Browsing by Subject "Gene pool"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Open Access
    Conserved immune recognition hierarchy of mycobacterial PE/PPE proteins during infection in natural hosts
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Vordermeier, H Martin; Hewinson, R Glyn; Wilkinson, Robert J; Wilkinson, Katalin A; Gideon, Hannah P; Young, Douglas B; Sampson, Samantha L
    The Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome contains two large gene families encoding proteins of unknown function, characterized by conserved N-terminal proline and glutamate (PE and PPE) motifs. The presence of a large number of PE/PPE proteins with repetitive domains and evidence of strain variation has given rise to the suggestion that these proteins may play a role in immune evasion via antigenic variation, while emerging data suggests that some family members may play important roles in mycobacterial pathogenesis. In this study, we examined cellular immune responses to a panel of 36 PE/PPE proteins during human and bovine infection. We observed a distinct hierarchy of immune recognition, reflected both in the repertoire of PE/PPE peptide recognition in individual cows and humans and in the magnitude of IFN-γ responses elicited by stimulation of sensitized host cells. The pattern of immunodominance was strikingly similar between cattle that had been experimentally infected with Mycobacterium bovis and humans naturally infected with clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis. The same pattern was maintained as disease progressed throughout a four-month course of infection in cattle, and between humans with latent as well as active tuberculosis. Detailed analysis of PE/PPE responses at the peptide level suggests that antigenic cross-reactivity amongst related family members is a major determinant in the observed differences in immune hierarchy. Taken together, these results demonstrate that a subset of PE/PPE proteins are major targets of the cellular immune response to tuberculosis, and are recognized at multiple stages of infection and in different disease states. Thus this work identifies a number of novel antigens that could find application in vaccine development, and provides new insights into PE/PPE biology.
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    Determining ancestry proportions in complex admixture scenarios in South Africa using a novel proxy ancestry selection method
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Chimusa, Emile R; Daya, Michelle; Möller, Marlo; Ramesar, Raj; Henn, Brenna M; van Helden, Paul D; Mulder, Nicola J; Hoal, Eileen G
    Admixed populations can make an important contribution to the discovery of disease susceptibility genes if the parental populations exhibit substantial variation in susceptibility. Admixture mapping has been used successfully, but is not designed to cope with populations that have more than two or three ancestral populations. The inference of admixture proportions and local ancestry and the imputation of missing genotypes in admixed populations are crucial in both understanding variation in disease and identifying novel disease loci. These inferences make use of reference populations, and accuracy depends on the choice of ancestral populations. Using an insufficient or inaccurate ancestral panel can result in erroneously inferred ancestry and affect the detection power of GWAS and meta-analysis when using imputation. Current algorithms are inadequate for multi-way admixed populations. To address these challenges we developed PROXYANC, an approach to select the best proxy ancestral populations. From the simulation of a multi-way admixed population we demonstrate the capability and accuracy of PROXYANC and illustrate the importance of the choice of ancestry in both estimating admixture proportions and imputing missing genotypes.
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    Pooled Sequencing of 531 Genes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Identifies an Associated Rare Variant in BTNL2 and Implicates Other Immune Related Genes
    (Public Library of Science, 2015) Prescott, Natalie J; Lehne, Benjamin; Stone, Kristina; Lee, James C; Taylor, Kirstin; Knight, Jo; Papouli, Efterpi; Mirza, Muddassar M; Simpson, Michael A; Spain, Sarah L
    Author Summary Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are two forms of inflammatory bowel disease which cause chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Common genetic variants in more than 160 regions of the human genome have been associated with an altered risk of these disorders, but leave much of the estimated genetic contribution to disease risk unexplained. We sought to establish whether rare genetic variants which alter the structure or function of the proteins encoded by genes also contribute to disease susceptibility. We used high throughput DNA sequencing to screen over 500 genes for such variants in nearly 500 patients and controls, and validated interesting variants in about 10,000 patients and 7,000 controls. We detected association of a limited number of rare variants from coding regions with disease, suggesting that they do not account for a large proportion of genetic susceptibility. However, they highlight the involvement of genes of potential importance in the development of inflammatory bowel disease, including those involved in the activation of immune cells, the regulation of immune response genes, and the degradation of proteins in cells.