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Phylogenetic analyses that were conducted in the past didn't have the ability or functionality to inform and implement useful public health decisions while using clustering. Models can be constructed to conduct any further analyses for the result of meaningful data to be used in the future of public health informatics.

Phylogenetic analyses that were conducted in the past didn't have the ability or functionality to inform and implement useful public health decisions while using clustering. Models can be constructed to conduct any further analyses for the result of meaningful data to be used in the future of public health informatics. A phylogenetic tree is considered one of the best ways for researchers to visualize and analyze the evolutionary history of a certain virus. The focus of this study was to research HIV phylodynamic and phylogenetic methods. This involved identifying the fast growing HIV transmission clusters and rates for certain risk groups in the US. In order to achieve these results an HIV database was required to retrieve real-time data for implementation, alignment software for multiple sequence alignment, Bayesian analysis software for the development and manipulation of models, and graphical tools for visualizing the output from the models created. This study began by conducting a literature review on HIV phylogeographies and phylodynamics. Sequence data was then obtained from a sequence database to be run in a multiple alignment software. The sequence that was obtained was unaligned which is why the alignment was required. Once the alignment was performed, the same file was loaded into a Bayesian analysis software for model creation of a phylogenetic tree. When the model was created, the tree was edited in a tree visualization software for the user to easily interpret. From this study the output of the tree resulted the way it did, due to a distant homology or the mixing of certain parameters. For a further continuation of this study, it would be interesting to use the same aligned sequence and use different model parameter selections for the initial creation of the model to see how the output changes. This is because one small change for the model parameter could greatly affect the output of the phylogenetic tree.
ContributorsNandan, Meghana (Author) / Scotch, Matthew (Thesis director) / Liu, Li (Committee member) / Biomedical Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description

Oxymonas is a genus of Oxymonad protist found in the hindgut of drywood termites (family Kalotermitidae). Many genera of drywood termites are invasive pests globally. The hindgut microbiome of Cryptotermes brevis, the West Indian drywood termite, has not been described in detail, and only one published sequence exists of Oxymonas

Oxymonas is a genus of Oxymonad protist found in the hindgut of drywood termites (family Kalotermitidae). Many genera of drywood termites are invasive pests globally. The hindgut microbiome of Cryptotermes brevis, the West Indian drywood termite, has not been described in detail, and only one published sequence exists of Oxymonas from C. brevis. This study aims to analyze Oxymonas sequences in C. brevis from whole gut genetic material, as well as to dissect its place in phylogenetic trees of Oxymonas and how it fits into specific and evolutionary patterns. To amplify the 18S rRNA gene Oxymonas from C. brevis, the MasterPure DNA extraction kit was used, followed by PCR amplification, followed by agarose gel electrophoresis, followed by purification of the resulting gel bands, followed by ligation/transformation on to an LB agar plate, followed by cloning the resulting bacterial colonies, and topped off by colony screening. The colony screening PCR products were then sequenced in the Genomics Core, assembled in Geneious, aligned and trimmed into a phylogenetic tree, along with several long-read amplicon sequences from Oxymonas in other drywood termites. All whole gut sequences and one amplicon from C. brevis formed a single clade, sharing an ancestor with a sister clade of Oxymonas sp. from C. cavifrons and Procryptotermes leewardensis, but the other long-read fell into its own clade in a different spot on the tree. It can be conjectured that the latter sequence was contaminated and that the C. brevis clones are a monophyletic group, a notion further corroborated by a distantly related clade featuring sequences from Cryptotermes dudleyi, which in turn has a sister taxon of Oxymonas clones from C. cavifrons and P. leewardensis, pointing toward a different kind of co-diversification of the hosts and symbionts rather than cospeciation.

ContributorsSharma, Noah (Author) / Gile, Gillian (Thesis director) / Shaffer, Zachary (Committee member) / Coots, Nicole (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2023-05