Advances in GeneticsPub Date : 2021-01-01Epub Date: 2021-09-21DOI: 10.1016/bs.adgen.2021.08.004
Neha Pathak, Sindhura Chitikela, Prabhat Singh Malik
{"title":"Recent advances in lung cancer genomics: Application in targeted therapy.","authors":"Neha Pathak, Sindhura Chitikela, Prabhat Singh Malik","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2021.08.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2021.08.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Genomic characterization of lung cancer has not only improved our understanding of disease biology and carcinogenesis but also revealed several therapeutic opportunities. Targeting tumor dependencies on specific genomic alterations (oncogene addiction) has accelerated the therapeutic developments and significantly improved the outcomes even in advanced stage of disease. Identification of genomic alterations predicting response to specific targeted treatment is the key to success for this \"personalized treatment\" approach. Availability of multiple choices of therapeutic options for specific genomic alterations highlight the importance of optimum sequencing of drugs. Multiplex gene testing has become mandatory in view of constantly increasing number of therapeutic targets and effective treatment options. Influence of genomic characteristics on response to immunotherapy further makes comprehensive genomic profiling necessary before therapeutic decision making. A comprehensive elucidation of resistance mechanisms and directed treatments have made the continuum of care possible and transformed this deadly disease into a chronic condition. Liquid biopsy-based approach has made the dynamic monitoring of disease possible and enabled treatment optimizations accordingly. Current lung cancer management is the perfect example of \"precision-medicine\" in clinical oncology.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":" ","pages":"201-275"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39944452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Founder variants and population genomes-Toward precision medicine.","authors":"Abhinav Jain, Disha Sharma, Anjali Bajaj, Vishu Gupta, Vinod Scaria","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.11.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.11.004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human migration and community specific cultural practices have contributed to founder events and enrichment of the variants associated with genetic diseases. While many founder events in isolated populations have remained uncharacterized, the application of genomics in clinical settings as well as for population scale studies in the recent years have provided an unprecedented push towards identification of founder variants associated with human health and disease. The discovery and characterization of founder variants could have far reaching implications not only in understanding the history or genealogy of the disease, but also in implementing evidence based policies and genetic testing frameworks. This further enables precise diagnosis and prevention in an attempt towards precision medicine. This review provides an overview of founder variants along with methods and resources cataloging them. We have also discussed the public health implications and examples of prevalent disease associated founder variants in specific populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"107 ","pages":"121-152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.11.004","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25412364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fungal natural products galaxy: Biochemistry and molecular genetics toward blockbuster drugs discovery.","authors":"Keshab Bhattarai, Keshab Bhattarai, Md Ehsanul Kabir, Rina Bastola, Bikash Baral","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.11.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.11.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Secondary metabolites synthesized by fungi have become a precious source of inspiration for the design of novel drugs. Indeed, fungi are prolific producers of fascinating, diverse, structurally complex, and low-molecular-mass natural products with high therapeutic leads, such as novel antimicrobial compounds, anticancer compounds, immunosuppressive agents, among others. Given that these microorganisms possess the extraordinary capacity to secrete diverse chemical scaffolds, they have been highly exploited by the giant pharma companies to generate small molecules. This has been made possible because the isolation of metabolites from fungal natural sources is feasible and surpasses the organic synthesis of compounds, which otherwise remains a significant bottleneck in the drug discovery process. Here in this comprehensive review, we have discussed recent studies on different fungi (pathogenic, non-pathogenic, commensal, and endophytic/symbiotic) from different habitats (terrestrial and marines), the specialized metabolites they biosynthesize, and the drugs derived from these specialized metabolites. Moreover, we have unveiled the logic behind the biosynthesis of vital chemical scaffolds, such as NRPS, PKS, PKS-NRPS hybrid, RiPPS, terpenoids, indole alkaloids, and their genetic mechanisms. Besides, we have provided a glimpse of the concept behind mycotoxins, virulence factor, and host immune response based on fungal infections.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"107 ","pages":"193-284"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.11.006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"25412366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Advances in GeneticsPub Date : 2020-01-01Epub Date: 2020-07-07DOI: 10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.04.001
