kelly, L. and Melo, F. and Sali, A.} } @article {16845056, title = {Next station in microarray data analysis: GEPAS}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {34}, year = {2006}, note = {

Montaner, David Tarraga, Joaquin Huerta-Cepas, Jaime Burguet, Jordi Vaquerizas, Juan M Conde, Lucia Minguez, Pablo Vera, Javier Mukherjee, Sach Valls, Joan Pujana, Miguel A G Alloza, Eva Herrero, Javier Al-Shahrour, Fatima Dopazo, Joaquin Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2006 Jul 1;34(Web Server issue):W486-91.

}, pages = {W486-91}, abstract = {

The Gene Expression Profile Analysis Suite (GEPAS) has been running for more than four years. During this time it has evolved to keep pace with the new interests and trends in the still changing world of microarray data analysis. GEPAS has been designed to provide an intuitive although powerful web-based interface that offers diverse analysis options from the early step of preprocessing (normalization of Affymetrix and two-colour microarray experiments and other preprocessing options), to the final step of the functional annotation of the experiment (using Gene Ontology, pathways, PubMed abstracts etc.), and include different possibilities for clustering, gene selection, class prediction and array-comparative genomic hybridization management. GEPAS is extensively used by researchers of many countries and its records indicate an average usage rate of 400 experiments per day. The web-based pipeline for microarray gene expression data, GEPAS, is available at http://www.gepas.org.

}, keywords = {gepas, microarray data analysis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=16845056}, author = {Montaner, D. and Tarraga, J. and Huerta-Cepas, J. and Burguet, J. and Vaquerizas, J. M. and L. Conde and Minguez, P. and Vera, J. and Mukherjee, S. and Valls, J. and Pujana, M. A. and Alloza, E. and Herrero, J. and Fatima Al-Shahrour and Dopazo, J.} } @article {16584746, title = {Selective pressures at a codon-level predict deleterious mutations in human disease genes}, journal = {J Mol Biol}, volume = {358}, number = {5}, year = {2006}, note = {Arbiza, Leonardo Duchi, Serena Montaner, David Burguet, Jordi Pantoja-Uceda, David Pineda-Lucena, Antonio Dopazo, Joaquin Dopazo, Hernan Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t England Journal of molecular biology J Mol Biol. 2006 May 19;358(5):1390-404. Epub 2006 Mar 15.}, pages = {1390-404}, abstract = {Deleterious mutations affecting biological function of proteins are constantly being rejected by purifying selection from the gene pool. The non-synonymous/synonymous substitution rate ratio (omega) is a measure of selective pressure on amino acid replacement mutations for protein-coding genes. Different methods have been developed in order to predict non-synonymous changes affecting gene function. However, none has considered the estimation of selective constraints acting on protein residues. Here, we have used codon-based maximum likelihood models in order to estimate the selective pressures on the individual amino acid residues of a well-known model protein: p53. We demonstrate that the number of residues under strong purifying selection in p53 is much higher than those that are strictly conserved during the evolution of the species. In agreement with theoretical expectations, residues that have been noted to be of structural relevance, or in direct association with DNA, were among those showing the highest signals of purifying selection. Conversely, those changing according to a neutral, or nearly neutral mode of evolution, were observed to be irrelevant for protein function. Finally, using more than 40 human disease genes, we demonstrate that residues evolving under strong selective pressures (omega<0.1) are significantly associated (p<0.01) with human disease. We hypothesize that non-synonymous change on amino acids showing omega<0.1 will most likely affect protein function. The application of this evolutionary prediction at a genomic scale will provide an a priori hypothesis of the phenotypic effect of non-synonymous coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human genome.}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence Amino Acid Substitution Codon/*genetics Databases, Genetic Evolution, Genetic Models, Human Humans Models, Inborn/*genetics Genome, Molecular Genes, Molecular Molecular Sequence Data *Mutation Neoplasms/genetics Proteins/genetics *Selection (Genetics) Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/chemistry/genetics, p53 Genetic Diseases}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=16584746}, author = {Arbiza, L. and Duchi, S. and Montaner, D. and Burguet, J. and Pantoja-Uceda, D. and Pineda-Lucena, A. and Dopazo, J. and H. Dopazo} } @article {15830128, title = {Development of a citrus genome-wide EST collection and cDNA microarray as resources for genomic studies}, journal = {Plant Mol Biol}, volume = {57}, number = {3}, year = {2005}, note = {Forment, J Gadea, J Huerta, L Abizanda, L Agusti, J Alamar, S Alos, E Andres, F Arribas, R Beltran, J P Berbel, A Blazquez, M A Brumos, J Canas, L A Cercos, M Colmenero-Flores, J M Conesa, A Estables, B Gandia, M Garcia-Martinez, J L Gimeno, J Gisbert, A Gomez, G Gonzalez-Candelas, L Granell, A Guerri, J Lafuente, M T Madueno, F Marcos, J F Marques, M C Martinez, F Martinez-Godoy, M A Miralles, S Moreno, P Navarro, L Pallas, V Perez-Amador, M A Perez-Valle, J Pons, C Rodrigo, I Rodriguez, P L Royo, C Serrano, R Soler, G Tadeo, F Talon, M Terol, J Trenor, M Vaello, L Vicente, O Vidal, Ch Zacarias, L Conejero, V Comparative Study Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, Non-P.H.S. Netherlands Plant molecular biology Plant Mol Biol. 2005 Feb;57(3):375-91.