This is a research paper submitted for LIBR220 (Medical and Health Sciences Librarianship), a graduate course in Library and Information Sciences at San Jose State University. / PURPOSE: To evaluate ways in which hospital librarians can help clinicians keep up with the rapid growth of genetic information and incorporate it into patient care as we enter the era of genomic medicine. SETTING: Hospital medical libraries DESCRIPTION: The fast-growing new field of genomic medicine applies human genetic information to the understanding and treatment of disease. Historically, evidence-based healthcare has been informed by studies on large populations. Breakthroughs in genetic analysis technologies are presenting healthcare providers with new opportunities to diagnose and customize clinical treatment based on the genetic structure of individual patients. In the hospital setting, access to genomic medicine information resources, clinical guidelines, and continuing education will be critical in the near future. This research paper will explore resources and programs that hospital librarians can offer to clinicians, to serve their genomic medicine information needs and help them navigate through unfamiliar territory.

No description available.

High Mobility Group AT-hook protein 2 (HMGA2) is a non-histone chromatin binding protein expressed in stem cells, cancer cells but not in normal human somatic cells. The presence of HMGA2 in cancer correlates with advanced neoplastic disease and poor prognosis. HMGA2 plays important roles in Base Excision Repair (BER) and at replication forks. HMGA2 is present at mammalian metaphase telomeres and its loss induces chromosomal aberrations. However, the functional role of HMGA2 at telomeres remains elusive. We hypothesized a protective role of HMGA2 that guards telomeres and modulates DNA damage repair signaling pathways. Employing different HMGA2+ human tumor cell models, we investigated the HMGA2-mediated functions that contribute to chemoresistance in glioblastoma (GB). This study presents a novel interaction of HMGA2 with telomeric protein TRF2 (Telomere Repeat-Binding Factor 2). This interaction retains TRF2 at telomeres, thus capping the telomeres and reducing telomere-dysfunction induced foci despite induced telomere stress. Loss of HMGA2 coincides with increased phosphorylation of TRF2, decreased TRF2 retention at telomeres and increased formation of telomeric aggregates, anaphase bridges and micronuclei. These findings provide new evidence for a unique role of HMGA2 at telomeres as a novel contributor of telomeric integrity. We show that upon DNA damage, HMGA2 causes increased and sustained phosphorylation of Ataxia Telangiectasia and Rad3-related kinase (ATR) and checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1). Prolonged presence of pCHK1Ser296 coincides with prolonged G2/M block and increased tumor cell survival. The relationship between (ATR)-CHK1 DNA damage response pathway and HMGA2 identifies a novel mechanism by which HMGA2 can alter DNA repair function in cancer cells. We identified HMGA2 as a novel factor contributing to temozolomide (TMZ) resistance in GB. HMGA2 knockdown sensitizes the GB cells to TMZ. We propose a specific combination of FDA-approved drugs, TMZ and Dovitinib (DOV), to increase GB cell death. We show that DOV downregulates key BER proteins, attenuates pSTAT3-coordinated Lin28A and HMGA2 expression. Our results suggest that a sequential therapeutic strategy of pretreating GB cells with DOV followed by a sequence of TMZ and DOV diminishes TMZ resistance and enhances the ability of TMZ to induce GB cell death. Overall, we identified HMGA2 as a multifunctional survival factor in human cancer cells and showed that targeting HMGA2 is a valid strategy to combat HMGA2+ cancer cells. / February 2016

