TY - JOUR A1 - Prada, Juan Pablo A1 - Maag, Luca Estelle A1 - Siegmund, Laura A1 - Bencurova, Elena A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Koutsilieri, Eleni A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Scheller, Carsten T1 - Estimation of R0 for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Germany from excess mortality JF - Scientific Reports N2 - For SARS-CoV-2, R0 calculations in the range of 2–3 dominate the literature, but much higher estimates have also been published. Because capacity for RT-PCR testing increased greatly in the early phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, R0 determinations based on these incidence values are subject to strong bias. We propose to use Covid-19-induced excess mortality to determine R0 regardless of RT-PCR testing capacity. We used data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on the incidence of Covid cases, Covid-related deaths, number of RT-PCR tests performed, and excess mortality calculated from data from the Federal Statistical Office in Germany. We determined R0 using exponential growth estimates with a serial interval of 4.7 days. We used only datasets that were not yet under the influence of policy measures (e.g., lockdowns or school closures). The uncorrected R0 value for the spread of SARS-CoV-2 based on RT-PCR incidence data was 2.56 (95% CI 2.52–2.60) for Covid-19 cases and 2.03 (95% CI 1.96–2.10) for Covid-19-related deaths. However, because the number of RT-PCR tests increased by a growth factor of 1.381 during the same period, these R0 values must be corrected accordingly (R0corrected = R0uncorrected/1.381), yielding 1.86 for Covid-19 cases and 1.47 for Covid-19 deaths. The R0 value based on excess deaths was calculated to be 1.34 (95% CI 1.32–1.37). A sine-function-based adjustment for seasonal effects of 40% corresponds to a maximum value of R0January = 1.68 and a minimum value of R0July = 1.01. Our calculations show an R0 that is much lower than previously thought. This relatively low range of R0 fits very well with the observed seasonal pattern of infection across Europe in 2020 and 2021, including the emergence of more contagious escape variants such as delta or omicron. In general, our study shows that excess mortality can be used as a reliable surrogate to determine the R0 in pandemic situations. KW - SARS-CoV-2 KW - R0 KW - mortality Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301415 VL - 12 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Krüger, Beate T1 - GoSynthetic database tool to analyse natural and engineered molecular processes JF - Database N2 - An essential topic for synthetic biologists is to understand the structure and function of biological processes and involved proteins and plan experiments accordingly. Remarkable progress has been made in recent years towards this goal. However, efforts to collect and present all information on processes and functions are still cumbersome. The database tool GoSynthetic provides a new, simple and fast way to analyse biological processes applying a hierarchical database. Four different search modes are implemented. Furthermore, protein interaction data, cross-links to organism-specific databases (17 organisms including six model organisms and their interactions), COG/KOG, GO and IntAct are warehoused. The built in connection to technical and engineering terms enables a simple switching between biological concepts and concepts from engineering, electronics and synthetic biology. The current version of GoSynthetic covers more than one million processes, proteins, COGs and GOs. It is illustrated by various application examples probing process differences and designing modifications. KW - Bioinformatik Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-97023 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Whisnant, Adam W. A1 - Jürges, Christopher S. A1 - Hennig, Thomas A1 - Wyler, Emanuel A1 - Prusty, Bhupesh A1 - Rutkowski, Andrzej J. A1 - L'hernault, Anne A1 - Djakovic, Lara A1 - Göbel, Margarete A1 - Döring, Kristina A1 - Menegatti, Jennifer A1 - Antrobus, Robin A1 - Matheson, Nicholas J. A1 - Künzig, Florian W. H. A1 - Mastrobuoni, Guido A1 - Bielow, Chris A1 - Kempa, Stefan A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Zimmer, Ralf A1 - Landthaler, Markus A1 - Grässer, Friedrich A1 - Lehner, Paul J. A1 - Friedel, Caroline C. A1 - Erhard, Florian A1 - Dölken, Lars T1 - Integrative functional genomics decodes herpes simplex virus 1 JF - Nature Communications N2 - The predicted 80 open reading frames (ORFs) of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) have been intensively studied for decades. Here, we unravel the complete viral transcriptome and translatome during lytic infection with base-pair resolution by computational integration of multi-omics data. We identify a total of 201 transcripts and 284 ORFs including all known and 46 novel large ORFs. This includes a so far unknown ORF in the locus deleted in the FDA-approved oncolytic virus Imlygic. Multiple transcript isoforms expressed from individual gene loci explain translation of the vast majority of ORFs as well as N-terminal extensions (NTEs) and truncations. We show that NTEs with non-canonical start codons govern the subcellular protein localization and packaging of key viral regulators and structural proteins. We extend the current nomenclature to include all viral gene products and provide a genome browser that visualizes all the obtained data