Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

Browse

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 21
  • Item
    Genome-Wide Analysis of the SRPP/REF Gene Family in Taraxacum kok-saghyz Provides Insights into Its Expression Patterns in Response to Ethylene and Methyl Jasmonate Treatments.
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-07-07) He H; Wang J; Meng Z; Dijkwel PP; Du P; Shi S; Dong Y; Li H; Xie Q; Pollmann S
    Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TKS) is a model plant and a potential rubber-producing crop for the study of natural rubber (NR) biosynthesis. The precise analysis of the NR biosynthesis mechanism is an important theoretical basis for improving rubber yield. The small rubber particle protein (SRPP) and rubber elongation factor (REF) are located in the membrane of rubber particles and play crucial roles in rubber biosynthesis. However, the specific functions of the SRPP/REF gene family in the rubber biosynthesis mechanism have not been fully resolved. In this study, we performed a genome-wide identification of the 10 TkSRPP and 2 TkREF genes' family members of Russian dandelion and a comprehensive investigation on the evolution of the ethylene/methyl jasmonate-induced expression of the SRPP/REF gene family in TKS. Based on phylogenetic analysis, 12 TkSRPP/REFs proteins were divided into five subclades. Our study revealed one functional domain and 10 motifs in these proteins. The SRPP/REF protein sequences all contain typical REF structural domains and belong to the same superfamily. Members of this family are most closely related to the orthologous species T. mongolicum and share the same distribution pattern of SRPP/REF genes in T. mongolicum and L. sativa, both of which belong to the family Asteraceae. Collinearity analysis showed that segmental duplication events played a key role in the expansion of the TkSRPP/REFs gene family. The expression levels of most TkSRPP/REF members were significantly increased in different tissues of T. kok-saghyz after induction with ethylene and methyl jasmonate. These results will provide a theoretical basis for the selection of candidate genes for the molecular breeding of T. kok-saghyz and the precise resolution of the mechanism of natural rubber production.
  • Item
    Screening for phenotypic outliers identifies an unusually low concentration of a β-lactoglobulin B protein isoform in bovine milk caused by a synonymous SNP.
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2022-03-16) Davis SR; Ward HE; Kelly V; Palmer D; Ankersmit-Udy AE; Lopdell TJ; Berry SD; Littlejohn MD; Tiplady K; Adams LF; Carnie K; Burrett A; Thomas N; Snell RG; Spelman RJ; Lehnert K
    Background Milk samples from 10,641 dairy cattle were screened by a mass spectrometry method for extreme concentrations of the A or B isoforms of the whey protein, β-lactoglobulin (BLG), to identify causative genetic variation driving changes in BLG concentration. Results A cohort of cows, from a single sire family, was identified that produced milk containing a low concentration of the BLG B protein isoform. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of BLG B protein isoform concentration in milk from AB heterozygous cows, detected a group of highly significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within or close to the BLG gene. Among these was a synonymous G/A variation at position + 78 bp in exon 1 of the BLG gene (chr11:103256256G > A). The effect of the A allele of this SNP (which we named B’) on BLG expression was evaluated in a luciferase reporter assay in transfected CHO-K1 and MCF-7 cells. In both cell types, the presence of the B’ allele in a plasmid containing the bovine BLG gene from -922 to + 898 bp (relative to the transcription initiation site) resulted in a 60% relative reduction in mRNA expression, compared to the plasmid containing the wild-type B sequence allele. Examination of a mammary RNAseq dataset (n = 391) identified 14 heterozygous carriers of the B’ allele which were homozygous for the BLG B protein isoform (BB’). The level of expression of the BLG B’ allele was 41.9 ± 1.0% of that of the wild-type BLG B allele. Milk samples from three cows, homozygous for the A allele at chr11:103,256,256 (B’B’), were analysed (HPLC) and showed BLG concentrations of 1.04, 1.26 and 1.83 g/L relative to a mean of 4.84 g/L in milk from 16 herd contemporaries of mixed (A and B) BLG genotypes. The mechanism by which B’ downregulates milk BLG concentration remains to be determined. Conclusions High-throughput screening and identification of outliers, enabled the discovery of a synonymous G > A mutation in exon 1 of the B allele of the BLG gene (B’), which reduced the milk concentration of β-lactoglobulin B protein isoform, by more than 50%. Milk from cows carrying the B’ allele is expected to have improved processing characteristics, particularly for cheese-making.