Il a été montré récemment que l'instabilité génétique joue un rôle central dans les étapes précoces de la tumorigenèse. Celle-ci provoquerait une activation chronique des voies ATR/CHK1 et ATM/CHK2 dans les cellules précancéreuses, entrainant l'apoptose ou la sénescence des cellules concernées. Les mécanismes de checkpoint constituant une barrière contre la progression tumorale, toute mutation affectant ce checkpoint serait ainsi sélectionnée très tôt dans le processu s de tumorigenèse et faciliterait ensuite la progression tumorale. Ce modèle met en évidence le rôle central de l'instabilité génomique et du checkpoint dans la progression tumorale.Au cours de ma thèse, je me suis intéressé au complexe Claspine / Timeless / Tipin, initialement identifié comme médiateur de la voie ATR/CHK1 et qui est donc considéré comme ayant une fonction suppresseur de tumeur. Cependant, Claspine présente aussi des propriétés oncogéniques, puisque qu'elle est surexprimée dans de nombreuses lignées tumorales et cette surexpression est importante pour la prolifération cellulaire. Nous nous sommes donc demandé comment cette protéine pouvait être à la fois un oncogène et un suppresseur de tumeur. Chez la levure, l'homologue de Claspine est impliqué dans le maintien de la stabilité des fourches de réplication, indépendamment de sa fonction dans le checkpoint. Nous proposons que dans les cellules cancéreuses cette surexpression permette une meilleure stabilité des fourches, ce qui serait très important pour répliquer efficacement un génome soumis à un stress réplicatif constant. Au cours de ma thèse, nous avons construit et caractérisé un modèle de cellulescancéreuses HCT116 dans lesquelles nous avons diminué le niveau de Claspine ou deTimeless grâce à des shRNA, sans que cela n'affecte l'efficacité du checkpoint de réplication. Nous avons pu observer dans ces cellules un ralentissement de la progression des fourches de réplication et l'apparition d'une instabilité génétique. Il semblerait que spécifiquement dans le cas de Timeless, le ralentissement de la fourche de réplication et l'instabilité génomique se manifeste surtout dans les régions du génome répliquées tardivement. / The correct execution of the replication program is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity during S phase. Indeed, replication fork progression is frequently challenged by DNA lesions and by a variety of natural pause sites. Arrested forks are unstable structures, which represent a major threat for the genome integrity if they are not promptly stabilized and restarted. In response to replicative stress, cells activated the replication checkpoint to prevent collapse of stalled forks and promote fork recovery. Recent evidence indicates that spontaneous replication stress occurs in precancerous lesions and promotes the development of cancer. Identifying the origin of this replication stress would represent a better understanding of the early stages of tumorigenesis. We study the function of Claspin, a mediator of the replication checkpoint, which plays a key role in the response to replication stress. It is therefore acting as a tumor suppressor, preventing genomic instability during DNA replication. Intriguingly, recent evidence indicates that Claspin is overexpressed in different cancers and can also acts as an oncoprotein. Studies on Mrc1p, the yeast homologue of Claspin, have shown that Mrc1 is permanently associated to forks, where it forms a complex with two partners called Tof1p and Csm3p (homologues of human Tim and Tipin respectively). We have shown by DNA combing that the replicative function of Mrc1p, is critical for viability in the presence of a replication stress. In l ight of our results in yeast, we propose that the Claspin/Tim/Tipin complex may also play a direct role for the replication of human cells. If confirmed, this replication function may account for the role of this complex in the cancer process and tumor resistance to genotoxic agents commonly used in anticancer therapy.

Genomic imprinting results in monoallelic parent-of-origin gene expression. Therian mammals show conclusive evidence for imprinting, while the evidence in Aves is conflicting. It’s unclear if Aves have the proteins necessary for establishment and maintenance of imprinting loci. Every examined avian orthologue to mammalian imprinted genes shows biallelic expression providing evidence for a lack of imprinting in Aves. While the known parent-of-origin quantitative trait loci in chicken do not overlap with differentiated methylated regions, further analysis with a larger sample size is required. No transcript in the chicken transcriptome at incubation day 4.5 shows parent-of-origin expression, providing strong evidence for a lack of imprinting at this stage of development. Investigating expression of the chicken transcriptome at additional developmental time points, and the transcriptome of other Aves would provide decisive evidence on the presence or lack of imprinting in Aves. Based on current knowledge, Aves lack imprinting as observed in mammals.

