@article{brochu_tseng_smith_thomas_jones_diveley_law_hansen_picker_gale_et al._2020, title={Systematic Profiling of Full-Length Ig and TCR Repertoire Diversity in Rhesus Macaque through Long Read Transcriptome Sequencing}, volume={204}, ISSN={["1550-6606"]}, DOI={10.4049/jimmunol.1901256}, abstractNote={Abstract
               The diversity of Ig and TCR repertoires is a focal point of immunological studies. Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) are key for modeling human immune responses, placing critical importance on the accurate annotation and quantification of their Ig and TCR repertoires. However, because of incomplete reference resources, the coverage and accuracy of the traditional targeted amplification strategies for profiling rhesus Ig and TCR repertoires are largely unknown. In this study, using long read sequencing, we sequenced four Indian-origin rhesus macaque tissues and obtained high-quality, full-length sequences for over 6000 unique Ig and TCR transcripts, without the need for sequence assembly. We constructed, to our knowledge, the first complete reference set for the constant regions of all known isotypes and chain types of rhesus Ig and TCR repertoires. We show that sequence diversity exists across the entire variable regions of rhesus Ig and TCR transcripts. Consequently, existing strategies using targeted amplification of rearranged variable regions comprised of V(D)J gene segments miss a significant fraction (27–53% and 42–49%) of rhesus Ig/TCR diversity. To overcome these limitations, we designed new rhesus-specific assays that remove the need for primers conventionally targeting variable regions and allow single cell level Ig and TCR repertoire analysis. Our improved approach will enable future studies to fully capture rhesus Ig and TCR repertoire diversity and is applicable for improving annotations in any model organism.}, number={12}, journal={JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY}, author={Brochu, Hayden N. and Tseng, Elizabeth and Smith, Elise and Thomas, Matthew J. and Jones, Aiden M. and Diveley, Kayleigh R. and Law, Lynn and Hansen, Scott G. and Picker, Louis J. and Gale, Michael, Jr. and et al.}, year={2020}, month={Jun}, pages={3434–3444} }
 @article{catherine m. o'connell_brochu_girardi_harrell_jones_darville_sena_peng_2019, title={Simultaneous profiling of sexually transmitted bacterial pathogens, microbiome, and concordant host response in cervical samples using whole transcriptome sequencing analysis}, volume={6}, ISSN={["2311-2638"]}, DOI={10.15698/mic2019.03.672}, abstractNote={Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a female upper genital tract inflammatory disorder that arises after sexually transmitted bacterial infections (STI). Factors modulating risk for reproductive sequelae include co-infection, microbiota, host genetics and physiology. In a pilot study of cervical samples obtained from women at high risk for STIs, we examined the potential for unbiased characterization of host, pathogen and microbiome interactions using whole transcriptome sequencing analysis of ribosomal RNA-depleted total RNAs (Total RNA-Seq). Only samples from women with STI infection contained pathogen-specific sequences (3 to 38% transcriptome coverage). Simultaneously, we identified and quantified their active microbial communities. After integration with host-derived reads from the same data, we detected clustering of host transcriptional profiles that reflected microbiome differences and STI infection. Together, our study suggests that total RNA profiling will advance understanding of the interplay of pathogen, host and microbiota during natural infection and may reveal novel, outcome-relevant biomarkers.}, number={3}, journal={MICROBIAL CELL}, author={Catherine M. O'Connell and Brochu, Hayden and Girardi, Jenna and Harrell, Erin and Jones, Aiden and Darville, Toni and Sena, Arlene C. and Peng, Xinxia}, year={2019}, month={Mar}, pages={177–183} }