Browsing by Author "Ni, Ting"

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    A paired-end sequencing strategy to map the complex landscape of transcription initiation.
    (Nature methods, 2010-07) Ni, Ting; Corcoran, David L; Rach, Elizabeth A; Song, Shen; Spana, Eric P; Gao, Yuan; Ohler, Uwe; Zhu, Jun
    Recent studies using high-throughput sequencing protocols have uncovered the complexity of mammalian transcription by RNA polymerase II, helping to define several initiation patterns in which transcription start sites (TSSs) cluster in both narrow and broad genomic windows. Here we describe a paired-end sequencing strategy, which enables more robust mapping and characterization of capped transcripts. We used this strategy to explore the transcription initiation landscape in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. Extending the previous findings in mammals, we found that fly promoters exhibited distinct initiation patterns, which were linked to specific promoter sequence motifs. Furthermore, we identified many 5' capped transcripts originating from coding exons; our analyses support that they are unlikely the result of alternative TSSs, but rather the product of post-transcriptional modifications. We demonstrated paired-end TSS analysis to be a powerful method to uncover the transcriptional complexity of eukaryotic genomes.
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    Novel loci and pathways significantly associated with longevity.
    (Sci Rep, 2016-02-25) Zeng, Yi; Nie, Chao; Min, Junxia; Liu, Xiaomin; Li, Mengmeng; Chen, Huashuai; Xu, Hanshi; Wang, Mingbang; Ni, Ting; Li, Yang; Yan, Han; Zhang, Jin-Pei; Song, Chun; Chi, Li-Qing; Wang, Han-Ming; Dong, Jie; Zheng, Gu-Yan; Lin, Li; Qian, Feng; Qi, Yanwei; Liu, Xiao; Cao, Hongzhi; Wang, Yinghao; Zhang, Lijuan; Li, Zhaochun; Zhou, Yufeng; Wang, Yan; Lu, Jiehua; Li, Jianxin; Qi, Ming; Bolund, Lars; Yashin, Anatoliy; Land, Kenneth C; Gregory, Simon; Yang, Ze; Gottschalk, William; Tao, Wei; Wang, Jian; Wang, Jun; Xu, Xun; Bae, Harold; Nygaard, Marianne; Christiansen, Lene; Christensen, Kaare; Franceschi, Claudio; Lutz, Michael W; Gu, Jun; Tan, Qihua; Perls, Thomas; Sebastiani, Paola; Deelen, Joris; Slagboom, Eline; Hauser, Elizabeth; Xu, Huji; Tian, Xiao-Li; Yang, Huanming; Vaupel, James W
    Only two genome-wide significant loci associated with longevity have been identified so far, probably because of insufficient sample sizes of centenarians, whose genomes may harbor genetic variants associated with health and longevity. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Han Chinese with a sample size 2.7 times the largest previously published GWAS on centenarians. We identified 11 independent loci associated with longevity replicated in Southern-Northern regions of China, including two novel loci (rs2069837-IL6; rs2440012-ANKRD20A9P) with genome-wide significance and the rest with suggestive significance (P < 3.65 × 10(-5)). Eight independent SNPs overlapped across Han Chinese, European and U.S. populations, and APOE and 5q33.3 were replicated as longevity loci. Integrated analysis indicates four pathways (starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism; immune response and inflammation; MAPK; calcium signaling) highly associated with longevity (P ≤ 0.006) in Han Chinese. The association with longevity of three of these four pathways (MAPK; immunity; calcium signaling) is supported by findings in other human cohorts. Our novel finding on the association of starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism pathway with longevity is consistent with the previous results from Drosophilia. This study suggests protective mechanisms including immunity and nutrient metabolism and their interactions with environmental stress play key roles in human longevity.
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    The prevalence and regulation of antisense transcripts in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
    (PLoS One, 2010-12-20) Ni, Ting; Tu, Kang; Wang, Zhong; Song, Shen; Wu, Han; Xie, Bin; Scott, Kristin C; Grewal, Shiv I; Gao, Yuan; Zhu, Jun
    A strand-specific transcriptome sequencing strategy, directional ligation sequencing or DeLi-seq, was employed to profile antisense transcriptome of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Under both normal and heat shock conditions, we found that polyadenylated antisense transcripts are broadly expressed while distinct expression patterns were observed for protein-coding and non-coding loci. Dominant antisense expression is enriched in protein-coding genes involved in meiosis or stress response pathways. Detailed analyses further suggest that antisense transcripts are independently regulated with respect to their sense transcripts, and diverse mechanisms might be potentially involved in the biogenesis and degradation of antisense RNAs. Taken together, antisense transcription may have profound impacts on global gene regulation in S. pombe.