University of Toronto researchers report on findings from a single-cell imaging study aimed at untangling the dynamics of protein profusion and localization in the budding yeast model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using high-throughput microscopy and automated computational and genetic approaches, the team followed protein localization patterns in a set of yeast strains that each contained a different gene fused to the green fluorescent protein-coding sequence. The approach made it possible to map thousands of proteins over time in tens of millions of individual yeast cells under different conditions, the study's authors report.
Members of the Cancer Genome Atlas Network present cutaneous melanoma classification schemes based on integrated genome, exome, and RNA sequences, along with proteomic patterns, methylation profiles, copy number patterns, and so on. Based on data for 333 primary or metastatic tumor samples from 331 individuals with cutaneous melanoma, the team described four genomic subtypes: BRAF-mutant, RAS-mutant, NF1-mutant, and triple-wild type melanoma. The researchers also saw subsets of tumors containing transcripts associate with T-cell immune activity, which appeared to herald somewhat better survival outcomes. GenomeWeb has more on the study, here.
The Broad Institute's Pardis Sabeti and colleagues from the US, Scotland, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere sequenced and assembled more than 230 Ebola virus genomes using samples collected from patients in Sierra Leone between mid-June 2014 and January 2015. When they compared the Ebola viruses sequenced during this seven-month stretch with dozens of EBOV genomes sequenced from an earlier stage of the outbreak, the researchers got a look at transmission patterns and genetic variation within individual patients over time. The team also characterized features of the virus' evolution, including viral features that appear to stem from purifying selection pressures. For more on this and other Ebola virus research, check out this article published at GenomeWeb last month.