@article {483, title = {Sequencing and functional analysis of the genome of a nematode egg-parasitic fungus, Pochonia chlamydosporia.}, journal = {Fungal Genet Biol}, volume = {65}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr}, pages = {69-80}, abstract = {

Pochonia chlamydosporia is a worldwide-distributed soil fungus with a great capacity to infect and destroy the eggs and kill females of plant-parasitic nematodes. Additionally, it has the ability to colonize endophytically roots of economically-important crop plants, thereby promoting their growth and eliciting plant defenses. This multitrophic behavior makes P. chlamydosporia a potentially useful tool for sustainable agriculture approaches. We sequenced and assembled \~{}41 Mb of P. chlamydosporia genomic DNA and predicted 12,122 gene models, of which many were homologous to genes of fungal pathogens of invertebrates and fungal plant pathogens. Predicted genes (65\%) were functionally annotated according to Gene Ontology, and 16\% of them found to share homology with genes in the Pathogen Host Interactions (PHI) database. The genome of this fungus is highly enriched in genes encoding hydrolytic enzymes, such as proteases, glycoside hydrolases and carbohydrate esterases. We used RNA-Seq technology in order to identify the genes expressed during endophytic behavior of P. chlamydosporia when colonizing barley roots. Functional annotation of these genes showed that hydrolytic enzymes and transporters are expressed during endophytism. This structural and functional analysis of the P. chlamydosporia genome provides a starting point for understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the multitrophic lifestyle of this fungus. The genomic information provided here should also prove useful for enhancing the capabilities of this fungus as a biocontrol agent of plant-parasitic nematodes and as a plant growth-promoting organism.

}, keywords = {Animals, Ascomycota, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal, Gene ontology, Genome, Fungal, Hordeum, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Nematoda, Ovum, Phylogeny, Plant Roots, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Signal Transduction, Transcriptome}, issn = {1096-0937}, doi = {10.1016/j.fgb.2014.02.002}, author = {Larriba, Eduardo and Jaime, Mar{\'\i}a D L A and Carbonell-Caballero, Jos{\'e} and Conesa, Ana and Dopazo, Joaquin and Nislow, Corey and Mart{\'\i}n-Nieto, Jos{\'e} and Lopez-Llorca, Luis Vicente} } @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 {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 {594, title = {High-throughput functional annotation and data mining with the Blast2GO suite.}, journal = {Nucleic Acids Res}, volume = {36}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 Jun}, pages = {3420-35}, abstract = {

Functional genomics technologies have been widely adopted in the biological research of both model and non-model species. An efficient functional annotation of DNA or protein sequences is a major requirement for the successful application of these approaches as functional information on gene products is often the key to the interpretation of experimental results. Therefore, there is an increasing need for bioinformatics resources which are able to cope with large amount of sequence data, produce valuable annotation results and are easily accessible to laboratories where functional genomics projects are being undertaken. We present the Blast2GO suite as an integrated and biologist-oriented solution for the high-throughput and automatic functional annotation of DNA or protein sequences based on the Gene Ontology vocabulary. The most outstanding Blast2GO features are: (i) the combination of various annotation strategies and tools controlling type and intensity of annotation, (ii) the numerous graphical features such as the interactive GO-graph visualization for gene-set function profiling or descriptive charts, (iii) the general sequence management features and (iv) high-throughput capabilities. We used the Blast2GO framework to carry out a detailed analysis of annotation behaviour through homology transfer and its impact in functional genomics research. Our aim is to offer biologists useful information to take into account when addressing the task of functionally characterizing their sequence data.

}, keywords = {Animals, Computational Biology, Computer Graphics, Databases, Genetic, Expressed Sequence Tags, Genes, Genomics, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Analysis, Protein, Software, Vocabulary, Controlled}, issn = {1362-4962}, doi = {10.1093/nar/gkn176}, author = {G{\"o}tz, Stefan and Garc{\'\i}a-G{\'o}mez, Juan Miguel and Terol, Javier and Williams, Tim D and Nagaraj, Shivashankar H and Nueda, Maria Jos{\'e} and Robles, Montserrat and Talon, Manuel and Dopazo, Joaquin and Conesa, Ana} }