from whole genome to single-nucleotide resolution. Here, using computational integration of multi-omics data, the authors provide a detailed transcriptome and translatome of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), including previously unidentified ORFs and N-terminal extensions. The study also provides a HSV-1 genome browser and should be a valuable resource for further research. KW - infected-cell protein KW - messenger RNA KW - binding protein KW - type 1 KW - identification KW - ICP27 KW - translation KW - expression KW - sequence KW - domain Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-229884 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stelzner, Kathrin A1 - Winkler, Ann-Cathrin A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Boyny, Aziza A1 - Ade, Carsten P. A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Fraunholz, Martin J. A1 - Rudel, Thomas T1 - Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus Perturbs the Host Cell Ca\(^{2+}\) Homeostasis To Promote Cell Death JF - mBio N2 - The opportunistic human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus causes serious infectious diseases that range from superficial skin and soft tissue infections to necrotizing pneumonia and sepsis. While classically regarded as an extracellular pathogen, S. aureus is able to invade and survive within human cells. Host cell exit is associated with cell death, tissue destruction, and the spread of infection. The exact molecular mechanism employed by S. aureus to escape the host cell is still unclear. In this study, we performed a genome-wide small hairpin RNA (shRNA) screen and identified the calcium signaling pathway as being involved in intracellular infection. S. aureus induced a massive cytosolic Ca\(^{2+}\) increase in epithelial host cells after invasion and intracellular replication of the pathogen. This was paralleled by a decrease in endoplasmic reticulum Ca\(^{2+}\) concentration. Additionally, calcium ions from the extracellular space contributed to the cytosolic Ca2+ increase. As a consequence, we observed that the cytoplasmic Ca\(^{2+}\) rise led to an increase in mitochondrial Ca\(^{2+}\) concentration, the activation of calpains and caspases, and eventually to cell lysis of S. aureus-infected cells. Our study therefore suggests that intracellular S. aureus disturbs the host cell Ca\(^{2+}\) homeostasis and induces cytoplasmic Ca\(^{2+}\) overload, which results in both apoptotic and necrotic cell death in parallel or succession. IMPORTANCE Despite being regarded as an extracellular bacterium, the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus can invade and survive within human cells. The intracellular niche is considered a hideout from the host immune system and antibiotic treatment and allows bacterial proliferation. Subsequently, the intracellular bacterium induces host cell death, which may facilitate the spread of infection and tissue destruction. So far, host cell factors exploited by intracellular S. aureus to promote cell death are only poorly characterized. We performed a genome-wide screen and found the calcium signaling pathway to play a role in S. aureus invasion and cytotoxicity. The intracellular bacterium induces a cytoplasmic and mitochondrial Ca\(^{2+}\) overload, which results in host cell death. Thus, this study first showed how an intracellular bacterium perturbs the host cell Ca\(^{2+}\) homeostasis." KW - Staphylococcus aureus KW - calcium signaling pathway KW - cell death KW - facultatively intracellular pathogens Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-231448 VL - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cecil, Alexander A1 - Rikanovic, Carina A1 - Ohlsen, Knut A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Bernhardt, Jorg A1 - Oelschlaeger, Tobias A. A1 - Gulder, Tanja A1 - Bringmann, Gerd A1 - Holzgrabe, Ulrike A1 - Unger, Matthias A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - Modeling antibiotic and cytotoxic effects of the dimeric isoquinoline IQ-143 on metabolism and its regulation in Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and human cells N2 - Background: Xenobiotics represent an environmental stress and as such are a source for antibiotics, including the isoquinoline (IQ) compound IQ-143. Here, we demonstrate the utility of complementary analysis of both host and pathogen datasets in assessing bacterial adaptation to IQ-143, a synthetic analog of the novel type N,C-coupled naphthyl-isoquinoline alkaloid ancisheynine. Results: Metabolite measurements, gene expression data and functional assays were combined with metabolic modeling to assess the effects of IQ-143 on Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and human cell lines, as a potential paradigm for novel antibiotics. Genome annotation and PCR validation identified novel enzymes in the primary metabolism of staphylococci. Gene expression response analysis and metabolic modeling demonstrated the adaptation of enzymes to IQ-143, including those not affected by significant gene expression changes. At lower concentrations, IQ-143 was bacteriostatic, and at higher concentrations bactericidal, while the analysis suggested that the mode of action was a direct interference in nucleotide and energy metabolism. Experiments in human cell lines supported the conclusions from pathway modeling and found that IQ-143 had low cytotoxicity. Conclusions: The data suggest that IQ-143 is a promising lead compound for