We demonstrate an application of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for the structural analysis of long single-stranded RNA (>1 kb), focusing on 28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA). Generally, optimization of the conditions required to obtain three-dimensional (3D) structures of long RNA molecules is a challenging or nearly impossible process. In this study, we overcome these limitations by developing a method...

An entropy-controlled bending mechanism is presented to study the nanomechanics of microcantilever-based single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) sensors. First; the conformational free energy of the ssDNA layer is given with an improved scaling theory of thermal blobs considering the curvature effect; and the mechanical energy of the non-biological layer is described by Zhang’s two-variable method for lami...

Because the activity of mitochondrial glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (mGPD) in the pancreatic 3-cell is normally among the highest of the body, but is low in the pancreatic islets of numerous rodent models of NIDDM and is reported to be low in the islets of the few humans studied with NIDDM (1,2), it has been questioned whether mGPD might be a diabetes candidate gene. Linkage studies have fai...

In prokaryotic cells, genomic DNA forms an aggregated structure with various nucleoid-associated proteins (NAPs). The functions of genomic DNA are cooperatively modulated by NAPs, of which HU is considered to be one of the most important. HU binds double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and serves as a structural modulator in the genome architecture. It plays important roles in diverse DNA functions, inclu...

Control over interactions with biomolecules holds the key to applications of graphene in biotechnology. One such application is nanopore sequencing, where a DNA molecule is electrophoretically driven through a graphene nanopore. Here we investigate how interactions of single-stranded DNA and a graphene membrane can be controlled by electrically biasing the membrane. The results of our molecular...

Newcastle disease and Avian Influenza are considered to be the most dangerous fowl diseases which may cause huge economic losses. Newcastle disease is caused by the enveloped, and single-stranded RNA virus (NDV, APMV-1; belonging to Paramyxoviridae family), which can be further divided into sixteen different genotypes grouped into five pathotypes according to their pathogenicity. It has been re...

Baculoviruses have been used as biopesticides for decades. Recently, due to the excessive use of chemical pesticides there is a need for finding new agents that may be useful in biological protection. Sometimes few isolates or species are discovered in one host. In the past few years, many new baculovirus species have been isolated from environmental samples, thoroughly characterized and thanks...

Most genetic regulatory mechanisms involve protein-DNA interactions. In these processes, the classical Watson-Crick DNA structure sometimes is distorted severely, which in turn enables the precise recognition of the specific sites by the protein. Despite its key importance, very little is known about such deformation processes. To address this general question, we have studied a model system, n...

Genetic mutation or loss of activin/transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta) receptor function has been shown in human lymphoid, breast, and colorectal tumors as well as Hep2B and Mv1Lu cell lines. Although activin stimulates FSHbeta biosynthesis and secretion, a large percentage of human gonadotroph tumors have previously been demonstrated to be nonresponsive to characterized activin effects....