Biology subjects

Sang, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Sang, J..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

A single pair of pharyngeal neurons functions as a commander to reject high salt in Drosophila melanogaster

Salt is an essential nutrient for survival, while excessive NaCl can be detrimental. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, internal taste organs in the pharynx are critical gatekeepers impacting the decision to accept or reject a food. Currently, our understanding of the mechanism through which pharyngeal gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) sense high salt are rudimentary. Here, we found that a member of the ionotropic receptor family, Ir60b, is expressed exclusively in a pair of GRNs activated by high salt. Using a two-way choice assay (DrosoX) to measure ingestion volume, we demonstrate that IR60b and two coreceptors IR25a and IR76b, are required to prevent high salt consumption. Mutants lacking external taste organs but retaining the internal taste organs in the pharynx exhibit much higher salt avoidance than flies with all taste organs but missing the three IRs. Our findings highlight the vital role for IRs in a pharyngeal GRN to control ingestion of high salt.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Time to first cigarette and its impact on lung tumorigenesis

Time to first cigarette (TTFC) in the morning has been identified as the best indicator of nicotine dependence and is associated with lung cancer risk beyond other measures of tobacco smoking. Using deep whole genome sequencing of 218 lung cancers from smokers, we show that TTFC is the strongest marker of tobacco smoking mutagenicity, with impact on lung tumor mutational burden, mutational signatures, intratumor heterogeneity, KRAS mutations and overall survival. These results pave the way for using TTFC as an easily measurable marker of lung tumorigenesis, with plausible therapeutic and prognostic implications.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2022

A Unified Catalog of 19,251 Non-human Reference Species Genomes Provides New Insights into the Mammalian Gut Microbiomes

The gut microbiota is essential for host health and survival. Here, using samples from animals living in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, we recovered 119,568 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that were clustered into 19,251 species-level genome bins (SGBs) of which most represent novel species. We present a novel mechanism shaping mammalian gut microbiomes using ancestral founder bacteria (AFB) as a core skeleton and recurring lineage-specific gains of microbial species that are transferred frequently among multiple hosts, not strictly limited by host phylogeny. Such lineage specific gains are responsible for increasing gut microbial diversity, maintaining functional stability, and endowing specific functions for host adaptions. Our analyses did not support the existence of co-phylogeny or co-speciation events between mammal hosts and their individual gut symbionts. The results presented in this study not only reveal novel unique gut microbial species and offer insight of value for understanding the diversity, stability, functionality of the mammalian gut microbiomes, and the co-evolution with their hosts, but also emphasize that animals living in extreme environments are a promising resource for the discovery of novel biological functions.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2021

Genome Warehouse: A Public Repository Housing Genome-scale Data

The Genome Warehouse (GWH) is a public repository housing genome assembly data for a wide range of species and delivering a series of web services for genome data submission, storage, release, and sharing. As one of the core resources in the National Genomics Data Center (NGDC), part of the China National Center for Bioinformation (CNCB, https://bigd.big.ac.cn/), GWH accepts both full genome and partial genome (chloroplast, mitochondrion, and plasmid) sequences with different assembly levels, as well as an update of existing genome assemblies. For each assembly, GWH collects detailed genome-related metadata including biological project and sample, and genome assembly information, in addition to genome sequence and annotation. To archive high-quality genome sequences and annotations, GWH is equipped with a uniform and standardized procedure for quality control. Besides basic browse and search functionalities, all released genome sequences and annotations can be visualized with JBrowse. By December 2020, GWH has received 17,264 direct submissions covering a diversity of 949 species, and has released 3370 of them. Collectively, GWH serves as an important resource for genome-scale data management and provides free and publicly accessible data to support research activities throughout the world. GWH is publicly accessible at https://bigd.big.ac.cn/gwh/.

bioinformatics↗