}, pages = {375-91}, abstract = {A functional genomics project has been initiated to approach the molecular characterization of the main biological and agronomical traits of citrus. As a key part of this project, a citrus EST collection has been generated from 25 cDNA libraries covering different tissues, developmental stages and stress conditions. The collection includes a total of 22,635 high-quality ESTs, grouped in 11,836 putative unigenes, which represent at least one third of the estimated number of genes in the citrus genome. Functional annotation of unigenes which have Arabidopsis orthologues (68\% of all unigenes) revealed gene representation in every major functional category, suggesting that a genome-wide EST collection was obtained. A Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan. cv. Clemenules genomic library, that will contribute to further characterization of relevant genes, has also been constructed. To initiate the analysis of citrus transcriptome, we have developed a cDNA microarray containing 12,672 probes corresponding to 6875 putative unigenes of the collection. Technical characterization of the microarray showed high intra- and inter-array reproducibility, as well as a good range of sensitivity. We have also validated gene expression data achieved with this microarray through an independent technique such as RNA gel blot analysis.}, keywords = {Citrus/*genetics DNA, Complementary/chemistry/genetics *Expressed Sequence Tags Gene Expression Profiling Gene Library *Genome, DNA, Plant Genomics/*methods Molecular Sequence Data Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis/*methods RNA, Plant/genetics/metabolism Reproducibility of Results Sequence Analysis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=15830128}, author = {J. Forment and J. Gadea and Huerta, L. and Abizanda, L. and Agusti, J. and Alamar, S. and Alos, E. and Andres, F. and Arribas, R. and Beltran, J. P. and Berbel, A. and Blazquez, M. A. and Brumos, J. and Canas, L. A. and Cercos, M. and Colmenero-Flores, J. M. and A. Conesa and Estables, B. and Gandia, M. and Garcia-Martinez, J. L. and Gimeno, J. and Gisbert, A. and Gomez, G. and Gonzalez-Candelas, L. and Granell, A. and Guerri, J. and Lafuente, M. T. and Madueno, F. and Marcos, J. F. and Marques, M. C. and Martinez, F. and Martinez-Godoy, M. A. and Miralles, S. and Moreno, P. and Navarro, L. and Pallas, V. and Perez-Amador, M. A. and Perez-Valle, J. and Pons, C. and Rodrigo, I. and Rodriguez, P. L. and Royo, C. and Serrano, R. and Soler, G. and Tadeo, F. and Talon, M. and Terol, J. and Trenor, M. and Vaello, L. and Vicente, O. and Vidal, Ch and Zacarias, L. and Conejero, V.} } @article {15770521, title = {Phenotypic characterization of BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumors based in a tissue microarray study with 37 immunohistochemical markers}, journal = {Breast Cancer Res Treat}, volume = {90}, number = {1}, year = {2005}, note = {Palacios, Jose Honrado, Emiliano Osorio, Ana Cazorla, Alicia Sarrio, David Barroso, Alicia Rodriguez, Sandra Cigudosa, Juan C Diez, Orland Alonso, Carmen Lerma, Enrique Dopazo, Joaquin Rivas, Carmen Benitez, Javier Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Netherlands Breast cancer research and treatment Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2005 Mar;90(1):5-14.}, pages = {5-14}, abstract = {Familial breast cancers that are associated with BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutations differ in both their morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics. To further characterize the molecular difference between genotypes, the authors evaluated the expression of 37 immunohistochemical markers in a tissue microarray (TMA) containing cores from 20 BRCA1, 14 BRCA2, and 59 sporadic age-matched breast carcinomas. Markers analyzed included, amog others, common markers in breast cancer, such as hormone receptors, p53 and HER2, along with 15 molecules involved in cell cycle regulation, such as cyclins, cyclin dependent kinases (CDK) and CDK inhibitors (CDKI), apoptosis markers, such as BCL2 and active caspase 3, and two basal/myoepithelial markers (CK 5/6 and P-cadherin). In addition, we analyzed the amplification of CCND1, CCNE, HER2 and MYC by FISH.Unsupervised cluster data analysis of both hereditary and sporadic cases using the complete set of immunohistochemical markers demonstrated that most BRCA1-associated carcinomas grouped in a branch of ER-, HER2-negative tumors that expressed basal cell markers and/or p53 and had higher expression of activated caspase 3. The cell cycle proteins associated with these tumors were E2F6, cyclins A, B1 and E, SKP2 and Topo IIalpha. In contrast, most BRCA2-associated carcinomas grouped in a branch composed by ER/PR/BCL2-positive tumors with a higher expression of the cell cycle proteins cyclin D1, cyclin D3, p27, p16, p21, CDK4, CDK2 and CDK1. In conclusion, our study in hereditary breast cancer tumors analyzing 37 immunohistochemical markers, define the molecular differences between BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumors with respect to hormonal receptors, cell cycle, apoptosis and basal cell markers.}, keywords = {Adult Apoptosis Breast Neoplasms/*genetics/*pathology Cell Cycle Proteins Cluster Analysis Female *Genes, Biological/genetics/metabolism, BRCA1 *Genes, BRCA2 Humans Immunohistochemistry In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence Phenotype Spain *Tissue Array Analysis *Tumor Markers}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=15770521}, author = {Palacios, J. and Honrado, E. and Osorio, A. and Cazorla, A. and Sarrio, D. and Barroso, A. and Rodriguez, S. and Cigudosa, J. C. and Diez, O. and Alonso, C. and Lerma, E. and Dopazo, J. and Rivas, C. and Benitez, J.} } @article {15709182, title = {A predictor based on the somatic genomic changes of the BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer tumors identifies the non-BRCA1/BRCA2 tumors with BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation}, journal = {Clin Cancer Res}, volume = {11}, number = {3}, year = {2005}, note = {Alvarez, Sara Diaz-Uriarte, Ramon Osorio, Ana Barroso, Alicia Melchor, Lorenzo Paz, Maria Fe Honrado, Emiliano Rodriguez, Raquel Urioste, Miguel Valle, Laura Diez, Orland Cigudosa, Juan Cruz Dopazo, Joaquin Esteller, Manel Benitez, Javier Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research Clin Cancer Res. 2005 Feb 1;11(3):1146-53.