Edward J Steele
{"title":"Introduction-Panspermia, 2020.","authors":"Edward J Steele","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.04.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.04.001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This current volume is, in many ways, a 2020 update to the important 1999-2000 compendium by Sir Fred Hoyle and Professor N. Chandra Wickramasinghe's \"Astronomical Origins of life: Steps towards Panspermia.\" The emerging new paradigm of biology that connects life on Earth with the wider cosmos is covered in considerable depth showing that terrestrial biological evolution is best understood as a cosmically derived habitat and an interconnected genetic system. The various chapters here discuss all aspects of this interconnectedness, particularly relevant now in this time of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) as the human race reacts to the many microbes and viral pathogens that arrive regularly from space.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"106 ","pages":"1-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.04.001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38509952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Advances in GeneticsPub Date : 2020-01-01Epub Date: 2020-07-07DOI: 10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.003
N Chandra Wickramasinghe, Dayal T Wickramasinghe, Edward J Steele
{"title":"Cometary panspermia and origin of life?","authors":"N Chandra Wickramasinghe, Dayal T Wickramasinghe, Edward J Steele","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A range of astronomical observations are shown to be in accord with the theory of cometary panspermia. This theory posits that comets harbor a viable biological component in the form of bacteria and viruses that led to origin and evolution of life on Earth. The data includes (1) infrared, visual and ultraviolet spectra of interstellar dust, (2) infrared spectra of the dust released from comet Halley in 1986, (3) infrared spectra of comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, (4) near and mid-infrared spectra of comet Tempel I in 2005, (5) the discovery of an amino acid and degradation products attributable to biology in the material recovered from the Stardust Mission in 2009, (6) jets from comet Lovejoy showing both a sugar and Ethyl alcohol and finally, (7) a diverse set of data that has emerged from the Rosetta mission. The conjunction of all the available data points to cometary biology and interstellar panspermia as being inevitable.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"106 ","pages":"5-20"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38515883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Foreword: Some things are simply given.","authors":"Brig Klyce","doi":"10.1016/S0065-2660(20)30036-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2660(20)30036-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"106 ","pages":"xi-xiii"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/S0065-2660(20)30036-5","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38515885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Advances in GeneticsPub Date : 2020-01-01Epub Date: 2020-10-03DOI: 10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.06.002
Predrag Slijepcevic, N Chandra Wickramasinghe
{"title":"An internet of microbes straddling the cosmos.","authors":"Predrag Slijepcevic, N Chandra Wickramasinghe","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.06.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Exchanges of information analogous to a global internet have been known to take place between biological systems on the Earth ranging from bacteria and viruses to plants and animals. We argue that this process can be extended to include a cosmic biosphere within which evolution would seem to be intimately interlinked across astronomical, perhaps cosmological distance scales. Comets and interstellar dust, argued to have a bacterial/viral component, could be involved in establishing these links.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"106 ","pages":"109-117"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.06.002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38509954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Advances in GeneticsPub Date : 2020-01-01Epub Date: 2020-07-07DOI: 10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.006
N Chandra Wickramasinghe, Edward J Steele, Robert Temple, Gensuke Tokoro, Willam A Smith, Brig Klyce, Dayal T Wickramasinghe, Dhammika Magana Arachchi
{"title":"Experiments to prove continuing microbial ingress from Space to Earth.","authors":"N Chandra Wickramasinghe, Edward J Steele, Robert Temple, Gensuke Tokoro, Willam A Smith, Brig Klyce, Dayal T Wickramasinghe, Dhammika Magana Arachchi","doi":"10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A wide range of evidence for pointing to our cosmic origins is close to the point of being overwhelming. Yet the long-entrenched paradigm of Earth-centered biology appears to prevail in scientific culture. A matter of crucial importance is to carry out a decisive experiment that is long overdue-establishing empirically beyond any doubt that extraterrestrial microbiota reaches the surface of the Earth at the present day. Such an experiment may of course happen naturally by the appearance of pandemics of new disease as discussed in an earlier chapter.</p>","PeriodicalId":50949,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Genetics","volume":"106 ","pages":"133-143"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/bs.adgen.2020.03.006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"38509958","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}