Marco Gerdol

Researcher at @UniTrieste, non-model species comparative genomics and immunogenomics enthusiast

[Trends in Parasitology @TrendsParasitol]

Drs @FunhelLab Tomislav Rončević @Mgerdol & Alessandro Tossi review helminthic host defense peptides #HDP: using the parasite to defend the host. #Antimicrobial #Helminth #Immunity #Microbiome @Cure4Aqua_EU @BiologyCentre @PmfSplit @HrUnist @UniTrieste

https://t.co/F3HUQC0qN4

[Fishes MDPI @Fishes_MDPI]

🔔🔔New Paper #mdpifishes
#Gene Expression Profiling of Trematomus bernacchii in Response to Thermal and Stabling Stress
👉https://t.co/Ogsiv7DuhO
🎓by Dr. Marco Gerdol et al. @MGerdol @UniTrieste
#Antarctica #Trematomusbernacchii #transcriptomics #stress #geneexpression

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

So far, no evidence of signiifcant BA.5 sublineages acquiring similar insertions. However, it's worth keeping track of these, as well as of insertions occurring at codons 247/248, a position which may as well be defined as RIR2. 8/8

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

Our new short communication on BA.2 insertions at the RIR1 hotspot found in the spike NTD is now out on Transboudary and Emerging Diseases
https://t.co/NuEuvFIU0o 1/8

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

We don't know yet what the functional implications (if any) of such insertions are. They may actually provide some slight fitness advantage or simply occur at RIR1 because this NTD region is insertion-prone or structurally tolerates small insertions pretty well. 7/8

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

@PeacockFlu @RajlabN @siamosolocani @r_karyakarte @mildanalyst Most likely an artefact. A bunch of BA.2 Indian sequences display ins214XXX, but this was also found in >1K delta sequences, all submitted in 2022... cross-contamination with BA.1 samples, with a coverage of the insertion too low to make base calls, possibly?

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

Other similar BA.2 sublineages with insertions at RIR1 are those with ins212TVGG (UK), ins211LTPT/212TPTL (UK+Germany) and ins212MAEL (USA) - incorrectly annotated as ins212VGGG, ins212PTLG and ins212AELG by GISAID. 3/3

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

Albeit probably not nearly as interesting as the recently emerging BA.4 and BA.5, BA.2 genomes carrying spike NTD insertions at RIR1 (i.e. the same site where the EPE BA.1 insertion is found) represent a curious case of convergent evolution. https://t.co/9teey6MTxu 1/3

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

In our new preprint we focused on one of these BA.2 sublineages in particular, which displays an apparent growth advantage over the parental BA.2 lineage in all Danish regions. About 2,5% of all BA.2 genomes sequenced in Denmark over the past few weeks carry ins212GRG. 2/3

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

@PeacockFlu this might be of interest to you

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

The "EPE" spike NTD insertion, occurring at at the RIR1 "hotspot" is one of the most puzzling mutations associated with the BA.1 lineage. Curiously, it is not shared with BA.2, indicating that an origin after the split between the two major omicron lineages 1/5

[Marco Gerdol @MGerdol]

Another BA.2 sublineage with an insertion at RIR1 worth keeping track of might be ins212TVGG (incorrectly annotated by GISAID as ins213VGGG), associated with >200 sequenced genomes in England. 5/5