}, pages = {1146-53}, abstract = {The genetic changes underlying in the development and progression of familial breast cancer are poorly understood. To identify a somatic genetic signature of tumor progression for each familial group, BRCA1, BRCA2, and non-BRCA1/BRCA2 (BRCAX) tumors, by high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization, we have analyzed 77 tumors previously characterized for BRCA1 and BRCA2 germ line mutations. Based on a combination of the somatic genetic changes observed at the six most different chromosomal regions and the status of the estrogen receptor, we developed using random forests a molecular classifier, which assigns to a given tumor a probability to belong either to the BRCA1 or to the BRCA2 class. Because 76.5\% (26 of 34) of the BRCAX cases were classified with our predictor to the BRCA1 class with a probability of >50\%, we analyzed the BRCA1 promoter region for aberrant methylation in all the BRCAX cases. We found that 15 of the 34 BRCAX analyzed tumors had hypermethylation of the BRCA1 gene. When we considered the predictor, we observed that all the cases with this epigenetic event were assigned to the BRCA1 class with a probability of >50\%. Interestingly, 84.6\% of the cases (11 of 13) assigned to the BRCA1 class with a probability >80\% had an aberrant methylation of the BRCA1 promoter. This fact suggests that somatic BRCA1 inactivation could modify the profile of tumor progression in most of the BRCAX cases.}, keywords = {BRCA1 Protein/*genetics BRCA2 Protein/*genetics Breast Neoplasms/*genetics/pathology Chromosomes, Genetic/*genetics, Human, Human Humans Male Mutation Nucleic Acid Hybridization/methods Promoter Regions, Pair 12/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 15/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 18/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 2/genetics Chromosomes, Pair 8/genetics *DNA Methylation Female Genome}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=15709182}, author = {Alvarez, S. and Diaz-Uriarte, R. and Osorio, A. and Barroso, A. and Melchor, L. and Paz, M. F. and Honrado, E. and Rodriguez, R. and Urioste, M. and Valle, L. and Diez, O. and Cigudosa, J. C. and Dopazo, J. and Esteller, M. and Benitez, J.} } @inbook {486, title = {Salinibacter ruber: genomics and biogeography}, booktitle = {Adaptation to life in high salt concentrations in Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya}, volume = {9}, year = {2005}, pages = {257-266}, publisher = {Nina Gunde-Cimerman, Ana Plemenitas, and Aharon Oren. Kluwer Academic Publishers}, organization = {Nina Gunde-Cimerman, Ana Plemenitas, and Aharon Oren. Kluwer Academic Publishers}, address = {Dordrecht, Netherlands}, author = {Ant{\'o}n, J and Pe{\~n}a, A and Valens, M and Santos, F and Gl{\"o}ckner, F.O and Bauer, M and Dopazo, J. and Herrero, J. and Rossell{\'o}-Mora, R and Amann, R} } @article {14681398, title = {MODBASE, a database of annotated comparative protein structure models, and associated resources}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {32}, number = {Database issue}, year = {2004}, note = {Pieper, Ursula Eswar, Narayanan Braberg, Hannes Madhusudhan, M S Davis, Fred P Stuart, Ashley C Mirkovic, Nebojsa Rossi, Andrea Marti-Renom, Marc A Fiser, Andras Webb, Ben Greenblatt, Daniel Huang, Conrad C Ferrin, Thomas E Sali, Andrej P41 RR01081/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States P50 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM 54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R33 CA84699/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, P.H.S. England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2004 Jan 1;32(Database issue):D217-22.}, pages = {D217-22}, abstract = {MODBASE (http://salilab.org/modbase) is a relational database of annotated comparative protein structure models for all available protein sequences matched to at least one known protein structure. The models are calculated by MODPIPE, an automated modeling pipeline that relies on the MODELLER package for fold assignment, sequence-structure alignment, model building and model assessment (http:/salilab.org/modeller). MODBASE uses the MySQL relational database management system for flexible querying and CHIMERA for viewing the sequences and structures (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/). MODBASE is updated regularly to reflect the growth in protein sequence and structure databases, as well as improvements in the software for calculating the models. For ease of access, MODBASE is organized into different data sets. The largest data set contains 1,26,629 models for domains in 659,495 out of 1,182,126 unique protein sequences in the complete Swiss-Prot/TrEMBL database (August 25, 2003); only models based on alignments with significant similarity scores and models assessed to have the correct fold despite insignificant alignments are included. Another model data set supports target selection and structure-based annotation by the New York Structural Genomics Research Consortium; e.g. the 53 new structures produced by the consortium allowed us to characterize structurally 24,113 sequences. MODBASE also contains binding site predictions for small ligands and a set of predicted interactions between pairs of modeled sequences from the same genome. Our other resources associated with MODBASE include a comprehensive database of multiple protein structure alignments (DBALI, http://salilab.org/dbali) as well as web servers for automated comparative modeling with MODPIPE (MODWEB, http://salilab. org/modweb), modeling of loops in protein structures (MODLOOP, http://salilab.org/modloop) and predicting functional consequences of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPWEB, http://salilab. org/snpweb).}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence Animals Binding Sites *Computational Biology *Databases, Molecular Molecular Sequence Data Polymorphism, Protein Genomics Humans Internet Ligands Models, Single Nucleotide Protein Binding Protein Conformation Proteins/*chemistry/genetics Sequence Alignment Software User-Computer Interface}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=14681398}, author = {Pieper, U. and Eswar, N. and Braberg, H. and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Davis, F. P. and Stuart, A. C. and Mirkovic, N. and Rossi, A. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Fiser, A. and Webb, B. and Greenblatt, D. and Huang, C. C. and Ferrin, T. E. and Sali, A.