Les virus à ARN - à l'exception des rétrovirus - représentent plus de 200 pathogènes humains et/ou vétérinaires majeurs. Ils sont pour la plupart considérés comme émergents, durant les dernières années ils ont été retrouvés au-delà de leur territoire d'origine, dans de nouvelles régions du monde. Les plus connus de ces virus sont le virus du West Nile, le virus chikungunya, la grippe, le coronavirus SRAS, l'entérovirus 71 (agent responsable de la fièvre aphteuse), les virus de la dengue, l'hépatite C virus, le virus de la fièvre hémorragique de Crimée Congo, le virus de la vallée du Rift, l'encéphalite japonaise et plusieurs entérovirus humains. En terme de mortalité et morbidité ils sont à l'origine de plus 100 millions de cas par an et la menace a tendance à augmenter. Ces statistiques sont démoralisantes quand on considère les immenses progrès de la médecine et de la science durant ces dernières dizaines d'années. Les recherches présentées dans ma thèse portent sur le genre Flavivirus, au sein duquel on retrouve le virus de la fièvre jaune, un pathogène humain responsable d'épidémies majeures en Afrique et en Amérique latine durant les 300 à 400 dernières années. Ce virus est toujours responsable d'épidémies majeures en Afrique malgré un vaccin très bien toléré et des plus efficaces. On assiste au même scénario avec le virus de l'encéphalite japonaise en Inde. / Without including the retroviruses, there are in excess of 200 RNA viruses that are recognised human and/or animal pathogens, many of which are considered to be emerging viruses because during recent years they have dispersed beyond their original territories causing epidemics in new regions of the World. The more well known of these emerging viruses include, West Nile virus, chikungunya virus, influenza virus, SARS coronavirus, EV71 virus (the aetiological agent of hand foot and mouth disease), dengue virus, hepatitis C virus, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, Rift Valley fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus and many human enteroviruses from a variety of genera. The combined global morbidity and mortality figures for these viruses add up to 100s of millions per year and the current trend appears to be upwards. This is a depressing statistic when one considers the amazing medical and scientific achievements that we have witnessed during the past decades. The studies described in my thesis were focused on the genus Flavivirus the type species of which is yellow fever virus, another terrifyingly virulent human pathogen that has caused so much suffering in Africa and Latin America during the past 300 to 400 years. This virus continues to cause major epidemics in Africa despite the availability of one of the safest and most effective vaccines with which to control infections due to yellow fever virus. Indeed similar comments can be made in the context of the flavivirus Japanese encephalitis virus in India.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agronomy / Tesfaye Tesso / The approach used to identify inbred lines that can produce superior hybrids is costly and time-consuming. It requires creation of all possible crosses and evaluation of the crosses to estimate combining abilities for the desired traits. Predicting heterosis or hybrid performance in any way possible may help to reduce the number of crosses to be made and evaluated. In this study, four sets of experiments were conducted to determine whether heterosis can be predicted based on inbred line performance, genetic distance between parents and genomic prediction model. The first experiment was aimed at assessing the levels of genetic diversity, population structure and linkage disequilibrium (LD) in 279 public sorghum inbred lines, based on 66,265 SNPs generated using the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) platform. The inbred lines were developed at different times over the last two decades and harbor robust diversity in pedigree and agronomic characteristics. Some of the inbreds are resistant to Acetolactate synthase (ALS) and Acetyl co-enzyme-A carboxylase (ACC) inhibitor herbicides. The mean polymorphic information content (PIC) and gene diversity across the entire inbreds were 0.35 and 0.46, respectively with non-herbicide resistant inbreds harboring more diversity than the herbicide resistant ones. The population structure analysis clustered the inbred lines into three major subgroups according to pedigree and fertility-reaction with the maintainer lines (B-lines) distinctly forming a separate cluster. