We reviewed the current methodologies used for human DNA quantitation in forensic and ancient DNA studies, including sensitive hybridization methods based on the detection of nuclear alpha-satellite repetitive DNA regions or more recently developed fluorogenic real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) designs for the detection of both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA regions. Special emphasis has ...

We reviewed the current methodologies used for human DNA quantitation in forensic and ancient DNA studies, including sensitive hybridization methods based on the detection of nuclear alpha-satellite repetitive DNA regions or more recently developed fluorogenic real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) designs for the detection of both nuclear andmitochondrial DNA regions. Special emphasis has b...

Studies of protein synthesis in the chloroplast compartment have revealed a unique combination of translational autoregulations and trans-regulations due to the delivery of a variety of nuclear factors that act post-transcriptionally. We show how these two characteristics concur to set the major step in the regulation of chloroplast gene expression at the translational level, leading to a surpr...

Polyploidization, or genome duplication, has played a critical role in the diversification of animals, fungi and plants. Little is known about the population structure and multiple origins of polyploid species because of the difficulty in identifying multiple homeologous nuclear genes. The allotetraploid species Arabidopsis kamchatica is closely related to the model species Arabidopsis thaliana...

Recent comprehensive sequence analysis of the maize genome now permits detailed discovery and description of all transposable elements (TEs) in this complex nuclear environment. Reiteratively optimized structural and homology criteria were used in the computer-assisted search for retroelements, TEs that transpose by reverse transcription of an RNA intermediate, with the final results verified b...

The phylogenetic position of hexaploid Elymus repens within the tribe Triticeae (Poaceae) was examined using cloned sequences from the low-copy nuclear genes encoding phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (pepC) and beta-amylase. A previous analysis of E. repens using data from the nuclear granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) gene had yielded five phylogenetically distinct gene copies, two more th...

Nuclear matrix attachment regions (MARs) are thought to influence gene expression by anchoring active chromatin to the proteinaceous nuclear matrix. In this study, two plant DNA fragments with strong MAR activity were selected and tested for their effects on expression of a linked reporter gene in transgenic tobacco. One MAR was isolated from the 5' flanking region of a pea vicilin gene previou...

spinal muscular atrophy (sma) is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder caused by homozygous deletion of the survival motor neuron gene 1 (smn1) in more than 90% of patients. according to the age of onset and severity of the disease, sma is classified into three groups: type i (severe), type ii (intermediate) and type iii (mild). as reported, the smn2 gene, centromeric copy gene, showed ...

Background: Gossypium thurberi is a wild diploid species that has been used to improve cultivated allotetraploid cotton. G. thurberi belongs to D genome, which is an important wild bio-source for the cotton breeding and genetic research. To a certain degree, chloroplast DNA sequence information are a versatile tool for species identification and phylogenetic implications in plants. Different ch...

background: gossypium thurberi is a wild diploid species that has been used to improve cultivated allotetraploid cotton. g. thurberi belongs to d genome, which is an important wild bio-source for the cotton breeding and genetic research. to a certain degree, chloroplast dna sequence information are a versatile tool for species identification and phylogenetic implications in plants. different ch...