} } @article {12824315, title = {EVA: Evaluation of protein structure prediction servers}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {31}, number = {13}, year = {2003}, note = {Koh, Ingrid Y Y Eyrich, Volker A Marti-Renom, Marc A Przybylski, Dariusz Madhusudhan, Mallur S Eswar, Narayanan Grana, Osvaldo Pazos, Florencio Valencia, Alfonso Sali, Andrej Rost, Burkhard 1-P50-GM62413-01/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States 5-P20-LM7276/LM/NLM NIH HHS/United States P50 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01-GM63029-01/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, P.H.S. England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2003 Jul 1;31(13):3311-5.}, pages = {3311-5}, abstract = {EVA (http://cubic.bioc.columbia.edu/eva/) is a web server for evaluation of the accuracy of automated protein structure prediction methods. The evaluation is updated automatically each week, to cope with the large number of existing prediction servers and the constant changes in the prediction methods. EVA currently assesses servers for secondary structure prediction, contact prediction, comparative protein structure modelling and threading/fold recognition. Every day, sequences of newly available protein structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) are sent to the servers and their predictions are collected. The predictions are then compared to the experimental structures once a week; the results are published on the EVA web pages. Over time, EVA has accumulated prediction results for a large number of proteins, ranging from hundreds to thousands, depending on the prediction method. This large sample assures that methods are compared reliably. As a result, EVA provides useful information to developers as well as users of prediction methods.}, keywords = {Automation Databases, Protein, Protein Internet *Protein Conformation Protein Folding Protein Structure, Protein Structural Homology, Secondary Proteins/chemistry Reproducibility of Results *Sequence Analysis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=12824315}, author = {Koh, I. Y. and Eyrich, V. A. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Przybylski, D. and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Eswar, N. and Grana, O. and Pazos, F. and Valencia, A. and Sali, A. and Rost, B.} } @article {12576477, title = {Examining the role of glutamic acid 183 in chloroperoxidase catalysis}, journal = {J Biol Chem}, volume = {278}, number = {16}, year = {2003}, note = {Yi, Xianwen Conesa, Ana Punt, Peter J Hager, Lowell P GM 07768/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, P.H.S. United States The Journal of biological chemistry J Biol Chem. 2003 Apr 18;278(16):13855-9. Epub 2003 Feb 7.}, pages = {13855-9}, abstract = {Site-directed mutagenesis has been used to investigate the role of glutamic acid 183 in chloroperoxidase catalysis. Based on the x-ray crystallographic structure of chloroperoxidase, Glu-183 is postulated to function on distal side of the heme prosthetic group as an acid-base catalyst in facilitating the reaction between the peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide with the formation of Compound I. In contrast, the other members of the heme peroxidase family use a histidine residue in this role. Plasmids have now been constructed in which the codon for Glu-183 is replaced with a histidine codon. The mutant recombinant gene has been expressed in Aspergillus niger. An analysis of the produced mutant gene shows that the substitution of Glu-183 with a His residue is detrimental to the chlorination and dismutation activity of chloroperoxidase. The activity is reduced by 85 and 50\% of wild type activity, respectively. However, quite unexpectedly, the epoxidation activity of the mutant enzyme is significantly enhanced approximately 2.5-fold. These results show that Glu-183 is important but not essential for the chlorination activity of chloroperoxidase. It is possible that the increased epoxidation of the mutant enzyme is based on an increase in the hydrophobicity of the active site.}, keywords = {Aspergillus niger/metabolism Catalase/metabolism Catalysis Chloride Peroxidase/*chemistry/*metabolism Chlorine/metabolism Chromatography, Ion Exchange Circular Dichroism Crystallography, Polyacrylamide Gel Fungi/enzymology Glutamic Acid/*chemistry Histidine/chemistry/metabolism Hydrogen-Ion Concentration Immunoblotting Isoelectric Focusing Mutation Oxidoreductases/metabolism Plasmids/metabolism, X-Ray Electrophoresis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=12576477}, author = {Yi, X. and A. Conesa and Punt, P. J. and Hager, L. P.} } @article {12597115, title = {A model for the emergence of adaptive subsystems}, journal = {Bull Math Biol}, volume = {65}, number = {1}, year = {2003}, note = {Dopazo, H Gordon, M B Perazzo, R Risau-Gusman, S Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Bulletin of mathematical biology Bull Math Biol. 2003 Jan;65(1):27-56.}, pages = {27-56}, abstract = {We investigate the interaction of learning and evolution in a changing environment. A stable learning capability is regarded as an emergent adaptive system evolved by natural selection of genetic variants. We consider the evolution of an asexual population. Each genotype can have {\textquoteright}fixed{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteright}flexible{\textquoteright} alleles. The former express themselves as synaptic connections that remain unchanged during ontogeny and the latter as synapses that can be adjusted through a learning algorithm. Evolution is modelled using genetic algorithms and the changing environment is represented by two optimal synaptic patterns that alternate a fixed number of times during the {\textquoteright}life{\textquoteright} of the individuals. The amplitude of the change is related to the Hamming distance between the two optimal patterns and the rate of change to the frequency with which both exchange roles. This model is an extension of that of Hinton and Nowlan in which the fitness is given by a probabilistic measure of the Hamming distance to the optimum. We find that two types of evolutionary pathways are possible depending upon how difficult (costly) it is to cope with the changes of the environment. In one case the population loses the learning ability, and the individuals inherit fixed synapses that are optimal in only one of the environmental states. In the other case a flexible subsystem emerges that allows the individuals to adapt to the changes of the environment. The model helps us to understand how an adaptive subsystem can emerge as the result of the tradeoff between the exploitation of a congenital structure and the exploration of the adaptive capabilities practised by learning.