  • Item
    Visual Integration of Genome-Wide Association Studies and Differential Expression Results with the Hidecan R Package.
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-09-25) Angelin-Bonnet O; Vignes M; Biggs PJ; Baldwin S; Thomson S; Hojsgaard D
    Background/Objectives: We present hidecan, an R package for generating visualisations that summarise the results of one or more genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and differential expression analyses, as well as manually curated candidate genes, e.g., extracted from the literature. This tool is applicable to all ploidy levels; we notably provide functionalities to facilitate the visualisation of GWAS results obtained for autotetraploid organisms with the GWASpoly package. Results: We illustrate the capabilities of hidecan with examples from two autotetraploid potato datasets. Conclusions: The hidecan package is implemented in R and is publicly available on the CRAN repository and on GitHub. A description of the package, as well as a detailed tutorial, is made available alongside the package. It is also part of the VIEWpoly tool for the visualisation and exploration of results from polyploids computational tools.
  • Item
    Genome-wide association studies for citric and lactic acids in dairy sheep milk in a New Zealand flock
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-08-05) Zongqi A; Marshall AC; Jayawardana JMDR; Weeks M; Loveday SM; McNabb W; Lopez-Villalobos N
    The objectives of this study were to estimate genetic parameters for citric acid content (CA) and lactic acid content (LA) in sheep milk and to identify the associated candidate genes in a New Zealand dairy sheep flock. Records from 165 ewes were used. Heritability estimates based on pedigree records for CA and LA were 0.65 and 0.33, respectively. The genetic and phenotypic correlations between CA and LA were strong-moderate and negative. Estimates of genomic heritability for CA and LA were also high (0.85, 0.51) and the genomic correlation between CA and LA was strongly negative (-0.96 ± 0.11). No significant associations were found at the Bonferroni level. However, one intragenic SNP in C1QTNF1 (chromosome 11) was associated with CA, at the chromosomal significance threshold. Another SNP associated with CA was intergenic (chromosome 15). For LA, the most notable SNP was intragenic in CYTH1 (chromosome 11), the other two SNPs were intragenic in MGAT5B and TIMP2 (chromosome 11), and four SNPs were intergenic (chromosomes 1 and 24). The functions of candidate genes indicate that CA and LA could potentially be used as biomarkers for energy balance and clinical mastitis. Further research is recommended to validate the present results.
  • Item
    The effect of liver enzymes on adiposity: a Mendelian randomization study.
    (Springer Nature Limited, 2019-11-14) Liu J; Au Yeung SL; Kwok MK; Leung JYY; Lin SL; Hui LL; Leung GM; Schooling CM
    Poorer liver function is positively associated with diabetes in Mendelian randomization (MR) studies. Observationally, adiposity is associated with poorer liver function. To clarify the etiology, we assessed the association of liver enzymes with adiposity observationally and using two-sample MR for validation. In the "Children of 1997" birth cohort, we used multivariable linear regression to assess the associations of alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) at ~17.5 years with body mass index (BMI) (n = 3,458). Using MR, genetic predictors of ALT, ALP and gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT), were applied to genome-wide association studies of BMI (n = 681,275), waist circumference (WC) (n = 224,459) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) (n = 224,459) to obtain unconfounded estimates. Observationally, ALT was positively associated with BMI (0.10 kg/m2 per IU/L, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.09 to 0.11). ALP was inversely associated with BMI (-0.018 kg/m2 per IU/L, 95% CI -0.024 to -0.012). Using MR, ALT was inversely associated with BMI (-0.14 standard deviation per 100% change in concentration, 95% CI -0.20 to -0.07), but not WC or WHR. ALP and GGT were unrelated to adiposity. Poorer liver function might not cause adiposity; instead higher ALT might reduce BMI, raising the question as to the role of ALT in body composition.
