The introduction of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) into the forensic field has greatly extended the ability to analyze DNA from small or degraded samples. However, one significant problem with PCR analysis is the sensitivity of Taq Polymerase to inhibitors found in many substrates commonly encountered with evidentiary materials. We hypothesize that the most problematic of these compounds inter...

DNA extracted from herbarium specimens is highly fragmented; therefore, it is crucial to use extraction protocols that retrieve short DNA molecules. Improvements in extraction and DNA library preparation protocols for animal remains have allowed efficient retrieval of molecules shorter than 50 bp. Here, we applied these improvements to DNA extraction protocols for herbarium specimens and evalua...

Abstract DNA-RNA hybrid structures have been detected at the vicinity of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) occurring within transcriptional active regions genome. The induction hybrids strongly affects repair these DSBs, but nature and how they are formed remain poorly understood. Here we provide evidence that R loops, three-stranded containing displaced single-stranded (ssDNA) can form sub-telom...

The metabolism of DNA in cells relies on the balance between hybridized double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and local de-hybridized regions of ssDNA that provide access to binding proteins. Traditional melting experiments, in which short pieces of dsDNA are heated up until the point of melting into ssDNA, have determined that AT-rich sequences have a lower binding energy than GC-rich sequences. In cell...

introduction: congenital long qt syndrome (lqts) is a cardiac disorder characterized by qt interval prolongation at basal ecg. different lqts genes encode ion channel subunits or proteins involved in regulating cardiac ionic currents. long qt syndrome type 6 (lqt6) is caused by mutation in the kcne2 gene. our research aimed to analyze genetic variants of kcne2 gene causing the disease in irania...

Phage T7 helicase unwinds double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) by encircling one strand while excluding the complementary strand from its central channel. When T7 helicase translocates on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), it has kilobase processivity; yet, it is unable to processively unwind linear dsDNA, even 60 base-pairs long. Particularly, the GC-rich dsDNAs are unwound with lower amplitudes under single...

A silver nanorod array has been used for the intrinsic SERS detection of microRNAs based on different binding affinities of ssRNA, thiolated ssDNA, and the RNA:DNA duplex, eliminating the need for a labelling step.

Four commercially available kits (three enzyme linked immunosorbent assays and one modified Farr radioimmunoassay) were compared for their ability to detect specifically autoantibodies to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) using 66 patient sera. This was assessed by comparing the results of the kits with those from an ELISA specifically measuring antibodies against highly purified dsDNA, single-strand...