}, keywords = {*Adaptation, Biological Algorithms Alleles Animals Evolution Genotype Humans *Learning *Models, Genetic Models, Statistical Neural Networks (Computer) Phenotype Synapses/genetics}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=12597115}, author = {H. Dopazo and Gordon, M. B. and Perazzo, R. and Risau-Gusman, S.} } @article {12499313, title = {ModView, visualization of multiple protein sequences and structures}, journal = {Bioinformatics}, volume = {19}, number = {1}, year = {2003}, note = {Ilyin, Valentin A Pieper, Ursula Stuart, Ashley C Marti-Renom, Marc A McMahan, Linda Sali, Andrej P50-GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, P.H.S. England Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Bioinformatics. 2003 Jan;19(1):165-6.}, pages = {165-6}, abstract = {SUMMARY: We describe ModView, a web application for visualization of multiple protein sequences and structures. ModView integrates a multiple structure viewer, a multiple sequence alignment editor, and a database querying engine. It is possible to interactively manipulate hundreds of proteins, to visualize conservative and variable residues, active and binding sites, fragments, and domains in protein families, as well as to display large macromolecular complexes such as ribosomes or viruses. As a Netscape plug-in, ModView can be included in HTML pages along with text and figures, which makes it useful for teaching and presentations. ModView is also suitable as a graphical interface to various databases because it can be controlled through JavaScript commands and called from CGI scripts. AVAILABILITY: ModView is available at http://guitar.rockefeller.edu/modview.}, keywords = {*Database Management Systems Documentation/methods Imaging, Protein/*methods *User-Computer Interface, Three-Dimensional/methods Protein Conformation Proteins/*chemistry/genetics Sequence Alignment/*methods Sequence Analysis}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=12499313}, author = {Ilyin, V. A. and Pieper, U. and Stuart, A. C. and M. A. Marti-Renom and McMahan, L. and Sali, A.} } @article {12824331, title = {Tools for comparative protein structure modeling and analysis}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {31}, number = {13}, year = {2003}, note = {Eswar, Narayanan John, Bino Mirkovic, Nebojsa Fiser, Andras Ilyin, Valentin A Pieper, Ursula Stuart, Ashley C Marti-Renom, Marc A Madhusudhan, M S Yerkovich, Bozidar Sali, Andrej P50 GM62529/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R01 GM 54762/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States R33 CA84699/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t Research Support, U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t, P.H.S. England Nucleic acids research Nucleic Acids Res. 2003 Jul 1;31(13):3375-80.}, pages = {3375-80}, abstract = {The following resources for comparative protein structure modeling and analysis are described (http://salilab.org): MODELLER, a program for comparative modeling by satisfaction of spatial restraints; MODWEB, a web server for automated comparative modeling that relies on PSI-BLAST, IMPALA and MODELLER; MODLOOP, a web server for automated loop modeling that relies on MODELLER; MOULDER, a CPU intensive protocol of MODWEB for building comparative models based on distant known structures; MODBASE, a comprehensive database of annotated comparative models for all sequences detectably related to a known structure; MODVIEW, a Netscape plugin for Linux that integrates viewing of multiple sequences and structures; and SNPWEB, a web server for structure-based prediction of the functional impact of a single amino acid substitution.}, keywords = {Amino Acid *Software *Structural Homology, Internet Models, Molecular Protein Folding Proteins/chemistry Reproducibility of Results Sequence Alignment Sequence Homology, Protein Systems Integration}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=12824331}, author = {Eswar, N. and John, B. and Mirkovic, N. and Fiser, A. and Ilyin, V. A. and Pieper, U. and Stuart, A. C. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Yerkovich, B. and Sali, A.} } @article {11823227, title = {Calnexin overexpression increases manganese peroxidase production in Aspergillus niger}, journal = {Appl Environ Microbiol}, volume = {68}, number = {2}, year = {2002}, note = {Conesa, Ana Jeenes, David Archer, David B van den Hondel, Cees A M J J Punt, Peter J United States Applied and environmental microbiology Appl Environ Microbiol. 2002 Feb;68(2):846-51.}, pages = {846-51}, abstract = {Heme-containing peroxidases from white rot basidiomycetes, in contrast to most proteins of fungal origin, are poorly produced in industrial filamentous fungal strains. Factors limiting peroxidase production are believed to operate at the posttranslational level. In particular, insufficient availability of the prosthetic group which is required for peroxidase biosynthesis has been proposed to be an important bottleneck. In this work, we analyzed the role of two components of the secretion pathway, the chaperones calnexin and binding protein (BiP), in the production of a fungal peroxidase. Expression of the Phanerochaete chrysosporium manganese peroxidase (MnP) in Aspergillus niger resulted in an increase in the expression level of the clxA and bipA genes. In a heme-supplemented medium, where MnP was shown to be overproduced to higher levels, induction of clxA and bipA was also higher. Overexpression of these two chaperones in an MnP-producing strain was analyzed for its effect on MnP production. Whereas bipA overexpression seriously reduced MnP production, overexpression of calnexin resulted in a four- to fivefold increase in the extracellular MnP levels. However, when additional heme was provided in the culture medium, calnexin overexpression had no synergistic effect on MnP production. The possible function of these two chaperones in MnP maturation and production is discussed.}, keywords = {Aspergillus niger/*enzymology/genetics Calcium-Binding Proteins/*metabolism Calnexin Culture Media *Fungal Proteins HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins/metabolism Heme/metabolism Peroxidases/*biosynthesis/genetics Phanerochaete/enzymology/genetics Transformation, Genetic}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11823227}, author = {A. Conesa and Jeenes, D. and Archer, D. B. and van den Hondel, C. A. and Punt, P. J.