  • Item
    Non-additive QTL mapping of lactation traits in 124,000 cattle reveals novel recessive loci
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2022-12) Reynolds EGM; Lopdell T; Wang Y; Tiplady KM; Harland CS; Johnson TJJ; Neeley C; Carnie K; Sherlock RG; Couldrey C; Davis SR; Harris BL; Spelman RJ; Garrick DJ; Littlejohn MD
    BACKGROUND: Deleterious recessive conditions have been primarily studied in the context of Mendelian diseases. Recently, several deleterious recessive mutations with large effects were discovered via non-additive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of quantitative growth and developmental traits in cattle, which showed that quantitative traits can be used as proxies of genetic disorders when such traits are indicative of whole-animal health status. We reasoned that lactation traits in cattle might also reflect genetic disorders, given the increased energy demands of lactation and the substantial stresses imposed on the animal. In this study, we screened more than 124,000 cows for recessive effects based on lactation traits. RESULTS: We discovered five novel quantitative trait loci (QTL) that are associated with large recessive impacts on three milk yield traits, with these loci presenting missense variants in the DOCK8, IL4R, KIAA0556, and SLC25A4 genes or premature stop variants in the ITGAL, LRCH4, and RBM34 genes, as candidate causal mutations. For two milk composition traits, we identified several previously reported additive QTL that display small dominance effects. By contrasting results from milk yield and milk composition phenotypes, we note differing genetic architectures. Compared to milk composition phenotypes, milk yield phenotypes had lower heritabilities and were associated with fewer additive QTL but had a higher non-additive genetic variance and were associated with a higher proportion of loci exhibiting dominance. CONCLUSIONS: We identified large-effect recessive QTL which are segregating at surprisingly high frequencies in cattle. We speculate that the differences in genetic architecture between milk yield and milk composition phenotypes derive from underlying dissimilarities in the cellular and molecular representation of these traits, with yield phenotypes acting as a better proxy of underlying biological disorders through presentation of a larger number of major recessive impacts.
  • Item
    Combining Asian and European genome-wide association studies of colorectal cancer improves risk prediction across racial and ethnic populations.
    (Springer Nature, 2023-10-02) Thomas M; Su Y-R; Rosenthal EA; Sakoda LC; Schmit SL; Timofeeva MN; Chen Z; Fernandez-Rozadilla C; Law PJ; Murphy N; Carreras-Torres R; Diez-Obrero V; van Duijnhoven FJB; Jiang S; Shin A; Wolk A; Phipps AI; Burnett-Hartman A; Gsur A; Chan AT; Zauber AG; Wu AH; Lindblom A; Um CY; Tangen CM; Gignoux C; Newton C; Haiman CA; Qu C; Bishop DT; Buchanan DD; Crosslin DR; Conti DV; Kim D-H; Hauser E; White E; Siegel E; Schumacher FR; Rennert G; Giles GG; Hampel H; Brenner H; Oze I; Oh JH; Lee JK; Schneider JL; Chang-Claude J; Kim J; Huyghe JR; Zheng J; Hampe J; Greenson J; Hopper JL; Palmer JR; Visvanathan K; Matsuo K; Matsuda K; Jung KJ; Li L; Le Marchand L; Vodickova L; Bujanda L; Gunter MJ; Matejcic M; Jenkins MA; Slattery ML; D'Amato M; Wang M; Hoffmeister M; Woods MO; Kim M; Song M; Iwasaki M; Du M; Udaltsova N; Sawada N; Vodicka P; Campbell PT; Newcomb PA; Cai Q; Pearlman R; Pai RK; Schoen RE; Steinfelder RS; Haile RW; Vandenputtelaar R; Prentice RL; Küry S; Castellví-Bel S; Tsugane S; Berndt SI; Lee SC; Brezina S; Weinstein SJ; Chanock SJ; Jee SH; Kweon S-S; Vadaparampil S; Harrison TA; Yamaji T; Keku TO; Vymetalkova V; Arndt V; Jia W-H; Shu X-O; Lin Y; Ahn Y-O; Stadler ZK; Van Guelpen B; Ulrich CM; Platz EA; Potter JD; Li CI; Meester R; Moreno V; Figueiredo JC; Casey G; Lansdorp Vogelaar I; Dunlop MG; Gruber SB; Hayes RB; Pharoah PDP; Houlston RS; Jarvik GP; Tomlinson IP; Zheng W; Corley DA; Peters U; Hsu L
    Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have great potential to guide precision colorectal cancer (CRC) prevention by identifying those at higher risk to undertake targeted screening. However, current PRS using European ancestry data have sub-optimal performance in non-European ancestry populations, limiting their utility among these populations. Towards addressing this deficiency, we expand PRS development for CRC by incorporating Asian ancestry data (21,731 cases; 47,444 controls) into European ancestry training datasets (78,473 cases; 107,143 controls). The AUC estimates (95% CI) of PRS are 0.63(0.62-0.64), 0.59(0.57-0.61), 0.62(0.60-0.63), and 0.65(0.63-0.66) in independent datasets including 1681-3651 cases and 8696-115,105 controls of Asian, Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White, respectively. They are significantly better than the European-centric PRS in all four major US racial and ethnic groups (p-values < 0.05). Further inclusion of non-European ancestry populations, especially Black/African American and Latinx/Hispanic, is needed to improve the risk prediction and enhance equity in applying PRS in clinical practice.
