Although bioinformatics is becoming increasingly central to research in the life sciences, bioinformatics skills and knowledge are not well integrated into undergraduate biology education. This curricular gap prevents biology students from harnessing the full potential of their education, limiting their career opportunities and slowing research innovation. To advance the integration of bioinformatics into life sciences education, a framework of core bioinformatics competencies is needed. To that end, we here report the results of a survey of biology faculty in the United States about teaching bioinformatics to undergraduate life scientists. Responses were received from 1,260 faculty representing institutions in all fifty states with a combined capacity to educate hundreds of thousands of students every year. Results indicate strong, widespread agreement that bioinformatics knowledge and skills are critical for undergraduate life scientists as well as considerable agreement about which skills are necessary. Perceptions of the importance of some skills varied with the respondent’s degree of training, time since degree earned, and/or the Carnegie Classification of the respondent’s institution. To assess which skills are currently being taught, we analyzed syllabi of courses with bioinformatics content submitted by survey respondents. Finally, we used the survey results, the analysis of the syllabi, and our collective research and teaching expertise to develop a set of bioinformatics core competencies for undergraduate biology students. These core competencies are intended to serve as a guide for institutions as they work to integrate bioinformatics into their life sciences curricula.

We have isolated a full-length cDNA encoding an acetylcholinesterase secreted by the nematode parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. The predicted protein is truncated in comparison with acetylcholinesterases from other organisms such that the carboxyl terminus aligns closely to the end of the catalytic domain of the vertebrate enzymes. The residues in the catalytic triad are conserved, as are the six cysteines which form the three intramolecular disulfide bonds. Three of the fourteen aromatic residues which line the active site gorge in the Torpedo enzyme are substituted by nonaromatic residues, corresponding to Tyr-70 (Thr), Trp-279 (Asn), and Phe-288 (Met).High level expression was obtained via secretion from Pichia pastoris. The purified enzyme behaved as a monomeric hydrophilic species. Although of invertebrate origin and possessing the above substitutions in the active site gorge residues, the enzyme efficiently hydrolyzed acetylthiocholine and showed minimal activity against butyrylthiocholine. It displayed excess substrate inhibition with acetylthiocholine at concentrations over 2.5 mM and was highly sensitive to both active site and "peripheral" site inhibitors. Northern blot analysis indicated a progressive increase in mRNA for AChE B in parasites isolated from 6 days postinfection.

Bioinformatics, a discipline that combines aspects of biology, statistics, mathematics, and computer science, is becoming increasingly important for biological research. However, bioinformatics instruction is not yet generally integrated into undergraduate life sciences curricula. To understand why we studied how bioinformatics is being included in biology education in the US by conducting a nationwide survey of faculty at two-and four-year institutions. The survey asked several open-ended questions that probed barriers to integration, the answers to which were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. The barrier most frequently reported by the 1,260 respondents was lack of faculty expertise/training, but other deterrents-lack of student interest, overly-full curricula, and lack of student preparationwere also common. Interestingly, the barriers faculty face depended strongly on whether they are members of an underrepresented group and on the Carnegie Classification of their home institution. We were surprised to discover that the cohort of faculty who were awarded their terminal degree most recently reported the most preparation in bioinformatics but teach it at the lowest rate.

Bioinformatics, a discipline that combines aspects of biology, statistics, and computer science, is increasingly important for biological research. However, bioinformatics instruction is rarely integrated into life sciences curricula at the undergraduate level. To understand why, the Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBLSE, "nibbles") recently undertook an extensive survey of life sciences faculty in the United States. The survey responses to open-ended questions about barriers to integration were subjected to keyword analysis. The barrier most frequently reported by the ~1,260 respondents was lack of faculty training. Faculty at associate's-granting institutions report the least training in bioinformatics and the least integration of bioinformatics into their teaching. Faculty from underrepresented minority groups (URMs) in STEM reported training barriers at a higher rate than others, although the . CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a

Expression plasmids encoding the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferases (HPRTs) of Plasmodium falciparum, Schistosoma mansoni, Tritrichomonas foetus, and Homo sapiens were subcloned into genetically deficient Escherichia coli that requires complementation by the activity of a recombinant HPRT for growth on semidefined medium. Fifty-nine purine analogs were screened for their abilities to inhibit the growth of these bacteria. Several compounds that selectively altered the growth of the bacteria complemented by the malarial, schistosomal, or tritrichomonal HPRT compared with the growth of bacteria expressing the human enzyme were identified. These results demonstrate that the recombinant approach to screening compounds by complement selection in a comparative manner provides a rapid and efficient method for the identification of new lead compounds selectively targeted to the purine salvage enzymes of parasites.