limma is an R/Bioconductor software package that provides an integrated solution for analysing data from gene expression experiments. It contains rich features for handling complex experimental designs and for information borrowing to overcome the problem of small sample sizes. Over the past decade, limma has been a popular choice for gene discovery through differential expression analyses of microarray and high-throughput PCR data. The package contains particularly strong facilities for reading, normalizing and exploring such data. Recently, the capabilities of limma have been significantly expanded in two important directions. First, the package can now perform both differential expression and differential splicing analyses of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data. All the downstream analysis tools previously restricted to microarray data are now available for RNA-seq as well. These capabilities allow users to analyse both RNA-seq and microarray data with very similar pipelines. Second, the package is now able to go past the traditional gene-wise expression analyses in a variety of ways, analysing expression profiles in terms of co-regulated sets of genes or in terms of higher-order expression signatures. This provides enhanced possibilities for biological interpretation of gene expression differences. This article reviews the philosophy and design of the limma package, summarizing both new and historical features, with an emphasis on recent enhancements and features that have not been previously described.

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limma powers differential expression analyses for RNA-sequencing and microarray studies

A novel DNA fingerprinting technique called AFLP is described. The AFLP technique is based on the selective PCR amplification of restriction fragments from a total digest of genomic DNA. The technique involves three steps: (i) restriction of the DNA and ligation of oligonucleotide adapters, (ii) selective amplification of sets of restriction fragments, and (iii) gel analysis of the amplified fragments. PCR amplification of restriction fragments is achieved by using the adapter and restriction site sequence as target sites for primer annealing. The selective amplification is achieved by the use of primers that extend into the restriction fragments, amplifying only those fragments in which the primer extensions match the nucleotides flanking the restriction sites. Using this method, sets of restriction fragments may be visualized by PCR without knowledge of nucleotide sequence. The method allows the specific co-amplification of high numbers of restriction fragments. The number of fragments that can be analyzed simultaneously, however, is dependent on the resolution of the detection system. Typically 50-100 restriction fragments are amplified and detected on denaturing polyacrylamide gels. The AFLP technique provides a novel and very powerful DNA fingerprinting technique for DNAs of any origin or complexity.

AFLP: a new technique for DNA fingerprinting.

The lion's share of bacteria in various environments cannot be cloned in the laboratory and thus cannot be sequenced using existing technologies. A major goal of single-cell genomics is to complement gene-centric metagenomic data with whole-genome assemblies of uncultivated organisms. Assembly of single-cell data is challenging because of highly non-uniform read coverage as well as elevated levels of sequencing errors and chimeric reads. We describe SPAdes, a new assembler for both single-cell and standard (multicell) assembly, and demonstrate that it improves on the recently released E+V-SC assembler (specialized for single-cell data) and on popular assemblers Velvet and SoapDeNovo (for multicell data). SPAdes generates single-cell assemblies, providing information about genomes of uncultivatable bacteria that vastly exceeds what may be obtained via traditional metagenomics studies. SPAdes is available online ( http://bioinf.spbau.ru/spades ). It is distributed as open source software.

SPAdes, a new genome assembly algorithm and its applications to single-cell sequencing ( 7th Annual SFAF Meeting, 2012)

The 4,639,221-base pair sequence of Escherichia coli K-12 is presented. Of 4288 protein-coding genes annotated, 38 percent have no attributed function. Comparison with five other sequenced microbes reveals ubiquitous as well as narrowly distributed gene families; many families of similar genes within E. coli are also evident. The largest family of paralogous proteins contains 80 ABC transporters. The genome as a whole is strikingly organized with respect to the local direction of replication; guanines, oligonucleotides possibly related to replication and recombination, and most genes are so oriented. The genome also contains insertion sequence (IS) elements, phage remnants, and many other patches of unusual composition indicating genome plasticity through horizontal transfer.

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The Complete Genome Sequence of Escherichia coli K-12

A survey is given of differential expression analyses using the linear modeling features of the limma package. The chapter starts with the simplest replicated designs and progresses through experiments with two or more groups, direct designs, factorial designs and time course experiments. Experiments with technical as well as biological replication are considered. Empirical Bayes test statistics are explained. The use of quality weights, adaptive background correction and control spots in conjunction with linear modelling is illustrated on the β7 data.

