🚀 go-pugleaf

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Sorry for second posting of the same message.  My previous posting
had a wrong subject line.
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Michael David Baker posted this message to the 
bionet.protista group:

======================================================
>From:	 	mike@VOSSBRICKC3.AG.UIUC.EDU
>               (Michael David Baker)
>Newsgroups: 	bionet.protista
>Subject: 	     microsporidian spore requests
>Date: 		27 Mar 1995 13:48:31 -0800
>Organization: 	BIOSCI International Newsgroups for
>               Molecular Biology
>Lines: 		19
>Sender:		daemon@net.bio.net
>Distribution:	world
>Message-lD: 	<9503272141.AA04137 @ 
>               vossbrinckc3.ag. uiuc.edu
>
>Dear Netters,
>I hope that this is the correct medium for the 
>following request. I am involved in two major 
>research projects; 1. the molecular phylogeny of 
>the microsporidia and 2. molecular identification 
>of various host strains of Encephalitozoon 
>cuniculi. We have developed a moderate database of 
>about 45 complete and 15 partial SSU rRNA 
>sequences representing about 35 genera of 
>microsporidia. The results from which we are just 
>starting to publish. We have also given some 
>thought to making this database available on the 
>internet as a tool for identifying species of this 
>diverse group of organisms. I am currently trying 
>to obtain more material to sequence and was 
>wondering if anybody out there, who may have 
>access to microsporidia, would be interested in 
>contributing material for these projects.
>Sincerely,
>Michael D. Baker
>mike@vossbrinckc3.ag.uiuc.edu

============================================================
I would like to congratulate your laboratory for this 
outstanding achievement.  Forty five microsporidian complete 
small subunit ribosomal RNA sequences (SSUrRNA) translates 
into reading over 350,000 bases with the required redundancy 
of six to compensate for Taq polymerase errors.  Even if 
your lab did direct sequencing (without cloning) of the PCR 
product, still over 120,000 bases were read.  This 
calculation does not include the necessary overlaps nor data 
for the fifteen partial sequences you mentioned.

The importance of this accomplishment is immense, both for 
the taxonomy of microsporidia, as well as for the search of 
reservoirs of human microsporidial infections.  In addition, 
scientist studying application of microsporidia as 
biological insect control agents will be able to use the 
data generated in this project to design species-specific 
primers to confirm that these microsporidia will not harm 
beneficial insects.

You write that your team "(has) given some thought to 
making this database available on the internet".  In my 
opinion, this is an excellent idea.  However, I would like 
to note that the GenBank database is where data should be 
placed to be used "as a tool for identifying species of 
this diverse group of organisms".  I did a quick search of 
GenBank today and found only two entries from your 
laboratory of complete microsporidian SSUrRNA coding regions 
(loci VNRRNS and VAIRGD).  One was submitted in 1987 and the 
other in 1989.  Uncommonly, both sequences are identical and 
are for the same organism, Vairimorpha necatrix.  In 
addition to this sequence, I found in GenBank data from your 
laboratory for partial sequences for both small and large 
microsporidian ribosomal RNA.  Besides the fact that these 
sequences have minimal use for molecular taxonomy, they are 
full of unassigned bases (N), which is not the standard 
practice in submitting data to this database.  Such 
unassigned bases can be only tolerated in preliminary 
reports.

I find it highly unusual that your laboratory did not send 
the 45 complete microsporidial SSUrRNA sequences to GenBank, 
especially that in 1993, complete SSUrRNA sequences were 
submitted by others to GenBank for 5 species, and in 1994 
for nine species of microsporidia.  There were up to four 
sequences submitted for different isolates of the same 
species from different laboratories.  This delay may cause 
that if your laboratory will not submit "about 45 complete 
and 15 partial" sequences to GenBank immediately, other 
laboratories may be faster in making their data available to 
the scientific community.  Please, do not procrastinate any 
longer in submitting to the GenBank database the sequences 
you mentioned in this posting.


Norman





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