Amanyire, W. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2022

Optical mapping compendium of structural variants across global cattle breeds

Structural variants (SV) have been linked to important bovine disease phenotypes, but due to the difficulty of their accurate detection with standard sequencing approaches, their role in shaping important traits across cattle breeds is largely unexplored. Optical mapping is an alternative approach for mapping SVs that has been shown to have higher sensitivity than DNA sequencing approaches. The aim of this project was to use optical mapping to develop a high-quality database of structural variation across cattle breeds from different geographical regions, to enable further study of SVs in cattle. To do this we generated 100X Bionano optical mapping data for 18 cattle of nine different ancestries, three continents and both cattle sub-species. In total we identified 13,457 SVs, of which 1,200 putatively overlap coding regions. This resource provides a high-quality set of optical mapping-based SV calls that can be used across studies, from validating DNA sequencing-based SV calls to prioritising candidate functional variants in genetic association studies and expanding our understanding of the role of SVs in cattle evolution.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2019

In Silico Analysis of Ixodid Tick Aqauporin-1 Protein as a Candidate Anti-Tick Vaccine Antigen

Ticks are arthropod vectors of pathogens of both Veterinary and Public health importance. Ticks are largely controlled by acaricide application. However, acaricide efficacy is hampered by high cost, the need for regular application and selection of multi-acaricide resistant tick populations. In light of this, future tick control approaches are poised to rely on integration of rational acaricide application and other methods such as vaccination. To contribute to systematic research-guided efforts to produce anti-tick vaccines, we carried out an in silico tick Aquaporin-1 protein (AQP1) analysis to identify unique tick AQP1 peptide motifs that can be used in future peptide anti-tick vaccine development. We used multiple sequence alignment (MSA), motif analysis, homology modeling, and structural analysis to identify unique tick AQP1 peptide motifs. BepiPred, Chou & Fasman-Turn, Karplus & Schulz Flexibility and Parker-Hydrophilicity prediction models were used to asses these motifs abilities to induce antibody mediated immune responses. Tick AQP1 (MK334178) protein homology was largely similar to the bovine AQP1 (PDB:1J4N) (23% sequence similarity; Structural superimposition RMS=1.475). The highest similarities were observed in the transmembrane domains while differences were observed in the extra and intra cellular protein loops. Two unique tick AQP1 (MK334178) motifs, M7 (residues 106-125, p=5.4e-25) and M8 (residues 85-104, p=3.3e-24) were identified. These two motifs are located on the extra-cellular AQP1 domain and showed the highest Parker-Hydrophilicity prediction immunogenic scores of 1.153 and 2.612 respectively. The M7 and M8 motifs are a good starting point for the development of potential peptide-based anti-tick vaccine. Further analyses such as in vivo immunization assays are required to validate these findings.

bioinformatics↗