} } @article {11943375, title = {Filamentous fungi as cell factories for heterologous protein production}, journal = {Trends Biotechnol}, volume = {20}, number = {5}, year = {2002}, note = {Punt, Peter J van Biezen, Nick Conesa, Ana Albers, Alwin Mangnus, Jeroen van den Hondel, Cees Review England Trends in biotechnology Trends Biotechnol. 2002 May;20(5):200-6.}, pages = {200-6}, abstract = {Filamentous fungi have been used as sources of metabolites and enzymes for centuries. For about two decades, molecular genetic tools have enabled us to use these organisms to express extra copies of both endogenous and exogenous genes. This review of current practice reveals that molecular tools have enabled several new developments. But it has been process development that has driven the final breakthrough to achieving commercially relevant quantities of protein. Recent research into gene expression in filamentous fungi has explored their wealth of genetic diversity with a view to exploiting them as expression hosts and as a source of new genes. Inevitably, the progress in the {\textquoteright}genomics{\textquoteright} technology will further develop high-throughput technologies for these organisms.}, keywords = {Fermentation/genetics/physiology Fungi/*genetics/*metabolism Humans Interleukin-6/analysis/*biosynthesis/genetics Peroxidases/analysis/*biosynthesis/genetics Protein Conformation Recombinant Proteins/analysis/*biosynthesis/genetics}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11943375}, author = {Punt, P. J. and van Biezen, N. and A. Conesa and Albers, A. and Mangnus, J. and van den Hondel, C.} } @article {11738721, title = {Fungal peroxidases: molecular aspects and applications}, journal = {J Biotechnol}, volume = {93}, number = {2}, year = {2002}, note = {Conesa, Ana Punt, Peter J van den Hondel, Cees A M J J Review Netherlands Journal of biotechnology J Biotechnol. 2002 Feb 14;93(2):143-58.}, pages = {143-58}, abstract = {Peroxidases are oxidoreductases that utilize hydrogen peroxide to catalyze oxidative reactions. A large number of peroxidases have been identified in fungal species and are being characterized at the molecular level. In this manuscript we review the current knowledge on the molecular aspects of this type of enzymes. We present an overview of the research efforts undertaken in deciphering the structural basis of the catalytic properties of fungal peroxidases and discuss molecular genetics and protein homology aspects of this enzyme class. Finally, we summarize the potential biotechnological applications of these enzymes and evaluate recent advances on their expression in heterologous systems for production purposes.}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence Binding Sites Biotechnology Catalysis Fungi/*enzymology Molecular Sequence Data Peroxidases/chemistry/*genetics/metabolism Recombinant Proteins Sequence Homology Substrate Specificity}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11738721}, author = {A. Conesa and Punt, P. J. and van den Hondel, C. A.} } @article {12414529, title = {Identification of genes involved in resistance to interferon-alpha in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma}, journal = {Am J Pathol}, volume = {161}, number = {5}, year = {2002}, note = {Tracey, Lorraine Villuendas, Raquel Ortiz, Pablo Dopazo, Ana Spiteri, Inmaculada Lombardia, Luis Rodriguez-Peralto, Jose L Fernandez-Herrera, Jesus Hernandez, Almudena Fraga, Javier Dominguez, Orlando Herrero, Javier Alonso, Miguel A Dopazo, Joaquin Piris, Miguel A Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States The American journal of pathology Am J Pathol. 2002 Nov;161(5):1825-37.}, pages = {1825-37}, abstract = {Interferon-alpha therapy has been shown to be active in the treatment of mycosis fungoides although the individual response to this therapy is unpredictable and dependent on essentially unknown factors. In an effort to better understand the molecular mechanisms of interferon-alpha resistance we have developed an interferon-alpha resistant variant from a sensitive cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cell line. We have performed expression analysis to detect genes differentially expressed between both variants using a cDNA microarray including 6386 cancer-implicated genes. The experiments showed that resistance to interferon-alpha is consistently associated with changes in the expression of a set of 39 genes, involved in signal transduction, apoptosis, transcription regulation, and cell growth. Additional studies performed confirm that STAT1 and STAT3 expression and interferon-alpha induction and activation are not altered between both variants. The gene MAL, highly overexpressed by resistant cells, was also found to be expressed by tumoral cells in a series of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma patients treated with interferon-alpha and/or photochemotherapy. MAL expression was associated with longer time to complete remission. Time-course experiments of the sensitive and resistant cells showed a differential expression of a subset of genes involved in interferon-response (1 to 4 hours), cell growth and apoptosis (24 to 48 hours.), and signal transduction.}, keywords = {Antineoplastic Agents/*pharmacology/therapeutic use Carrier Proteins/biosynthesis/genetics DNA-Binding Proteins/biosynthesis/genetics Drug Resistance, Biological Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis RNA, Cultured, Cutaneous/diagnosis/drug therapy/*genetics/metabolism *Membrane Glycoproteins Models, Interleukin-1 Reproducibility of Results STAT1 Transcription Factor STAT3 Transcription Factor Trans-Activators/biosynthesis/genetics Tumor Cells, Neoplasm Gene Expression Profiling *Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplasm/biosynthesis *Receptors, Neoplastic Humans Interferon-alpha/*pharmacology/therapeutic use Kinetics Lymphoma, T-Cell}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=12414529}, author = {Tracey, L. and Villuendas, R. and Ortiz, P. and Dopazo, A. and Spiteri, I. and Lombardia, L. and Rodriguez-Peralto, J. L. and Fernandez-Herrera, J. and Hernandez, A. and Fraga, J. and Dominguez, O. and Herrero, J. and Alonso, M. A. and Dopazo, J. and Piris, M. A.