Chris Sander

Bio: Chris Sander is an academic researcher from Harvard University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Large Hadron Collider & Protein structure. The author has an hindex of 178, co-authored 713 publications receiving 233287 citations. Previous affiliations of Chris Sander include Purdue University & University of Leeds.

Novel protein families in archaean genomes

Abstract: In a quest for novel functions in archaea, all archaean hypothetical open reading frames (ORFs), as annotated in the Swiss-Prot protein sequence database, were used to search the latest databases for the identification of characterized homologues. Of the 95 hypothetical archaean ORFs, 25 were found to be homologous to another hypothetical archaean ORF, while 36 were homologous to non-archaean proteins, of which as many as 30 were homologous to a characterized protein family. Thus the level of sequence similarity in this set reaches 64%, while the level of function assignment is only 32%. Of the ORFs with predicted functions, 12 homologies are reported here for the first time and represent nine new functions and one gene duplication at an acetyl-coA synthetase locus. The novel functions include components of the transcriptional and translational apparatus, such as ribosomal proteins, modification enzymes and a translation initiation factor. In addition, new enzymes are identified in archaea, such as cobyric acid synthase, dCTP deaminase and the first archaean homologues of a new subclass of ATP binding proteins found in fungi. Finally, it is shown that the putative laminin receptor family of eukaryotes and an archaean homologue belong to the previously characterized ribosomal protein family S2 from eubacteria. From the present and previous work, the major implication is that archaea seem to have a mode of expression of genetic information rather similar to eukaryotes, while eubacteria may have proceeded into unique ways of transcription and translation. In addition, with the detection of proteins in various metabolic and genetic processes in archaea, we can further predict the presence of additional proteins involved in these processes.

Search for squarks and gluinos in final states with same-sign leptons and jets using 139 fb −1 of data collected with the ATLAS detector

Abstract: A search for supersymmetric partners of gluons and quarks is presented, involving signatures with jets and either two isolated leptons (electrons or muons) with the same electric charge, or at leas ...

Detection of clonal rearrangement of T-cell receptor genes in the diagnosis of primary cutaneous CD30 lymphoproliferative disorders.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Detection of clonality has been reported to be a helpful tool in the diagnosis of cutaneous lymphomas. Monoclonal rearrangement of T-cell receptor genes (TCR) was reported in fresh frozen tissue of lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP) and primary cutaneous anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL), but the diagnostic value of T-cell clonality in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsies has so far not been assessed. METHODS: Detection of clonal rearrangement of TCRgamma genes by highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction-based automated high-resolution fragment analysis (AHRFA) in archival LyP (n = 18) and ALCL (n = 17) tissue. RESULTS: Detection of clonality differed significantly among the histologic forms of LyP as well as between LyP and ALCL with clonality found in none of the 10 biopsies of LyP type A and B, in 4/8 (50%) of the LyP type C specimens, and in 11/17 (65%) of ALCL cases. CONCLUSIONS: T-cell clonality can only be found in a minority (four of 18; 22%) of archival LyP specimens, even when employing a highly sensitive detection method and is thus of limited diagnostic value. Final diagnosis of LyP has to be based mainly on clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical findings rather than on results of clonality studies.

Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs.

Abstract: The BLAST programs are widely used tools for searching protein and DNA databases for sequence similarities. For protein comparisons, a variety of definitional, algorithmic and statistical refinements described here permits the execution time of the BLAST programs to be decreased substantially while enhancing their sensitivity to weak similarities. A new criterion for triggering the extension of word hits, combined with a new heuristic for generating gapped alignments, yields a gapped BLAST program that runs at approximately three times the speed of the original. In addition, a method is introduced for automatically combining statistically significant alignments produced by BLAST into a position-specific score matrix, and searching the database using this matrix. The resulting Position-Specific Iterated BLAST (PSIBLAST) program runs at approximately the same speed per iteration as gapped BLAST, but in many cases is much more sensitive to weak but biologically relevant sequence similarities. PSI-BLAST is used to uncover several new and interesting members of the BRCT superfamily.

Clustal w: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice

Abstract: The sensitivity of the commonly used progressive multiple sequence alignment method has been greatly improved for the alignment of divergent protein sequences. Firstly, individual weights are assigned to each sequence in a partial alignment in order to down-weight near-duplicate sequences and up-weight the most divergent ones. Secondly, amino acid substitution matrices are varied at different alignment stages according to the divergence of the sequences to be aligned. Thirdly, residue-specific gap penalties and locally reduced gap penalties in hydrophilic regions encourage new gaps in potential loop regions rather than regular secondary structure. Fourthly, positions in early alignments where gaps have been opened receive locally reduced gap penalties to encourage the opening up of new gaps at these positions. These modifications are incorporated into a new program, CLUSTAL W which is freely available.

The CLUSTAL_X windows interface: flexible strategies for multiple sequence alignment aided by quality analysis tools.

Abstract: CLUSTAL X is a new windows interface for the widely-used progressive multiple sequence alignment program CLUSTAL W. The new system is easy to use, providing an integrated system for performing multiple sequence and profile alignments and analysing the results. CLUSTAL X displays the sequence alignment in a window on the screen. A versatile sequence colouring scheme allows the user to highlight conserved features in the alignment. Pull-down menus provide all the options required for traditional multiple sequence and profile alignment. New features include: the ability to cut-and-paste sequences to change the order of the alignment, selection of a subset of the sequences to be realigned, and selection of a sub-range of the alignment to be realigned and inserted back into the original alignment. Alignment quality analysis can be performed and low-scoring segments or exceptional residues can be highlighted. Quality analysis and realignment of selected residue ranges provide the user with a powerful tool to improve and refine difficult alignments and to trap errors in input sequences. CLUSTAL X has been compiled on SUN Solaris, IRIX5.3 on Silicon Graphics, Digital UNIX on DECstations, Microsoft Windows (32 bit) for PCs, Linux ELF for x86 PCs, and Macintosh PowerMac.

MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput

Abstract: We describe MUSCLE, a new computer program for creating multiple alignments of protein sequences. Elements of the algorithm include fast distance estimation using kmer counting, progressive alignment using a new profile function we call the logexpectation score, and refinement using treedependent restricted partitioning. The speed and accuracy of MUSCLE are compared with T-Coffee, MAFFT and CLUSTALW on four test sets of reference alignments: BAliBASE, SABmark, SMART and a new benchmark, PREFAB. MUSCLE achieves the highest, or joint highest, rank in accuracy on each of these sets. Without refinement, MUSCLE achieves average accuracy statistically indistinguishable from T-Coffee and MAFFT, and is the fastest of the tested methods for large numbers of sequences, aligning 5000 sequences of average length 350 in 7 min on a current desktop computer. The MUSCLE program, source code and PREFAB test data are freely available at http://www.drive5. com/muscle.

Gene Ontology: tool for the unification of biology

Abstract: Genomic sequencing has made it clear that a large fraction of the genes specifying the core biological functions are shared by all eukaryotes. Knowledge of the biological role of such shared proteins in one organism can often be transferred to other organisms. The goal of the Gene Ontology Consortium is to produce a dynamic, controlled vocabulary that can be applied to all eukaryotes even as knowledge of gene and protein roles in cells is accumulating and changing. To this end, three independent ontologies accessible on the World-Wide Web (http://www.geneontology.org) are being constructed: biological process, molecular function and cellular component.