IDENTIFICATION OF PARTIAL MUTATIONAL SITES IN HUMAN MITOCHONDRIAL DNA IN THE CHINESE AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

A simple method for the identification of mutational sites in human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was described. It was based on the human Cambridge sequence as a relative standard sequence and a single base pair substitution in mtDNA as a unique mutational form. The partial mutational sites can be determined using this method which was characterized by combining the restriction mapping with the analysis for the table of human mtDNA potential mutational sites with rapidity and simplicity. In the meanwhile, six mtDNA mutational sites found in Chinese population were identified by means of this method.     

Synthesis and Expression in Escherichia coli of a Human Neutrophil Activating Protein-1/Interleukin-8 Gene

The complete gene coding for human neutrophilactivating protein-1/interleukin-8 was synthesized using a semi-chemical semi-enzymatic method. The synthetic gene was then overexpressed in Escherichia coli under the temperature-regulated control of the P_RP_L tandem promoters. As determined by SDS-PAGE and densitometry, the overexpressed protein comprised up to 18.5% and 10.9% of the total soluble protein in E. coli cells grown in shake flasks and in batch fermentation, respectively. The recombinant NAP-1/IL-8 was then purified to>95% homogeneity by gel filtration and cation exchange chromatography. The purified protein appeared as a single band on the SDS-PAGE gel and possessed potent chemotactic activity in the concentration of <10 ng/ml, as assayed by the agarose plate method. An early skin reactivity was also observed when the pure NAP-1/IL-8 was injected subcutaneously into the rabbits. The N-terminal 36 amino acid sequence of the recombinant NAP1/IL-8 was determined using the Edman method and was sho     

A graphical method to construct a phylogenetic tree

A 3D graphical representation of DNA sequences, which has no circuit or degeneracy, is derived for mathematical denotation of DNA sequence. Based on this graphical representation, we propose a new sequence distance measure. We make use of the corresponding similarity matrix to construct a phylogenic tree by virtue of the fuzzy theory. The examination of phylogenic tree belong to eight species illustrates the utility of our approach. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

Spectral studies on the interaction of Amido black 10B with DNA in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

The interaction of Amido black 10B (AB) with DNA in basic medium was studied in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMAB) based on the measurements of resonance light scattering (RLS), UV–vis, CD spectra, and RLS imaging. The interaction has been proved to give a ternary complex of CTMAB–DNA–AB in Britton–Robinson buffer of pH 11.55, which exhibits strong negative Cotton effect at 233.3 nm and 642.8 nm, and strong RLS signals characterized at 469 nm. Experiments showed that the enhanced RLS intensities (ΔI_RLS) against the mixture of AB and CTMAB are proportional to the concentration of fish sperm DNA (fsDNA) and calf thymus DNA (ctDNA), respectively over the range of 0.03–1.0 and 0.05–1.5 μg ml⁻¹, with the limits of determination (3σ) of 7.3 ng ml⁻¹ for fsDNA and 7.0 ng ml⁻¹ for ctDNA.     

Chemiluminescence determination of ultramicro DNA with a flow-injection method

A high sensitive flow-injection chemiluminescence method for determination of calf thymus DNA and herring sperm DNA has been developed. The method is based on the chemiluminescence reaction of Rhodamine B-cerium(IV)-thermally denatured DNAs in sulfuric acid media. The proposed procedure allows quantitation of DNAs in the range 2.6×10⁻⁵ to 0.26 μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA and 5.0×10⁻⁸ to 5.0×10⁻⁵ μg ml⁻¹ for herring sperm DNA with correlation coefficients 0.9998 and 0.9996 (both n=11), respectively. The detection limits (3σ) are 6.5×10⁻⁶ μg ml⁻¹ for calf thymus DNA and 4.3×10⁻⁸ μg ml⁻¹ for herring sperm DNA. The possible mechanism of chemiluminescence in the system is discussed.     

Oxidative polymerization of aniline on the surface of insoluble solid poly(sulfo acids) as a method for the preparation of efficient biosorbents

Polyaniline coatings of the cation-exchange resin Dowex and a synthetic composite material based on silica gel surface-modified by a sulfated styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer were prepared by precipitative polymerization of aniline on the surface of the supports. The optimal conditions for the preparation of the polyaniline-containing material providing the formation of a thin polymeric coating on the support surface were determined. Aniline is predominantly consumed to the formation of a uniform polymeric coating about 3 nm thick with an increase in the concentration of sulfo groups on the support surface. The efficiency of using the polyaniline-containing sorbents for the preparative isolation of DNA from plant tissue lysates was demonstrated. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 1123–1130, June, 2007.     

共振光散射成像检测5,10,15,20-四(对三甲基氨基苯)卟吩诱导的DNA超螺旋聚集体

A resonance light scattering （RLS） imaging method was proposed based on imaging and measuring the RLS features of single suprahelical species of DNA, and its appfication to DNA assay was also investigated. In acidic medium, porphine-5,10,15,20-tetrakis（p-phenyltlimethylaminium） （PTPTMA）, could stack along the molecular surface of DNA with the mode of long-range assembly to induce the formation of suprahelical species of DNA, resulting in strong RLS signals in the range of 450-510 nm. Under the excitation of 488 nm fight beam of argon ion laser source, single suprahelical species could be observed with the aid of a common microscope due to the strong scattered fight emitted by the suprahelical species. By capturing the RLS images of the single suprahelical species with a cooled charge coupled device （CCD） camera, and analyzing the RLS data, herein an RLS imaging method of DNA was proposed based on the linear relationship between the counts of suprahelical species in the detection focus plane and the concentration of DNA in nanograms. When 1.8 μmol/L PTPTMA was employed, both calf thymus DNA （ct DNA） and fish sperm DNA （fs DNA） in the range of 25-1100 ng/mL could be detected with the limits of detection lower than 25 ng/mL （3a）. Four synthetic samples were detected satisfactorily with relative standard deviations less than 5.1%.     

New 2D graphical representation of DNA sequences

We consider a 2D graphical representations of DNA sequences, which avoids loss of information associated with crossing and overlapping of the corresponding curve. We outline an approach, which is based on the construction of a three-component vector whose components are the normalized leading eigenvalues of the L/L matrices associated with DNA. The examination of similarities/dissimilarities among the coding sequences of the first exon of beta-globin gene of different species illustrates the utility of the approach.