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed more variation within subgroups than among subgroups. Substantial linkage disequilibrium (LD) was detected between the markers in the population with marked variation between chromosomes. This information may facilitate the use of the inbreds in sorghum breeding programs and provide perspectives for optimizing marker density for gene mapping and marker-assisted breeding. The second experiment, based on 102 F1 hybrids developed by intercrossing closely and distantly related inbreds, was conducted to investigate the relationship of genetic distance between parents with hybrid vigor or heterosis. The F1 hybrids alongside their parents were evaluated at two environments in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results show that correlations of genetic distance between parents with hybrid performance and heterosis were variable and dependent on the trait. Though most were statistically non-significant and not strong to be used as predictor for heterosis, the results tend to show that certain level of genetic distance between parents is needed to capture maximum heterosis and hybrid performance. The objective of the third research study was to determine whether traits measured on parents can be used to predict hybrid performance in sorghum and to assess the combining ability of selected inbreds. Forty-six parental inbred lines and 75 F1 hybrids generated from intercrossing the inbreds were evaluated in four environments in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The average performance of the parents (mid-parent) was significantly correlated with hybrid performance for thousand kernel weight, days to flowering and plant height. Significant general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities were observed for most traits, with highly significant GCA effects observed for most traits as compared to SCA indicating that additive genetic effects are more important in affecting the inheritance of the traits measured. Results show that studying parental inbred line performance could generate important information for predicting hybrid performance in sorghum. The fourth experiment was aimed at assessing the efficacy of genomic prediction of hybrid performance in sorghum. Genomic prediction was performed with five-fold cross-validation procedure on 204 F1 hybrids developed using 102 inbred lines. A total of 66,265 SNP markers generated using genotyping-by-sequencing were used in this study. Results showed that increasing training population size increased prediction accuracies for all traits with the effect being different for different traits. Also, considering additive effects alone versus additive and dominance effects in the model showed similar trend of prediction accuracy but the full model (considering both additive and dominance effects of the markers) provided better prediction at least for some of the traits. The results suggest that genomic prediction could become an effective tool for predicting the performance of untested sorghum hybrids thus adding efficiency to hybrid selection.

Doctor of Philosophy / Genetics Interdepartmental Program / Jesse Poland / The Green Revolution is credited with saving billions of lives by effectively harnessing new genetic resources and breeding strategies to create high-yielding varieties for countries lacking adequate food security. To keep the next billion people in a state of food security, plant breeders will need to rapidly incorporate novel approaches and technologies into their breeding programs. The work presented here describes new genomic and phenomic strategies and tools aimed at accelerating genetic gain in plant breeding. Plant breeders have long relied on regional testing networks to evaluate new breeding lines across many locations. These are an attractive resource for both retrospective and contemporary analysis due to the vast amount of data available. To characterize genetic progress of plant breeding programs in the Central Plains, entries from the Southern Regional Performance Nursery dating back to 1992 were evaluated in field trials. The trend for annual improvement was 1.1% yr⁻¹, matching similar reports for genetic gain. During the same time period, growth of on-farm yields stagnated. Genomic selection, a promising method to increase genetic gain, was tested using historical data from the SRPN. A temporal-based model showed that, on average, yield predictions outperformed a year-to-year phenotypic correlation. A program-based model found that the predictability of a breeding program was similar when using either data from a single program or from the entire regional collection. Modern DNA marker platforms either characterize a small number of loci or profile an entire genome. Spiked genotyping-by-sequencing (sGBS) was developed to address the need in breeding programs for both targeted loci and whole-genome selection. sGBS uses a low-cost, integrated approach that combines targeted amplicons with reduced representation genotyping-by-sequencing. This approach was validated using converted and newly-designed markers targeting known polymorphisms in the leaf rust resistance gene Lr34. Plant breeding programs generate vast quantities of data during evaluation and selection of superior genotypes. Many programs still rely on manual, error-prone methods to collect data. To make this process more robust, we have developed several open-source phenotyping apps with simple, intuitive interfaces. A contemporary Green Revolution will rely on integrating many of these innovative technologies into modern breeding programs.

