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Genetics and Genomics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics

A Machine Learning Approach For Using The Postmortem Skin Microbiome To Estimate The Postmortem Interval, Hunter R. Johnson, Donovan D. Trinidad, Stephania Guzman, Zenab Khan, James V. Parziale, Jennifer M. Debruyn, Nathan H. Lents Dec 2016

A Machine Learning Approach For Using The Postmortem Skin Microbiome To Estimate The Postmortem Interval, Hunter R. Johnson, Donovan D. Trinidad, Stephania Guzman, Zenab Khan, James V. Parziale, Jennifer M. Debruyn, Nathan H. Lents

Publications and Research

Research on the human microbiome, the microbiota that live in, on, and around the human person, has revolutionized our understanding of the complex interactions between microbial life and human health and disease. The microbiome may also provide a valuable tool in forensic death investigations by helping to reveal the postmortem interval (PMI) of a decedent that is discovered after an unknown amount of time since death. Current methods of estimating PMI for cadavers discovered in uncontrolled, unstudied environments have substantial limitations, some of which may be overcome through the use of microbial indicators. In this project, we sampled the microbiomes …


Evolutionary Interpretations Of Mycobacteriophage Biodiversity And Host-Range Through The Analysis Of Codon Usage Bias, Laura A. Esposito, Swati Gupta, Fraida Streiter, Ashley Prasad, John J. Dennehy Oct 2016

Evolutionary Interpretations Of Mycobacteriophage Biodiversity And Host-Range Through The Analysis Of Codon Usage Bias, Laura A. Esposito, Swati Gupta, Fraida Streiter, Ashley Prasad, John J. Dennehy

Publications and Research

In an genomics course sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), undergraduate students have isolated and sequenced the genomes of more than 1,150 mycobacteriophages, creating the largest database of sequenced bacteriophages able to infect a single host, Mycobacterium smegmatis, a soil bacterium. Genomic analysis indicates that these mycobacteriophages can be grouped into 26 clusters based on genetic similarity. These clusters span a continuum of genetic diversity, with extensive genomic mosaicism among phages in different clusters. However, little is known regarding the primary hosts of these mycobacteriophages in their natural habitats, nor of their broader host ranges. As such, it …


Comparative Genomics Explains The Evolutionary Success Of Reef-Forming Corals, Debashish Bhattacharya, Shobhit Agrawal, Manuel Aranda, Sebastian Baumgarten, Mahdi Belcaid, Jeana L. Drake, Douglas Erwin, Sylvian Foret, Ruth D. Gates, David F. Gruber, Bishoy Kamel, Michael P. Lesser, Oren Levy, Yi Jin Liew, Matthew Macmanes, Tali Mass, Monica Medina, Shaadi Mehr, Eli Meyer, Dana C. Price, Hollie M. Putnam, Huan Qiu, Chuya Shinzato, Eiichi Shoguchi, Alexander J. Stokes, Sylvie Tambutté, Dan Tchernov, Christian R. Voolstra, Nicole Wagner, Charles W. Walker, Andreas Pm Weber, Virginia Weis, Ehud Zelzion, Didier Zoccola, Paul G. Falkowski May 2016

Comparative Genomics Explains The Evolutionary Success Of Reef-Forming Corals, Debashish Bhattacharya, Shobhit Agrawal, Manuel Aranda, Sebastian Baumgarten, Mahdi Belcaid, Jeana L. Drake, Douglas Erwin, Sylvian Foret, Ruth D. Gates, David F. Gruber, Bishoy Kamel, Michael P. Lesser, Oren Levy, Yi Jin Liew, Matthew Macmanes, Tali Mass, Monica Medina, Shaadi Mehr, Eli Meyer, Dana C. Price, Hollie M. Putnam, Huan Qiu, Chuya Shinzato, Eiichi Shoguchi, Alexander J. Stokes, Sylvie Tambutté, Dan Tchernov, Christian R. Voolstra, Nicole Wagner, Charles W. Walker, Andreas Pm Weber, Virginia Weis, Ehud Zelzion, Didier Zoccola, Paul G. Falkowski

Publications and Research

Transcriptome and genome data from twenty stony coral species and a selection of reference bilaterians were studied to elucidate coral evolutionary history. We identified genes that encode the proteins responsible for the precipitation and aggregation of the aragonite skeleton on which the organisms live, and revealed a network of environmental sensors that coordinate responses of the host animals to temperature, light, and pH. Furthermore, we describe a variety of stress-related pathways, including apoptotic pathways that allow the host animals to detoxify reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that are generated by their intracellular photosynthetic symbionts, and determine the fate of corals …


Diversity-Dependent Cladogenesis Throughout Western Mexico: Evolutionary Biogeography Of Rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalinae: Crotalus And Sistrurus), Christopher Blair, Santiago Sánchez-Ramírez Apr 2016

Diversity-Dependent Cladogenesis Throughout Western Mexico: Evolutionary Biogeography Of Rattlesnakes (Viperidae: Crotalinae: Crotalus And Sistrurus), Christopher Blair, Santiago Sánchez-Ramírez

Publications and Research

Rattlesnakes (Crotalus and Sistrurus) represent a radiation of approximately 42 species distributed throughout the New World from southern Canada to Argentina. Interest in this enigmatic group of snakes continues to accrue due, in part, to their ecomorphological diversity, contributions to global envenomations, and potential medicinal importance. Although the group has garnered substantial attention from systematists and evolutionary biologists for decades, little is still known regarding patterns of lineage diversification. In addition, few studies have statistically quantified broad-scale biogeographic patterns in rattlesnakes to ascertain how dispersal occurred throughout the New World, particularly among the different major biomes of the …