  • Item
    Genome-Wide Analysis of BBX Gene Family in Three Medicago Species Provides Insights into Expression Patterns under Hormonal and Salt Stresses.
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-05-26) Wang J; Meng Z; He H; Du P; Dijkwel PP; Shi S; Li H; Xie Q; Igamberdiev AU
    BBX protein is a class of zinc finger transcription factors that have B-box domains at the N-terminus, and some of these proteins contain a CCT domain at the C-terminus. It plays an important role in plant growth, development, and metabolism. However, the expression pattern of BBX genes in alfalfa under hormonal and salt stresses is still unclear. In this study, we identified a total of 125 BBX gene family members by the available Medicago reference genome in diploid alfalfa (Medicago sativa spp. Caerulea), a model plant (M. truncatula), and tetraploid alfalfa (M. sativa), and divided these members into five subfamilies. We found that the conserved motifs of BBXs of the same subfamily reveal similarities. We analyzed the collinearity relationship and duplication mode of these BBX genes and found that the expression pattern of BBX genes is specific in different tissues. Analysis of the available transcriptome data suggests that some members of the BBX gene family are involved in multiple abiotic stress responses, and the highly expressed genes are often clustered together. Furthermore, we identified different expression patterns of some BBX genes under salt, ethylene, salt and ethylene, salicylic acid, and salt and salicylic acid treatments, verified by qRT-PCR, and analyzed the subcellular localization of MsBBX2, MsBBX17, and MsBBX32 using transient expression in tobacco. The results showed that BBX genes were localized in the nucleus. This study systematically analyzed the BBX gene family in Medicago plants, which provides a basis for the study of BBX gene family tolerance to abiotic stresses.
  • Item
    Probing the diabetes and colorectal cancer relationship using gene - environment interaction analyses.
    (Springer Nature, 2023-06-26) Dimou N; Kim AE; Flanagan O; Murphy N; Diez-Obrero V; Shcherbina A; Aglago EK; Bouras E; Campbell PT; Casey G; Gallinger S; Gruber SB; Jenkins MA; Lin Y; Moreno V; Ruiz-Narvaez E; Stern MC; Tian Y; Tsilidis KK; Arndt V; Barry EL; Baurley JW; Berndt SI; Bézieau S; Bien SA; Bishop DT; Brenner H; Budiarto A; Carreras-Torres R; Cenggoro TW; Chan AT; Chang-Claude J; Chanock SJ; Chen X; Conti DV; Dampier CH; Devall M; Drew DA; Figueiredo JC; Giles GG; Gsur A; Harrison TA; Hidaka A; Hoffmeister M; Huyghe JR; Jordahl K; Kawaguchi E; Keku TO; Larsson SC; Le Marchand L; Lewinger JP; Li L; Mahesworo B; Morrison J; Newcomb PA; Newton CC; Obon-Santacana M; Ose J; Pai RK; Palmer JR; Papadimitriou N; Pardamean B; Peoples AR; Pharoah PDP; Platz EA; Potter JD; Rennert G; Scacheri PC; Schoen RE; Su Y-R; Tangen CM; Thibodeau SN; Thomas DC; Ulrich CM; Um CY; van Duijnhoven FJB; Visvanathan K; Vodicka P; Vodickova L; White E; Wolk A; Woods MO; Qu C; Kundaje A; Hsu L; Gauderman WJ; Gunter MJ; Peters U