} } @article {11442348, title = {Annotated draft genomic sequence from a Streptococcus pneumoniae type 19F clinical isolate}, journal = {Microb Drug Resist}, volume = {7}, number = {2}, year = {2001}, note = {Dopazo, J Mendoza, A Herrero, J Caldara, F Humbert, Y Friedli, L Guerrier, M Grand-Schenk, E Gandin, C de Francesco, M Polissi, A Buell, G Feger, G Garcia, E Peitsch, M Garcia-Bustos, J F United States Microbial drug resistance (Larchmont, N.Y.) Microb Drug Resist. 2001 Summer;7(2):99-125.}, pages = {99-125}, abstract = {The public availability of numerous microbial genomes is enabling the analysis of bacterial biology in great detail and with an unprecedented, organism-wide and taxon-wide, broad scope. Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the most important bacterial pathogens throughout the world. We present here sequences and functional annotations for 2.1-Mbp of pneumococcal DNA, covering more than 90\% of the total estimated size of the genome. The sequenced strain is a clinical isolate resistant to macrolides and tetracycline. It carries a type 19F capsular locus, but multilocus sequence typing for several conserved genetic loci suggests that the strain sequenced belongs to a pneumococcal lineage that most often expresses a serotype 15 capsular polysaccharide. A total of 2,046 putative open reading frames (ORFs) longer than 100 amino acids were identified (average of 1,009 bp per ORF), including all described two-component systems and aminoacyl tRNA synthetases. Comparisons to other complete, or nearly complete, bacterial genomes were made and are presented in a graphical form for all the predicted proteins.}, keywords = {Bacterial Molecular Sequence Data Pneumococcal Infections/*microbiology Prokaryotic Cells RNA, Bacterial/chemistry/genetics Genes, Bacterial/genetics *Genome, DNA, Transfer/metabolism Streptococcus pneumoniae/*genetics}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11442348}, author = {Dopazo, J. and Mendoza, A. and Herrero, J. and Caldara, F. and Humbert, Y. and Friedli, L. and Guerrier, M. and Grand-Schenk, E. and Gandin, C. and de Francesco, M. and Polissi, A. and Buell, G. and Feger, G. and Garcia, E. and Peitsch, M. and Garcia-Bustos, J. F.} } @article {11513866, title = {C-terminal propeptide of the Caldariomyces fumago chloroperoxidase: an intramolecular chaperone?}, journal = {FEBS Lett}, volume = {503}, number = {2-3}, year = {2001}, note = {Conesa, A Weelink, G van den Hondel, C A Punt, P J Netherlands FEBS letters FEBS Lett. 2001 Aug 17;503(2-3):117-20.}, pages = {117-20}, abstract = {The Caldariomyces fumago chloroperoxidase (CPO) is synthesised as a 372-aa precursor which undergoes two proteolytic processing events: removal of a 21-aa N-terminal signal peptide and of a 52-aa C-terminal propeptide. The Aspergillus niger expression system developed for CPO was used to get insight into the function of this C-terminal propeptide. A. niger transformants expressing a CPO protein from which the C-terminal propeptide was deleted failed in producing any extracellular CPO activity, although the CPO polypeptide was synthesised. Expression of the full-length gene in an A. niger strain lacking the KEX2-like protease PclA also resulted in the production of CPO cross-reactive material into the culture medium, but no CPO activity. Based on these results, a function of the C-terminal propeptide in CPO maturation is indicated.}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence Ascomycota/*enzymology/genetics Aspergillus niger/genetics Base Sequence Chloride Peroxidase/biosynthesis/*chemistry/genetics DNA Primers/genetics Enzyme Precursors/biosynthesis/chemistry/genetics Gene Expression Molecular Chaperones/b}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11513866}, author = {A. Conesa and Weelink, G. and van den Hondel, C. A. and Punt, P. J.} } @article {11751240, title = {EVA: continuous automatic evaluation of protein structure prediction servers}, journal = {Bioinformatics}, volume = {17}, number = {12}, year = {2001}, note = {Eyrich, V A Marti-Renom, M A Przybylski, D Madhusudhan, M S Fiser, A Pazos, F Valencia, A Sali, A Rost, B England Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) Bioinformatics. 2001 Dec;17(12):1242-3.}, pages = {1242-3}, abstract = {Evaluation of protein structure prediction methods is difficult and time-consuming. Here, we describe EVA, a web server for assessing protein structure prediction methods, in an automated, continuous and large-scale fashion. Currently, EVA evaluates the performance of a variety of prediction methods available through the internet. Every week, the sequences of the latest experimentally determined protein structures are sent to prediction servers, results are collected, performance is evaluated, and a summary is published on the web. EVA has so far collected data for more than 3000 protein chains. These results may provide valuable insight to both developers and users of prediction methods. AVAILABILITY: http://cubic.bioc.columbia.edu/eva. CONTACT: eva@cubic.bioc.columbia.edu}, keywords = {Automation Internet *Protein Conformation Proteins/*analysis *Software}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11751240}, author = {Eyrich, V. A. and M. A. Marti-Renom and Przybylski, D. and Madhusudhan, M. S. and Fiser, A. and Pazos, F. and Valencia, A. and Sali, A. and Rost, B.} } @article {11278701, title = {Expression of the Caldariomyces fumago chloroperoxidase in Aspergillus niger and characterization of the recombinant enzyme}, journal = {J Biol Chem}, volume = {276}, number = {21}, year = {2001}, note = {Conesa, A van De Velde, F van Rantwijk, F Sheldon, R A van Den Hondel, C A Punt, P J Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States The Journal of biological chemistry J Biol Chem. 2001 May 25;276(21):17635-40. Epub 2001 Feb 22.}, pages = {17635-40}, abstract = {The Caldariomyces fumago chloroperoxidase was successfully expressed in Aspergillus niger. The recombinant enzyme was produced in the culture medium as an active protein and could be purified by a three-step purification procedure. The catalytic behavior of recombinant chloroperoxidase (rCPO) was studied and compared with that of native CPO. The specific chlorination activity (47 units/nmol) of rCPO and its pH optimum (pH 2.75) were very similar to those of native CPO. rCPO catalyzes the oxidation of various substrates in comparable yields and selectivities to native CPO. Indole was oxidized to 2-oxindole with 99\% selectivity and thioanisole to the corresponding R-sulfoxide (enantiomeric excess >98\%). Incorporation of (18)O from labeled H(2)18O(2) into the oxidized products was 100\% in both cases.