In this study, we compared gene transfer efficiency and host response to ultrasound-assisted, nonviral gene transfer with a conventional plasmid and a minicircle vector in the submandibular salivary glands of mice. Initially, we looked at gene transfer efficiency with equimolar amounts of the plasmid and minicircle vectors, corroborating an earlier report showing that minicircle is more efficie...

INTRODUCTION 363 KI.NETOPLAST MINICIRCLE DNA 365 Is There a Gene Product? 365 Sequence Organization in Different Species 365 Sequence Heterogeneity as a Diagnostic and Epidemiological Tool 368 Analysis of Conformational Bend in Minicircle DNA 370 Replication of Minicircle DNA 371 KINETOPLAST .MAXICIRCLE DNA 372 Mitochondrial Ribosomal R.VA genes 372 Mitochondrial Siruciural Genes and Open Readi...

In a recent paper (5), Noyes et al. discussed a nested-PCRbased approach for identification and analysis of Leishmania kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircle classes using the analysis of minicircle variable-region (VR) restriction profiles. The kDNA of trypanosomatids consists of catenated minicircle (approximately 5 3 10 to 5 3 10 per associate) and maxicircle (20 to 50 per associate) molecules (8...

Guide RNAs (gRNAs) are encoded both in the maxicircle and minicircle components of the mitochondrial DNA of trypanosomatid protozoa. These RNAs mediate the precise insertion and deletion of U residues in transcripts of the maxicircle DNA. We showed previously that the old UC laboratory strain of Leishmania tarentolae apparently lost more than 40 minicircle-encoded gRNAs that are present in the ...

The taxon Trypanosoma cruzi, causative agent of Chagas disease, is composed of several discrete typing units (DTUs) named TcI-TcVI, and Tcbat. The history of the taxon T. cruzi is known, even though several controversial aspects remain as the relationships between TcIII and TcIV. We analyzed cloned T. cruzi stocks pertaining to the seven DTUs by filter hybridization tests of PCR amplicons from ...

In a recent paper (5), Noyes et al. discussed a nested-PCRbased approach for identification and analysis of Leishmania kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircle classes using the analysis of minicircle variable-region (VR) restriction profiles. The kDNA of trypanosomatids consists of catenated minicircle (approximately 5 3 10 to 5 3 10 per associate) and maxicircle (20 to 50 per associate) molecules (8...

Amplification of DNA sequences from the kinetoplast minicircle DNA was employed as a method for the detection and classification of small numbers of Trypanosoma cruzi cells. Two overlapping fragments from the conserved 120 bp minirepeat regions of the minicircle DNA and one fragment covering the adjacent variable regions were amplified. The minimal amount of minicircle DNA required to detect a ...

Previous work has shown that the kinetoplast minicircle DNA of Leishmania species exhibits species-specific sequence divergence and this observation has led to the development of a DNA probe-based diagnostic test for leishmaniasis. In the work reported here, we demonstrate that the minicircle is composed of three types of DNA sequences with differing specificities reflecting different rates of ...

Gene-directed tissue repair offers the clinician, human or veterinary, the chance to enhance cartilage regeneration and repair at a molecular level. Non-viral plasmid vectors have key biosafety advantages over viral vector systems for regenerative therapies due to their episomal integration however, conventional non-viral vectors can suffer from low transfection efficiency. Our objective was to...

In a recent paper (5), Noyes et al. discussed a nested-PCRbased approach for identification and analysis of Leishmania kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) minicircle classes using the analysis of minicircle variable-region (VR) restriction profiles. The kDNA of trypanosomatids consists of catenated minicircle (approximately 5 3 10 to 5 3 10 per associate) and maxicircle (20 to 50 per associate) molecules (8...