    BACKGROUND: Diabetes is an established risk factor for colorectal cancer. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship still require investigation and it is not known if the association is modified by genetic variants. To address these questions, we undertook a genome-wide gene-environment interaction analysis. METHODS: We used data from 3 genetic consortia (CCFR, CORECT, GECCO; 31,318 colorectal cancer cases/41,499 controls) and undertook genome-wide gene-environment interaction analyses with colorectal cancer risk, including interaction tests of genetics(G)xdiabetes (1-degree of freedom; d.f.) and joint testing of Gxdiabetes, G-colorectal cancer association (2-d.f. joint test) and G-diabetes correlation (3-d.f. joint test). RESULTS: Based on the joint tests, we found that the association of diabetes with colorectal cancer risk is modified by loci on chromosomes 8q24.11 (rs3802177, SLC30A8 - ORAA: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.34-1.96; ORAG: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.30-1.54; ORGG: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.13-1.31; p-value3-d.f.: 5.46 × 10-11) and 13q14.13 (rs9526201, LRCH1 - ORGG: 2.11, 95% CI: 1.56-2.83; ORGA: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.38-1.68; ORAA: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.06-1.21; p-value2-d.f.: 7.84 × 10-09). DISCUSSION: These results suggest that variation in genes related to insulin signaling (SLC30A8) and immune function (LRCH1) may modify the association of diabetes with colorectal cancer risk and provide novel insights into the biology underlying the diabetes and colorectal cancer relationship.
  • Item
    Two genome-wide interaction loci modify the association of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with colorectal cancer.
    (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2024-05-29) Drew DA; Kim AE; Lin Y; Qu C; Morrison J; Lewinger JP; Kawaguchi E; Wang J; Fu Y; Zemlianskaia N; Díez-Obrero V; Bien SA; Dimou N; Albanes D; Baurley JW; Wu AH; Buchanan DD; Potter JD; Prentice RL; Harlid S; Arndt V; Barry EL; Berndt SI; Bouras E; Brenner H; Budiarto A; Burnett-Hartman A; Campbell PT; Carreras-Torres R; Casey G; Chang-Claude J; Conti DV; Devall MAM; Figueiredo JC; Gruber SB; Gsur A; Gunter MJ; Harrison TA; Hidaka A; Hoffmeister M; Huyghe JR; Jenkins MA; Jordahl KM; Kundaje A; Le Marchand L; Li L; Lynch BM; Murphy N; Nassir R; Newcomb PA; Newton CC; Obón-Santacana M; Ogino S; Ose J; Pai RK; Palmer JR; Papadimitriou N; Pardamean B; Pellatt AJ; Peoples AR; Platz EA; Rennert G; Ruiz-Narvaez E; Sakoda LC; Scacheri PC; Schmit SL; Schoen RE; Stern MC; Su Y-R; Thomas DC; Tian Y; Tsilidis KK; Ulrich CM; Um CY; van Duijnhoven FJB; Van Guelpen B; White E; Hsu L; Moreno V; Peters U; Chan AT; Gauderman WJ
    Regular, long-term aspirin use may act synergistically with genetic variants, particularly those in mechanistically relevant pathways, to confer a protective effect on colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. We leveraged pooled data from 52 clinical trial, cohort, and case-control studies that included 30,806 CRC cases and 41,861 controls of European ancestry to conduct a genome-wide interaction scan between regular aspirin/nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use and imputed genetic variants. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, we identified statistically significant interactions between regular aspirin/NSAID use and variants in 6q24.1 (top hit rs72833769), which has evidence of influencing expression of TBC1D7 (a subunit of the TSC1-TSC2 complex, a key regulator of MTOR activity), and variants in 5p13.1 (top hit rs350047), which is associated with expression of PTGER4 (codes a cell surface receptor directly involved in the mode of action of aspirin). Genetic variants with functional impact may modulate the chemopreventive effect of regular aspirin use, and our study identifies putative previously unidentified targets for additional mechanistic interrogation.