antibiotic therapy against staphylococci. The combination of gene expression and metabolite analyses with in silico modeling of metabolite pathways allowed us to study metabolic adaptations in detail and can be used for the evaluation of metabolic effects of other xenobiotics. KW - Staphylococcus aureus Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68802 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ratzka, Carolin A1 - Förster, Frank A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Kupper, Maria A1 - Dandekar, Thomas A1 - Feldhaar, Heike A1 - Gross, Roy T1 - Molecular characterization of antimicrobial peptide genes of the carpenter ant Camponotus floridanus N2 - The production of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) is a major defense mechanism against pathogen infestation and of particular importance for insects relying exclusively on an innate immune system. Here, we report on the characterization of three AMPs from the carpenter ant Camponotus floridanus. Due to sequence similarities and amino acid composition these peptides can be classified into the cysteine-rich (e.g. defensin) and glycine-rich (e.g. hymenoptaecin) AMP groups, respectively. The gene and cDNA sequences of these AMPs were established and their expression was shown to be induced by microbial challenge. We characterized two different defensin genes. The defensin-2 gene has a single intron, whereas the defensin-1 gene has two introns. The deduced amino acid sequence of the C. floridanus defensins is very similar to other known ant defensins with the exception of a short C-terminal extension of defensin-1. The hymenoptaecin gene has a single intron and a very peculiar domain structure. The corresponding precursor protein consists of a signal- and a pro-sequence followed by a hymenoptaecin-like domain and six directly repeated hymenoptaecin domains. Each of the hymenoptaecin domains is flanked by an EAEP-spacer sequence and a RR-site known to be a proteolytic processing site. Thus, proteolytic processing of the multipeptide precursor may generate several mature AMPs leading to an amplification of the immune response. Bioinformatical analyses revealed the presence of hymenoptaecin genes with similar multipeptide precursor structure in genomes of other ant species suggesting an evolutionary conserved important role of this gene in ant immunity. KW - Biologie KW - Camponotus floridanus Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75985 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aydinli, Muharrem A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - Motif and conserved module analysis in DNA (promoters, enhancers) and RNA (lncRNA, mRNA) using AlModules JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Nucleic acid motifs consist of conserved and variable nucleotide regions. For functional action, several motifs are combined to modules. The tool AIModules allows identification of such motifs including combinations of them and conservation in several nucleic acid stretches. AIModules recognizes conserved motifs and combinations of motifs (modules) allowing a number of interesting biological applications such as analysis of promoter and transcription factor binding sites (TFBS), identification of conserved modules shared between several gene families, e.g. promoter regions, but also analysis of shared and conserved other DNA motifs such as enhancers and silencers, in mRNA (motifs or regulatory elements e.g. for polyadenylation) and lncRNAs. The tool AIModules presented here is an integrated solution for motif analysis, offered as a Web service as well as downloadable software. Several nucleotide sequences are queried for TFBSs using predefined matrices from the JASPAR DB or by using one’s own matrices for diverse types of DNA or RNA motif discovery. Furthermore, AIModules can find TFBSs common to two or more sequences. Demanding high or low conservation, AIModules outperforms other solutions in speed and finds more modules (specific combinations of TFBS) than alternative available software. The application also searches RNA motifs such as polyadenylation site or RNA–protein binding motifs as well as DNA motifs such as enhancers as well as user-specified motif combinations (https://bioinfo-wuerz.de/aimodules/; alternative entry pages: https://aimodules.heinzelab.de or https://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/bioinfo/computing/aimodules). The application is free and open source whether used online, on-site, or locally. KW - AIModules KW - nucleic acid motifs KW - DNA Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-301268 VL - 12 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dong, Meng A1 - Böpple, Kathrin A1 - Thiel, Julia A1 - Winkler, Bernd A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Schueler, Julia A1 - Davies, Emma J. A1 - Barry, Simon T. A1 - Metsalu, Tauno A1 - Mürdter, Thomas E. A1 - Sauer, Georg A1 - Ott, German A1 - Schwab, Matthias A1 - Aulitzky, Walter E. T1 - Perfusion air culture of precision-cut tumor slices: an ex vivo system to evaluate individual drug response under controlled culture conditions JF - Cells N2 - Precision-cut tumor slices (PCTS) maintain tissue heterogeneity concerning different cell types and preserve the tumor microenvironment (TME). Typically, PCTS are cultured statically on a filter support at an air–liquid interface, which gives rise to intra-slice gradients during culture. To overcome this problem, we developed a perfusion