}, keywords = {Aspergillus niger/enzymology/genetics Catalysis Chloride Peroxidase/biosynthesis/*genetics Fungal Proteins/biosynthesis/*genetics Recombinant Proteins/biosynthesis/genetics Substrate Specificity}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11278701}, author = {A. Conesa and van De Velde, F. and van Rantwijk, F. and Sheldon, R. A. and van den Hondel, C. A. and Punt, P. J.} } @article {11254175, title = {Identification of optimal regions for phylogenetic studies on VP1 gene of foot-and-mouth disease virus: analysis of types A and O Argentinean viruses}, journal = {Vet Res}, volume = {32}, number = {1}, year = {2001}, note = {Nunez, J I Martin, M J Piccone, M E Carrillo, E Palma, E L Dopazo, J Sobrino, F Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t France Veterinary research Vet Res. 2001 Jan-Feb;32(1):31-45.}, pages = {31-45}, abstract = {An analysis of the informative content of sequence stretches on the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) VPI gene was applied to two important viral serotypes: A and O. Several sequence regions were identified to allow the reconstruction of phylogenetic trees equivalent to those derived from the whole VPI gene. The optimal informative regions for sequence windows of 150 to 250 nt were predicted between positions 250 and 550 of the gene. The sequences spanning the 250 nt of the 3{\textquoteright} end (positions 400 to 650), extensively used for FMDV phylogenetic analyses, showed a lower informative content. In spite of this, the use of sequences from this region allowed the derivation of phylogenetic trees for type A and type O FMDVs which showed topologies similar to those previously reported for the whole VP1 gene. When the sequences determined for viruses isolated in Argentina, between 1990 and 1993, were included in these analyses, the results obtained revealed features of the circulation of type A and type O viruses in the field, in the months that preceded the eradication of the disease in this country. Type A viruses were closely related to an Argentinean vaccine strain, and defined an independent cluster within this serotype. Among the type O viruses analysed, two groups were distinguished; one was closely related to the South American vaccine strains, while the other was grouped with viruses of the O3 subtype. In addition, a detailed phylogeny for type A FMDV is presented.}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence Animals Aphthovirus/classification/*genetics Base Sequence Capsid/chemistry/*genetics Capsid Proteins DNA, Complementary/chemistry Molecular Sequence Data *Phylogeny Polymerase Chain Reaction RNA, Viral/chemistry/genetics Serotyping Viral Proteins/analysis/*genetics}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11254175}, author = {Nunez, J. I. and Martin, M. J. and Piccone, M. E. and Carrillo, E. and Palma, E. L. and Dopazo, J. and Sobrino, F.} } @article {11146879, title = {A model for the interaction of learning and evolution}, journal = {Bull Math Biol}, volume = {63}, number = {1}, year = {2001}, note = {Dopazo, H Gordon, M B Perazzo, R Risau-Gusman, S Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov{\textquoteright}t United States Bulletin of mathematical biology Bull Math Biol. 2001 Jan;63(1):117-34.}, pages = {117-34}, abstract = {We present a simple model in order to discuss the interaction of the genetic and behavioral systems throughout evolution. This considers a set of adaptive perceptrons in which some of their synapses can be updated through a learning process. This framework provides an extension of the well-known Hinton and Nowlan model by blending together some learning capability and other (rigid) genetic effects that contribute to the fitness. We find a halting effect in the evolutionary dynamics, in which the transcription of environmental data into genetic information is hindered by learning, instead of stimulated as is usually understood by the so-called Baldwin effect. The present results are discussed and compared with those reported in the literature. An interpretation is provided of the halting effect.}, keywords = {Algorithms Alleles Animals *Evolution Genotype Humans *Learning *Neural Networks (Computer) Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted Phenotype Synapses/genetics}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11146879}, author = {H. Dopazo and Gordon, M. B. and Perazzo, R. and Risau-Gusman, S.} } @article {11495573, title = {The secretion pathway in filamentous fungi: a biotechnological view}, journal = {Fungal Genet Biol}, volume = {33}, number = {3}, year = {2001}, note = {

Conesa, A Punt, P J van Luijk, N van den Hondel, C A Review United States Fungal genetics and biology : FG \& B Fungal Genet Biol. 2001 Aug;33(3):155-71.

}, pages = {155-71}, abstract = {The high capacity of the secretion machinery of filamentous fungi has been widely exploited for the production of homologous and heterologous proteins; however, our knowledge of the fungal secretion pathway is still at an early stage. Most of the knowledge comes from models developed in yeast and higher eukaryotes, which have served as reference for the studies on fungal species. In this review we compile the data accumulated in recent years on the molecular basis of fungal secretion, emphasizing the relevance of these data for the biotechnological use of the fungal cell and indicating how this information has been applied in attempts to create improved production strains. We also present recent emerging approaches that promise to provide answers to fundamental questions on the molecular genetics of the fungal secretory pathway.}, keywords = {Animals Biotechnology/*methods Fungal Proteins/*genetics/*metabolism Fungi/*genetics/*metabolism Humans Recombinant Proteins/metabolism}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve\&db=PubMed\&dopt=Citation\&list_uids=11495573}, author = {A. Conesa and Punt, P. J. and van Luijk, N. and van den Hondel, C. A.} }