Transposable elements of about 300 bp, termed "short interspersed nucleotide elements or SINEs are common in eukaryotes. However, Alu elements, SINEs containing restriction sites for the AluI enzyme, have been known only from primates. Here I report the first SINE found in the genome of the cephalochordate, amphioxus. It is an Alu element of 375 bp that does not share substantial identity with ...

A PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method was developed in order to screen a large number of strains for impaired adhesion to epithelial cells due to expression of truncated InlA. inlA polymorphism was analyzed by PCR-RFLP in order to correlate inlA PCR-RFLP profiles and production of truncated InlA. Thirty-seven Listeria monocytogenes strains isolated from various sources, i...

The 5' end or alpha-S1 casein promoter has a significant role in milk protein gene expression. The understanding of the translation process of alpha-S1 casein mutants will provide us an opportunity to make the best selection in livestock providing more proteins in milk. Blood samples were taken from three hundred of Naeinian goats and sheep, and DNA extraction was done using modified salting ou...

Mutants of Autographa californica and Galleria mellonella nuclear polyhedrosis viruses, which produce an altered plaque phenotype as a result of reduced numbers of viral occlusions in infected cells, were isolated after passage in Trichoplusia ni (TN-368) cells. These mutants, termed FP (few-polyhedra) mutants, had acquired cell DNA sequences ranging from 0.8 to 2.8 kilobase pairs in size. The ...

Polymorphisms of estrogen receptor (ER) genes have been implicated in male infertility, but studies of this association have produced conflicting results. The present study was conducted to examine whether polymorphisms within the ERα and ERβ genes are susceptibility factors for human male idiopathic infertility in Chinese men. We investigated the association between the ERα gene gene and PvuII...

We compared genotyping by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the amplified omp1 gene with serotyping by dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) to determine the suitability of RFLP analysis for epidemiologic study. Fifteen prototypes of Chlamydia trachomatis and 30 clinical isolates were used in this study. To serotype with dot-ELISA, chlamydia antigen was spo...

Bovine theileriosis is important disease in tropical and subtropical areas with great economic losses in livestock husbandry in Iran. The aim of study was to assess the prevalence of Theileria annulata infection in cattle and Hyalomma species of Kermanshah Province, Iran. A number of 138 blood samples were randomly taken from examined cattle. The genomic DNA was extracted and PCR was performed ...

Urogenital isolates (N=84) of Chlamydia trachomatis collected from high-risk STD subjects in Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas were investigated for genotype distribution. C. trachomatis genotypes were determined by the PCR-based RFLP technique and confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. By this method, the VD4 DNA of the MOMP gene was amplified and digested separately with 4 restriction endonuc...

Prompt definitive diagnosis of acute bacterial endocarditis in febrile injection drug users (IDUs) remains problematic because of delays associated with blood culture. Rapid detection of bacteremia by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by use of "universal" primers has been hampered by background bacterial contamination. Broad-range eubacterial primers selected from the 16S rRNA gene were used in ...

Estrogen plays a significant role in human ovulation. It acts as an important positive regulator of the preovulatory gonadotropin surge necessary to initiate the cascade of events leading to ovulation. The steroid hormone exerts its physiological responses through the estrogen receptor (ER), of which two subtypes, ERalpha and ERbeta, are known. ERbeta messenger ribonucleic acid occurs maximally...