air culture (PAC) system that can provide a continuous and controlled oxygen medium, and drug supply. This makes it an adaptable ex vivo system for evaluating drug responses in a tissue-specific microenvironment. PCTS from mouse xenografts (MCF-7, H1437) and primary human ovarian tumors (primary OV) cultured in the PAC system maintained the morphology, proliferation, and TME for more than 7 days, and no intra-slice gradients were observed. Cultured PCTS were analyzed for DNA damage, apoptosis, and transcriptional biomarkers for the cellular stress response. For the primary OV slices, cisplatin treatment induced a diverse increase in the cleavage of caspase-3 and PD-L1 expression, indicating a heterogeneous response to drug treatment between patients. Immune cells were preserved throughout the culturing period, indicating that immune therapy can be analyzed. The novel PAC system is suitable for assessing individual drug responses and can thus be used as a preclinical model to predict in vivo therapy responses. KW - precision-cut tumor slices KW - perfusion culture KW - tumor microenvironment KW - ovarian tumor KW - individual drug responses KW - mouse xenografts KW - preclinical model KW - personalized medicine Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-311030 SN - 2073-4409 VL - 12 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Bencurova, Elena A1 - Psota, Eric A1 - Neurgaonkar, Priya A1 - Prelog, Martina A1 - Scheller, Carsten A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - Population-predicted MHC class II epitope presentation of SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins correlates to the case fatality rates of COVID-19 in different countries JF - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - We observed substantial differences in predicted Major Histocompatibility Complex II (MHCII) epitope presentation of SARS-CoV-2 proteins for different populations but only minor differences in predicted MHCI epitope presentation. A comparison of this predicted epitope MHC-coverage revealed for the early phase of infection spread (till day 15 after reaching 128 observed infection cases) highly significant negative correlations with the case fatality rate. Specifically, this was observed in different populations for MHC class II presentation of the viral spike protein (p-value: 0.0733 for linear regression), the envelope protein (p-value: 0.023), and the membrane protein (p-value: 0.00053), indicating that the high case fatality rates of COVID-19 observed in some countries seem to be related with poor MHC class II presentation and hence weak adaptive immune response against these viral envelope proteins. Our results highlight the general importance of the SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins in immunological control in early infection spread looking at a global census in various countries and taking case fatality rate into account. Other factors such as health system and control measures become more important after the early spread. Our study should encourage further studies on MHCII alleles as potential risk factors in COVID-19 including assessment of local populations and specific allele distributions. KW - COVID-19 KW - population coverage KW - MHC II KW - MHC I KW - B-cell KW - T-cell KW - epitope mapping KW - lethality rate KW - infection spread KW - SARS-CoV-2 Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-258936 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 22 IS - 5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Salihoglu, Rana A1 - Srivastava, Mugdha A1 - Liang, Chunguang A1 - Schilling, Klaus A1 - Szalay, Aladar A1 - Bencurova, Elena A1 - Dandekar, Thomas T1 - PRO-Simat: Protein network simulation and design tool JF - Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal N2 - PRO-Simat is a simulation tool for analysing protein interaction networks, their dynamic change and pathway engineering. It provides GO enrichment, KEGG pathway analyses, and network visualisation from an integrated database of more than 8 million protein-protein interactions across 32 model organisms and the human proteome. We integrated dynamical network simulation using the Jimena framework, which quickly and efficiently simulates Boolean genetic regulatory networks. It enables simulation outputs with in-depth analysis of the type, strength, duration and pathway of the protein interactions on the website. Furthermore, the user can efficiently edit and analyse the effect of network modifications and engineering experiments. In case studies, applications of PRO-Simat are demonstrated: (i) understanding mutually exclusive differentiation pathways in Bacillus subtilis, (ii) making Vaccinia virus oncolytic by switching on its viral replication mainly in cancer cells and triggering cancer cell apoptosis and (iii) optogenetic control of nucleotide processing protein networks to operate DNA storage. Multilevel communication between components is critical for efficient network switching, as demonstrated by a general census on prokaryotic and eukaryotic networks and comparing design with synthetic networks using PRO-Simat. The tool is available at https://prosimat.heinzelab.de/ as a web-based query server. KW - network simulation KW - protein analysis KW - signalling pathways KW - dynamic protein-protein interactions KW - optogenetics KW - oncolytic virus KW - DNA storage Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-350034 SN - 2001-0370 VL - 21 ER -