The increase of multi-resistant bacteria highlights that the golden era of antibiotics is ending and that alternative treatmentsare urgently needed. Phages have been historically used to treat bacterial infections prior to the discovery of antibiotics and have gained renewed interest in the past decade. Despite the advantages of phage therapy over traditional antibiotic usage, a number of concerns persist over their clinical application centring on their efficacy and safety. This thesis presents four papers that focus on the isolation and characterization of phages that target reference strains and drug-resistant strains of E. coli as well as their infection dynamics and kinetics. In Paper I, six of thirty isolated phages were selected to be characterized for their growth parameters and host range using two commonly used methods. The study showed that the host range (an important selection criteria for phages) of the phages can change based on the assessment method and that the lysis efficiency of phages is host-dependent. The study suggests that standardised methods to assess the host range and lytic activity of phages are required to reduce result variability between research groups. Paper II investigated a rare phage with C3 morphotype from the Podoviridae family and characterised it via genomic, proteomic, morphologic and phylogenetic analysis. The study revealed previously unseen aspects including the formation of a honeycomb structure comprised of phage head during DNA packaging, the possible contractile nature of the tail and the 280 million year co-evolution between the major head protein and the scaffolding protein. Paper III highlights the need to take the immune system into consideration when designing phage therapeutics. In the study, four purified structurally distinct phages (selected from the three main phage families) were exposed to human cells (HT-29 and Caco-2 immortalised intestinal epithelial cell lines and donor-derived peripheral blood mononuclear cells) and the immunogenicity of the phages determined. Phage immunogenicity was shown to vary in a concentration and phage dependent manner with SU63 (a Myoviridae) being the most immunogenic phage and SU32 (a Siphoviridae) the least immunogenic. In the presence of human cells and a suitable host, phages were shown to maintain their killing efficacy as well as the ability to proliferate. Paper IV studies the infection dynamics of an experimental two-phage cocktail against a single bacterial host in vitro and in silico. However, in silico analysis and in vitro analysis produced conflicting results, in which mathematical modelling predicted the complete clearance of bacteria for all treatment scenarios whereas experimental results showed a 1-3log10 reduction in bacterial content. Practical experiments also showed increased anti-bacterial activity when the time between the additions of each phage was varied. This discrepancy suggests that the current mathematical model is unsuitable due to the inability to account for discrete variables such as interference. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Functional genomics determines the biological functions of genes on a global scale by using large volumes of data obtained through techniques including next-generation sequencing (NGS). The application of NGS in biomedical research is gaining in momentum, and with its adoption becoming more widespread, there is an increasing need for access to customizable computational workflows that can simplify, and offer access to, computer intensive analyses of genomic data. In this study, the Galaxy and Ruffus frameworks were designed and implemented with a view to address the challenges faced in biomedical research. Galaxy, a graphical web-based framework, allows researchers to build a graphical NGS data analysis pipeline for accessible, reproducible, and collaborative data-sharing. Ruffus, a UNIX command-line framework used by bioinformaticians as Python library to write scripts in object-oriented style, allows for building a workflow in terms of task dependencies and execution logic. In this study, a dual data analysis technique was explored which focuses on a comparative evaluation of Galaxy and Ruffus frameworks that are used in composing analysis pipelines. To this end, we developed an analysis pipeline in Galaxy, and Ruffus, for the analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis sequence data. Furthermore, this study aimed to compare the Galaxy framework to Ruffus with preliminary analysis revealing that the analysis pipeline in Galaxy displayed a higher percentage of load and store instructions. In comparison, pipelines in Ruffus tended to be CPU bound and memory intensive. The CPU usage, memory utilization, and runtime execution are graphically represented in this study. Our evaluation suggests that workflow frameworks have distinctly different features from ease of use, flexibility, and portability, to architectural designs.