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limma: Linear Models for Microarray Data

Sequences that adopt non-B-DNA conformation in form V DNA as probed by enzymic methylation

Corrigendum to “The ΔuvrB mutations in the Ames strains of Salmonella span 15 to 119 genes”

Cold Spring Harb Protoc; Yipeng Wang, Michael McClelland and Xiao-Qin Xia Analyzing Microarray Data Using WebArray Service Email Alerting click here. Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article Categories Subject Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. Browse articles on similar topics from (35 articles) Microarrays, general (30 articles) Microarrays (102 articles) Genome Analysis (322 articles) Genetics, general (74 articles) Computational Biology (131 articles) Bioinformatics/Genomics, general (7 articles) Analysis of Microarrays, general (13 articles) Analysis of Microarrays

Analyzing microarray data using WebArray.

The metabolic processes that enable the replication of intracellular Salmonella under nitrosative stress conditions engendered in the innate response of macrophages are poorly understood. A screen of Salmonella transposon mutants identified the ABC-type high-affinity zinc uptake system ZnuABC as a critical determinant of the adaptation of Salmonella to the nitrosative stress generated by the enzymatic activity of inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase of mononuclear phagocytic cells. NO limits the virulence of a znuB mutant in an acute murine model of salmonellosis. The ZnuABC transporter is crucial for the glycolytic function of fructose bisphosphate aldolase, thereby fueling growth of Salmonella during nitrosative stress produced in the innate response of macrophages. Our investigations demonstrate that glycolysis mediates resistance of Salmonella to the antimicrobial activity of NO produced in an acute model of infection. The ATP synthesized by substrate-level phosphorylation at the payoff phase of glycolysis and acetate fermentation powers the replication of Salmonella experiencing high levels of nitrosative stress. In contrast, despite its high potential for ATP synthesis, oxidative phosphorylation is a major target of inhibition by NO and contributes little to the antinitrosative defenses of intracellular Salmonella. Our investigations have uncovered a previously unsuspected conjunction between zinc homeostasis, glucose metabolism and cellular energetics in the adaptation of intracellular Salmonella to the reactive nitrogen species synthesized in the innate host response.

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Zinc-dependent substrate-level phosphorylation powers Salmonella growth under nitrosative stress of the innate host response.

Alterations in DNA methylation offer unique prospects as tumor markers. The big limitation in cervical cancer research is that it is too hard to obtain the pure normal tissue from a cervical cancer mass. So, we first profile type-specific DNA methylation of major two types of human uterine cervical cancer, adenocarcinoma (ACA) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), to establish a precise source of marker research. To assess the DNA methylation status of promoter regions in human uterine cervical ACAs and SCCs, fresh frozen tissues were obtained from bulky tumor masses to minimize the contamination from normal tissues and two array platforms using digestion with methylation-sensitive restriction-enzyme HpaII, ligation, and PCR were performed: an array of 11,994 (approximately 1.5 kb) PCR products from 10,445 promoter regions, and an array of 355,264 oligonucleotides for 18,212 HpaII fragments in 12,617 promoter regions. Loci near 21 genes showed significant differences between six ACA and four SCC from the analysis of two array data. Real-time PCR-based validation was performed on 13 loci using other nearby candidate methylation targets in the same promoter. Methylation patterns of 11 of 13 linked loci concurred with the microarray results. Four loci were further studied using tissues from additional patients (23 ACA and 24 SCC). Hypermethylation of loci in PAK6 and NOGOR most strongly correlated with ACA. Therefore, we have identified the 21 genes with differential methylation pattern between ACA and SCC and, furthermore, we found that PAK6 and NOGOR could be useful markers of ACA to be distinct from SCC.

Michael McClelland

Papers

Sequences that adopt non-B-DNA conformation in form V DNA as probed by enzymic methylation

Corrigendum to “The ΔuvrB mutations in the Ames strains of Salmonella span 15 to 119 genes”

Analyzing microarray data using WebArray.

Zinc-dependent substrate-level phosphorylation powers Salmonella growth under nitrosative stress of the innate host response.

Distinct DNA methylation profiles between adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of human uterine cervix.