Something I notice often in supervising new graduate students is their frustration with the irreproducibility of their biological data. For example, I am asked frequently ‘‘how many biological replicates do I need for qRT-PCR’’? The answer, of course, lies first with the students themselves. They need as many replicates as will persuade them of the validity of their observations. However, for m...

Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) has traditionally required time-consuming RNA extraction and purification. This report demonstrates that one can completely avoid the RNA extraction step in RT-PCR by basing the comparison of samples on cell number rather than micrograms of total RNA. A new method for lysing cells while preserving RNA is described. RT-PCR is carried out (i) by rapidly freezing...

outbreaks causing mass mortalities have been observed in the golden grey mullet (liza auratus) population in southern coastal area of the caspian sea since 2002. the clinical signs include neurological abnormalities, such as erratic swimming behavior, spiral swimming, belly-up at rest and over inflation of the swim bladder. three hundred and twelve samples of moribund fish with sizes that range...