Genes expressed under circadian-clock control are found in organisms ranging from prokaryotes to humans. In Drosophila melanogaster, the period (per) gene, which is required for clock function, is transcribed in a circadian manner. We have identified a circadian transcriptional enhancer within a 69-bp DNA fragment upstream of the per gene. This enhancer drives high-amplitude mRNA cycling under ...

In this work, a facile and efficient approach has been demonstrated for size-selective separation of DNA fragments by using lysine-functionalized silica particles. At a given pH, the environmental ionic strength can be utilized to alter the electrostatic interactions of lysine-functionalized silica particles with DNA fragments and in turn the DNA fragments on the silica particle surfaces, which...

Background: Endometriosis is one of the most common benign gynecological diseases which is characterized by endometriallike tissue growing outside the uterine cavity. Although the pathology of endometriosis remains unknown, the genetic predisposition plays an apparent role. Several genes have been contributed to endometriosis, but it seems KRAS has a crucial role, because its activation results...

In this paper, we report the cloning and characterization of three Paenibacillus azotofixans DNA regions containing genes involved in nitrogen fixation. Sequencing analysis revealed the presence of nifB1H1D1K1 gene organization in the 4,607-bp SacI DNA fragment. This is the first report of linkage of a nifB open reading frame upstream of the structural nif genes. The second (nifB2H2) and third ...

The manner by which the trans-acting factor encoded by the 1,828-base-pair (bp) BamHI DNA fragment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) suppresses the production of human beta interferon was determined. Steady-state levels of RNA specific for human beta interferon were decreased in cells that contained the 1,828-bp BamHI DNA fragment of HBV. The reduced accumulation of interferon-specific RNA was due to ...

An altered pattern of epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation and histone modification, is critical to many common human diseases, including cancer. Recently, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was reported to be associated with tumorigenesis through epigenetic regulation of methylation patterns. One of the promising approaches to study DNA methylation and CpG islands (CGIs) is sequencing and ...

The electrophoretic mobility of a curved DNA restriction fragment taken from the VP1 gene in the SV40 minichromosome has been measured in polyacrylamide gels and free solution, using capillary electrophoresis. The 199 bp restriction fragment has an apparent bend angle of 46 +/- 2 degrees located at SV40 sequence position 1922 +/- 2 bp [Lu Y.J., Weers B.D. and Stellwagen N. C. (2005) Biophys. J....

Free fetal DNA (ffDNA) in maternal plasma has now become a valuable source for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. Being able to accurately identify the size of ffDNA in maternal plasma is essential for a noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. Furthermore, it is important to investigate the molecular characteristics related to apoptosis which gives rise to ffDNA. We investigated the fragment size of ffDNA...